Pre-Adidas World Cup match ball

FIFA World Cup 1954 Switzerland

Swiss World Champion

About this Ball

The 1954 FIFA World Cup was the first World Cup in Europe after the Second World War. Switzerland was chosen to be the host nation since it had not been damaged from the war and had the best available infrastructure among other possible European host countries. As usual since 1934, the official supplier of the balls came from the host country.

Image Gallery

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Players on the pitch, millions near radios with excitement. A few seconds before the 1954 FIFA World Cup final between West Germany and Hungary (Please note that the ball has no prints!)

At this moment the whole world thought that Hungary will become the World Champions (the referee holds the matchball in his hands)

You can see the ball from another angle

The selection of the official matchball for the FIFA World Cup in 1954

One of the Swiss World Champion matchballs (picture was taken in the First German Football Museum in Berlin) Please note that the balls that were used in the World Cup did NOT have any prints on them!

Vintage ball similar to the 1954 World Cup ball from a private collection

Original Swiss World Champion matchball. However, this ball was not used in the World Cup because the real balls that were in play had no prints at all. FIFA did not let it

The same ball from another side

And from another side again

This is the cover a special issue of the German football magazine „Kicker" from 1954 including 24 pages. The ball that the proud World Champions hold in their hands comes from the World Cup and has no prints (unlike the commercial versions of the same ball)

Here is Fritz Walter again (this time with the printed version of the ball, which was never used in any of the World Cup matches)

This is the cover of the National Sport Newspaper in Hungary from the day after the final that informed millions of disappointed Hungarian people that Hungary lost the World Cup final...

(The price of this issue was almost double than the regular price because many people did not believe what they heared last day on the radio broadcasting and everyone wanted to buy this newspaper!)

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