Sambafoot offers a retrospective of every World Cup edition as a warm-up for the 2022 competition. This week, we discuss the sixth edition, which took place in 1958.
Sweden hosted the sixth FIFA World Cup, defeating rivals Argentina, Chile, and Mexico, who were all vying to host the world’s premier football competition.
There were 16 teams in the tournament, which ran from June 8 to June 29, 1958. Brazil, who had never previously succeeded in winning the tournament, defeated the hosts with remarkable success.
How was the 1958 World Cup?
The Soviet Union and Germany, the two incumbent champions at the time, were considered the favorites to win. Due to the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, which resulted in their exodus, Hungary, who had a stellar campaign in 1958, lost many of their key players and entered the competition with a significantly weakened squad.
With a true squad made up of Gilmar, Djalma Santos, Orlando Peçanha, Bellini, Nilton Santos, Zito, Didi, Garrincha, Zagallo, Vavá, and Pelé. Brazil, who the Europeans still did not fear, headed to defend the Cup. Vicente Feola, their coach, oversaw them.
The Brazilian squad, led by Didi and Garrincha of Botafogo and the “kid” Pelé of Santos, who was just 17 years old, won all of their games to win the World Cup for the first time.
Brazil’s campaign
In the Cup’s fourth group, which also included the Soviet Union, England, and Austria, was Brazil. The canary team had to compete against Wales, France, and the hosts, the Swedes, in the “knockout” round of the competition. See how our effort to win the crown performed.
- Brazil 3×0 Austria (group stage);
- Brazil 0x0 England (group stage);
- Brazil 2×0 Soviet Union (group stage);
- Brazil 1×0 Wales (quarter-finals);
- Brazil 5×2 France (semifinal);
- Brazil 5×2 Sweden (final).
The grand finale
Brazil, who finished bottom in the scoring despite the elastic score, found it difficult to make the key choice. The match took place in the Rasunda stadium in the Swedish capital of Stockholm’s metropolitan area of Solna. There were more than 49,000 Swedish spectators in the stadium.
At four minutes, Liedholm gave the hosts the lead. However, Brazil put on a show by scoring four goals between the ninth and the 23rd minutes of the second half, with goals from Vavá (twice), Pelé, and Zagallo.
In the 35th minute of the final stage, Simonsson scored for the Swedes, and ten minutes later, Pelé produced an iconic goal that is still remembered by great football fans: he handed his defender a hat and scored the “title goal.”
Final classification, prizes and trivia
In the end, Sweden came in second and Brazil came out on top. In that order, France and Germany made up the top four finishers in the tournament. In the quarterfinals, Wales, the Soviet Union, Northern Ireland, and Yugoslavia were all eliminated.
The following nations did not go from the group stage: Czechoslovakia, Hungary, England, Paraguay, Argentina, Scotland, Austria, and Mexico.
Individual awards
View the individual prizes that FIFA presented to the top performers from the 1958 World Cup.
- Golden Boot: Just Fontaine, from France (top scorer with 13 goals);
- Golden Ball: Didi (best player);
- Golden Glove: Harry Gregg, from Northern Ireland (best goalkeeper);
- Best young player: Pele (17 years old).
Curiosities
Here are some of the more intriguing aspects of the sixth World Cup.
- The 1958 World Cup was the only one that had the presence of all the countries of the United Kingdom until today (England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland);
- Scotsman Robert Collins scored the 500th goal of the World Cup in the match against Paraguay, in the group stage of the competition (3-2 for Scotland);
- The match Brazil 0x0 England, in the group stage, was the first to end without a goal in the history of the World Cups.
- Pelé is the youngest player to score a goal and win the World Cup to date (17 years and 239 days).
