1958 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC/CAF–UEFA play-off)
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The AFC/CAF–UEFA qualification play-off for the 1958 FIFA World Cup was a two-legged home-and-away association football match between the winners of the African/Asian region, Israel, and a randomly drawn group runner-up from Europe, Wales. The matches were played on 15 January and 5 February 1958 in Ramat Gan and Cardiff, respectively.
Event | 1958 FIFA World Cup qualification | ||||||
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Wales won 4–0 on points and qualified for the 1958 FIFA World Cup | |||||||
First leg | |||||||
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Date | 15 January 1958 (1958-01-15) | ||||||
Venue | Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan | ||||||
Referee | Maurice Guigue (France) | ||||||
Attendance | 55,000 | ||||||
Second leg | |||||||
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Date | 5 February 1958 (1958-02-05) | ||||||
Venue | Ninian Park, Cardiff | ||||||
Referee | Klaas Schipper (Netherlands) | ||||||
Attendance | 38,000 | ||||||
1962 → |
Wales had finished second in their qualifying group to Czechoslovakia. Israel had advanced from the AFC/CAF qualification zone without playing a match after several teams withdrew from the competition for political reasons. FIFA introduced a rule that a team could not qualify for a World Cup without playing and organised a play-off match to decide on qualification. Wales were drawn as the opponents and the two sides met in Ramat Gan for the first leg. Wales won the first match 2–0, following goals from Ivor Allchurch and Dave Bowen. The second leg ended with the same result with Allchurch scoring again and Cliff Jones adding a second.
With Wales qualifying, this remains the only time that a country played at the World Cup finals after having been eliminated in the regular qualifiers. This also remains the only time that all four British Home Nations qualified for the World Cup finals. Wales went on to reach the quarter-finals at the 1958 World Cup, before being eliminated by Brazil.