Editing 1954 FIFA World Cup (section)

==Qualification==
{{main|1954 FIFA World Cup qualification}}
The hosts (Switzerland) and the defending champions (Uruguay) qualified automatically. Of the remaining 14 places, 11 were allocated to Europe (including Egypt, Turkey, and Israel), two to the Americas, and one to Asia.

Scotland, Turkey, and South Korea made their World Cup debuts at this tournament (Turkey and Scotland had qualified for the [[1950 FIFA World Cup|1950 competition]] but both withdrew). South Korea became the first independent Asian country to participate in a World Cup tournament. Austria appeared following a hiatus from [[1934 FIFA World Cup|1934]]. South Korea did not appear at a World Cup finals again until [[1986 FIFA World Cup|1986]], while Turkey's next appearance was not until [[2002 FIFA World Cup|2002]]. Several teams, such as Hungary and Czechoslovakia (the pre-war World Cups' runners-up) were back into the tournament after missing out the [[1950 FIFA World Cup|1950 World Cup]].

The teams that finished third and fourth in 1950, Sweden and Spain, both failed to qualify. Spain was eliminated by Turkey; the two countries finished level on points in their qualifying group, and then drew their neutral play-off, which led to the drawing of lots by a blindfolded Italian boy, who picked Turkey to progress.<ref>{{cite book |title=A history of the World Cup: 1930–2006 |first=Clemente Angelo |last=Lisi |location=Lanham, MD |publisher=Scarecrow Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-8108-5905-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofworldcu0000lisi |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofworldcu0000lisi/page/61 61] }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |first=Scott |last=Murray |title=Lucky tossers |url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/2002/aug/08/theknowledge.sport |website=The Guardian |date=8 August 2002 }}</ref>

German teams as well as [[Japan national football team|Japan]] were allowed to qualify again, after having been banned from the [[1950 FIFA World Cup]]. West Germany qualified against fellow Germans from the [[Saarland national football team|Saarland]] (which then was a French protectorate), while East Germany did not enter, having cancelled international football matches after the [[Uprising of 1953 in East Germany|East German uprising of 1953]]. Japan failed to qualify, having finished below [[South Korea national football team|South Korea]] in their qualifying group. [[Argentina national football team|Argentina]] declined to participate for the third successive World Cup.

===List of qualified teams===
The following 16 teams qualified for the final tournament.

{{col begin}}
{{col-4}}
'''[[1954 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC – Group 13)|Asia]] (1)'''
* {{fb|KOR|1949}} (debut)
{{col-4}}
'''[[1954_FIFA_World_Cup_qualification#Group_12|North, Central America and Caribbean]] (1)'''
* {{fb|MEX|1934}}
'''[[1954_FIFA_World_Cup_qualification#Group_11|South America]] (2)'''
* {{fb|BRA|1889}}
* {{fb|URU}} (title holders)
{{col-4}}
'''[[1954 FIFA World Cup qualification|Europe]] (12)'''
* {{fb|AUT}}
* {{fb|BEL}}
* {{fb|TCH}}
* {{fb|ENG}}
* {{fb|FRA|1830}}
* {{fb|HUN|1949}}
* {{fb|ITA|1946}}
* {{fb|SCO|1970}} (debut)
* {{fb|SUI}} (hosts)
* {{fb|TUR}} (debut)
* {{fb|FRG}}
* {{fb|YUG}}
{{col-4}}
{{col end}}