1. Background

2. Matches
    First leg  Second leg 

3. References

The 1958 FIFA World Cup CAF/AFC–UEFA qualification play-off was a two-legged home-and-away tie between the winners of the CAF/AFC region, Israel, and a randomly drawn group runner-up from UEFA, Wales. The matches were played on 15 January and 5 February 1958 in Ramat Gan and Cardiff, respectively.^[1]

With Wales qualifying, this was the first (and so far the only) time that a country played at the World Cup finals after having been eliminated in the regular qualifiers. This also meant that for the first (and so far only) time, all four British Home Nations qualified for the World Cup finals.

Background

Israel took part in the African and Asian qualification zone. A total of 11 teams were competing for one direct qualification spot to the 1958 FIFA World Cup finals. Israel were drawn into Group 2 of the First Round against Turkey. However, Turkey refused to compete in the Asian group, so Israel advanced to the Second Round automatically. In the Second Round, Israel were drawn against Indonesia. However, Indonesia withdrew after FIFA rejected their request to play against Israel on neutral ground, so Israel advanced to the Final Round automatically. In the Final Round, Israel were paired with Sudan, with the winner advancing to the World Cup. However, Sudan refused to play against Israel for political reasons, so Israel were therefore the African and Asian qualification zone winners.

However, FIFA had imposed a rule that no team would qualify without playing at least one match, except for the defending champions and the hosts. This was because many teams qualified for previous World Cups without playing due to withdrawals of their opponents. As Israel had advanced automatically through all three rounds under these circumstances, they still had to face another team before they could qualify. Therefore, a special play-off was created by FIFA between Israel and the runner-up of one of the UEFA, CONMEBOL and NAFC/CCCF groups, where the teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The winner of this special play-off would then directly qualify for the 1958 World Cup in Sweden. Therefore, effectively in the end, only 0.5 places were granted to Africa and Asia for the finals.^[2]

Wales were drawn into UEFA Group 4, where they faced Czechoslovakia and East Germany. Wales finished second in the group behind Czechoslovakia, and were therefore eliminated from the European qualification zone.

A drawing of lots took place in December 1957 to determine which team would face Israel in the play-offs. Ultimately, Belgium, Northern Ireland (who at the time was not assured of a qualifying spot), Costa Rica, Peru, Bolivia and Uruguay all withdrew before the draw, leaving only seven confirmed European teams and the runners-up of UEFA Group 8 as potential participants. Wales were selected and would therefore take part in the play-off against Israel.^[3][4] Therefore, the play-off winners would make their World Cup finals debut, as both Israel and Wales had never previously qualified.

Matches

First leg

• I. Allchurch {{goal|38}}
• Bowen {{goal|63}}

Second leg

• I. Allchurch {{goal|76}}
• Jones {{goal|80}}

References

• Lucius Seth Huntington
• Lucius Spurius Pomponianus
• Lucius Sweet
• Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus
• Lucius Tarutius Firmanus
• Lucius the Eternal
• Lucius Tillius Cimber
• Lucius Valerius Flaccus
• Lucius Varenas
• Lucius Verginius Rufus
• Lucius verginius rufus
• Lucius Vipsanius Agrippa
• Lucius Virginius Rufus
• Lucius Vitellius the Younger
• Lucius Volcacius Tullus
• Lucius Volcatius Tullus
• Lucius Volcatius Tullus (consul 33 BC)
• Lucius Volcatius Tullus (consul 66 BC)
• Lucius Volusius Maecianus
• Lucius Volusius Saturninus (suffect consul 12 BC)
• Lucius Volusius Saturninus (suffect consul 3)
• Lucius Vorenus
• Lucius Vorenus (Character of Rome)
• Lucius Vorenus (Rome character)
• Lucius W. Nieman