The Group 13 qualifiers for the

1954 FIFA World Cup The 1954 FIFA World Cup was the fifth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football tournament for senior men's national teams of the nations affiliated to FIFA. It was held in Switzerland from 16 June to 4 July. Switzerla ...

were contested by teams from Asia. Following the rejection of entries from

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

, the group was organized into a three-team

round-robin tournament A round-robin tournament (or all-go-away-tournament) is a competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero ...

between

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...

, and

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

. The Republic of China later withdrew, leaving Japan and South Korea to play a pair of matches. Both matches were played at

Meiji Jingu Gaien Stadium was a multi-use stadium in Tokyo, Japan. It was as the main venue for the 1930 Far Eastern Games. It was demolished to make room for Tokyo Olympic Stadium in 1956. The stadium held 65,000 spectators. From 1945 till 1952, during the occupation ...

due to a refusal by South Korean president

Rhee Syng-man Syngman Rhee (, ; 26 March 1875 – 19 July 1965) was a South Korean politician who served as the first president of South Korea from 1948 to 1960. Rhee was also the first and last president of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Ko ...

to allow the entry of Japanese players. The tournament was played less than a decade after the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, which ended the occupation of Korea under Japanese rule. South Korea won the first leg 5–1 and drew 2–2 in the second leg to earn qualification to their first FIFA World Cup. It was the last qualification tournament not organized by the

Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in some countries/territories in Asia and Oceania. It has 47 member countries most of which are located in Asia. Australia, formerly in ...

(AFC), which was established in May 1954.

Group 13

Japan vs South Korea

South Korea vs Japan

References

External links

1954 FIFA World Cup Switzerland Preliminaries
{{DEFAULTSORT:World Cup AFC Group 13 1954 in Asian football 1954 in Japanese football South Korea at the 1954 FIFA World Cup 1954 in Taiwanese sport