This is the film of the 1954 World Cup on DVD, which took place in Switzerland and was eventually won by West Germany who controversially beat Hungary in the final - the Miracle of Berne. It's a fascinating documentary with footage and highlights from the final stages of the tournament, including German highlights of the Final.
The quality of the film is a reflection of the original date of broadcast and recording and is in black & white.
As the year saw the 50th anniversary of FIFATM, it was appropriate for football's premier competition to be played in the home of its governing body, Switzerland. For the first time there was television coverage, and special coins were issued to mark the event. 16 teams qualified for the tournament and an unusual system was used in the first stage. The 16 teams were divided into four groups: each group was comprised of two of the eight seeded teams based on world rankings (Austria, Brazil, England, France, Hungary, Italy, Turkey and Uruguay), plus two unseeded teams.
Instead of a conventional round-robin where each team would play three matches, the seeded teams as well as the unseeded teams were spared from playing each other as the unseeded teams were squared up only against the seeded ones in a chance to qualify, so each team played only 2 group matches, unless tied for the second qualifying position by points, which required a play-off.
Interestingly, in their first round match, Hungary beat West Germany 8-3, but West German coach, Sepp Herberger, had shrewdly fielded a weakened team.
The quarter-finals saw the favourites Hungary beat Brazil 4-2 in one of the most violent matches in football history, which became infamous as the Battle of Berne whilst Hungary’s semi-final against Uruguay was one of the most exciting games of the tournament with two late extra time goals taking Hungary through to the final, beating a team that had not previously lost a World Cup game.
The Wankdorf Stadion in Berne saw 60,000 people cram inside to watch the final between West Germany and Hungary. With barely two minutes remaining Puskas thought he'd equalised, only for the goal to be controversially disallowed for offside. The defeat ended a magnificent 31 match unbeaten run (including that famous 6-3 win against England at Wembley) for the 'Magical Magyars' who at the time were easily the best team in the world. West Germany became the first unseeded team to win the World Cup.
This is a superb football documentary which brings all the highlights and excitement from the final stages of the 1954 World Cup on this nostalgic DVD.