drawing of lots, after they and Spain finished level on points in Group 6 and a drawn play-off match in Rome. For the first time, qualification matches were actually played in South America; in the four previous World Cups, the South American teams qualified automatically due to withdrawals (in the case of 1934) or through the South American Football Championship (for the 1938 and 1950 tournaments), while there was no qualifying process in 1930. Argentina did not take part in the qualification process. As the French-occupied Saarland protectorate did not become part of Germany until 1957, the Saarland national team entered their only World Cup competition and actually had to play Germany in the qualifiers. The entries of Bolivia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Iceland, India and South Vietnam were rejected by FIFA. After being banned from the 1950 tournament following the Second World War, Germany and Japan were both allowed to play again. West Germany qualified and became champions after defeating Hungary with a score of 3–2 in the final that became known as the Miracle of Bern. References External links FIFA World Cup Official Site – 1954 World Cup Qualification RSSSF – 1954 World Cup Qualification Football World Cup FIFA World Cup qualification