The 1953–54 season was the 74th season of competitive

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Overview

To celebrate the 90th anniversary of the

Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world an ...

, on 21 October 1953, England played a Rest of the World side picked by a

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

Select Committee. After being 3-1 down following goals by

László Kubala László Kubala ( sk, Ladislav Kubala, es, Ladislao Kubala, 10 June 1927 – 17 May 2002) was a Hungarian-Slovak professional footballer who also had Spanish citizenship. He played as a forward for Ferencváros, Slovan Bratislava, Barcelona, ...

and Giampiero Boniperti,

Alf Ramsey Sir Alfred Ernest Ramsey (22 January 1920 – 28 April 1999) was an English football player and manager. As a player, he represented the England national team and captained the side, but he is best known for his time as England manager fr ...

scored a last minute penalty to draw the game 4-4. On 25 November 1953, the '' Marvellous Magyars''

Hungary national football team The Hungary national football team ( hu, magyar labdarúgó-válogatott) represents Hungary in men's international football and is controlled by the Hungarian Football Federation. The team has made 9 appearances in the FIFA World Cup and 4 app ...

, led by prolific forward

Ferenc Puskás Ferenc Puskás (, ; born Ferenc Purczeld; 1 April 1927 – 17 November 2006) was a Hungarian football player and manager, widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and the sport's first international superstar. A forward, ...

, shocked football by defeating England 6–3 at Wembley Stadium. On 25 May 1954, England lost to Hungary again, in Budapest, suffering their heaviest defeat, 7-1. On the domestic scene,

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

, managed by former player Stan Cullis, won the league title for the first time, while their local rivals

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

lifted the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

for the fourth time. Albion had also finished second in the league behind Wolves, while defending champions

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

slipped to 12th this season.

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, the first postwar champions of the English league, were relegated to the Second Division in bottom place. Everton were promoted to the First Division after three seasons in the Second Division and have not been relegated since. Twenty-one years after winning the Third Division South,

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

are relegated to the Third Division South for the first time and do not return to the second tier until 1992. In addition to the success of Midlands teams in the top division,

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

won Third Division North by 11 points, going unbeaten at home and conceding a record low of 21 goals. They also became the first Third Division side since the war to reach the semi-final of the FA Cup, losing to West Bromwich Albion.

Sam Bartram Samuel Bartram (22 January 1914 – 17 July 1981) was an English professional footballer and manager. He played as a goalkeeper and holds the record for most appearances for Charlton Athletic, his only club at the professional level. Career Aft ...

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

set a League record on 6 March 1954 becoming the first player with 500 League appearances.

Honours

Notes = Number in parentheses is the times that club has won that honour. * indicates new record for competition

FA Cup

defeated Preston North End 3–2 in the

1954 FA Cup Final The 1954 FA Cup Final was a football match between West Bromwich Albion and Preston North End, played on 1 May 1954 at the original Wembley Stadium in London. It was the final match of the 1953–54 staging of English football's primary cup com ...

to lift the

for the fourth time.

Football League

First Division

Second Division

Third Division North

Third Division South

Top goalscorers

First Division * Jimmy Glazzard (

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. Th ...

) – 29 goals Second Division *

John Charles William John Charles (27 December 1931 – 21 February 2004) was a Welsh footballer who played as a centre-forward or as a centre-back. Best known for his first stint at Leeds United and Juventus, he was rated by many as the greatest all-round ...

(

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

) – 42 goals Third Division North *

Alan Ashman George Alan Ashman (30 May 1928 – 30 November 2002) was an English association footballer, best remembered for some notable managerial successes. Playing career Born in Rotherham, West Riding of Yorkshire, Ashman had an undistinguished amateu ...

(

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They have played their home games at Brunton Par ...

) – 30 goals Third Division South * Jack English (

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...

) – 28 goals

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1953-54 In English Football eng