1956 marked the sixth FIFA soccer World Cup and was hosted by Sweden. The matches were scheduled to be played between June 8 and June 29, with a total of 16 teams shortlisted from the 56 teams that entered the qualifying games. Sweden and West Germany qualified automatically, and 89 matches were played to fill the remaining 14 positions.

West Germany, Northern Ireland, Czechoslovakia, Argentina, France, Yugoslavia, Paraguay, Scotland, Sweden, Wales, Mexico, Hungary, Brazil, the Soviet Union, England and Austria were the sixteen teams that qualified to play the soccer World Cup. They were then further divided into four groups. The qualifying rounds held in the earlier series had been complex with many close scores, so special attention was given in choosing the teams that would go through.

The format of the game remained the same with respect to the division of teams into groups of four, but there were certain rules introduced to the soccer World Cup format. The top two teams scoring the most goals would advance to the next round, and in case there was a tie, the teams would participate in a playoff to declare the winner who would advance to the next round. A new concept of Goal Average was introduced in case the playoff ended in a draw. If the Goal Average also ended up being the same, there would be a draw to declare the winner.

Sweden hosted the soccer World Cup tournament in twelve of its cities. Two new stadiums, Ullevi and Malmo, were built in Gothenburg and Malmö, while Råsunda Stadium in Stockholm and Idrottsparken in Norrköping were expanded to accommodate the many fans of the World Cup games. Among all of these stadiums Råsunda Stadium and Ullevi had the maximum seating capacity of 50,000.

The 1958 soccer World Cup had the first match ever that ended without either team scoring. The match played between the group 4 teams (Brazil and England) was 0-0. England had lost its best player in the Munich Air crash, and was weak in the first round and eventually knocked out of the series. The teams from the four groups that advanced to the quarter finals included West Germany, Yugoslavia, Sweden, the Soviet Union, France, Northern Ireland, Brazil and Wales.

Just Fontaine of France continued his amazing performance in the quarter finals, and France got into the semi-finals. In the other match between Sweden and the Soviet Union, Sweden finished with a 2-0 score. West Germany scored a single goal, defeating Yugoslavia and making it to the semi-finals. Brazil’s Pele scored a goal against Wales and secured a position for his team in the soccer World Cup semi-finals.

The first semi-final was played between West Germany and Sweden in Gothenburg, and the second was between Brazil and France at Solna. West Germany was crushed by the Swedish players, losing with a score of 3-1. In the other game Brazil’s debutant star Pele scored a hat trick to beat out France and advance to the soccer World Cup finals.

The final game was played between the hosts, Sweden and Brazil, with a crowd of 51,800 watching the soccer World Cup match. Sweden took a quick lead in four minutes, but eventually Brazil won the cup defeating them 5-2. France’s Just Fontaine was the top scorer of the 1958 World Cup series, scoring an impressive 13 goals.