1958 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 8

Football tournament 1958 FIFA World Cup qualification 1958 FIFA World Cup The three teams in this group played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winner Northern Ireland qualified for the sixth FIFA World Cup held in Sweden. The 15 January 1958 fixture of Italy at Northern Ireland was originally scheduled for 4 December 1957 but heavy fog in London prevented the referee (Istvan Zsolt, manager of the Budapest Opera House) from arriving for the match in time. The fixture was postponed but the match continued as a friendly, and ended in a 2-2 draw and a riot as the crowd (infuriated by the postponement and quite rough play from some Italian players) invaded the pitch. The 'friendly' match was dubbed the 'Battle of Belfast'.https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/international/down-memory-lane-battle-of-belfast-was-far-from-a-golden-moment/28070086.html Down Memory Lane: Battle of Belfast was far from a golden moment - International, Football Belfast Telegraph 2012-06-11 https://web.archive.org/web/20151222230627/http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/international/down-memory-lane-battle-of-belfast-was-far-from-a-golden-moment-28070086.html 22 December 2015 live Brodie Malcolm 5 December 2007 Danny Blanchflower, Northern Ireland captain at the time, helped save the situation by ordering his players to escort their Italian counterparts off the field while the police dealt with the crowd.https://www.fifa.com/mm/document/fifafacts/mencompwc/51/97/75/fs-201_19a_fwc-prel-history.pdf FIFA Fact Sheet: History of the FIFA World Cup (TM) Preliminary Competition 2010 2010-06-09 FIFA https://web.archive.org/web/20100614212731/http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/fifafacts/mencompwc/51/97/75/fs-201_19a_fwc-prel-history.pdf 14 June 2010 dead Table main WDL Q yes NIR NIR ITA ITA POR POR 2 1 1 6 3 2 0 2 5 5 1 1 2 4 7 WC green1 Qualification to 1958 FIFA World Cup y flag 2-1 3–0 1–0 3–0 1–1 3–0 2 1 0 complete FIFAhttp://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition%3D15/preliminaries/preliminary%3D10/index.html 1958 FIFA World Cup Chile Preliminaries 28 March 2013 FIFA 12 June 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20130328033947/http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=15/preliminaries/preliminary=10/index.html 28 March 2013 Matches Portugal v Northern Ireland 16 January 1957 POR 1 – 1 https://www.11v11.com/matches/portugal-v-northern-ireland-16-january-1957-226820/ NIR Vasques 24 Bingham 6 Lisbon, Portugal 33,000 Lequesne (France) Italy v Northern Ireland 25 April 1957 ITA 1 – 0 https://www.11v11.com/matches/italy-v-northern-ireland-25-april-1957-226871/ NIR Cervato 3 Rome, Italy 70,000 Guigue (France) Northern Ireland v Portugal 1 May 1957 NIR 3 – 0 https://www.11v11.com/matches/northern-ireland-v-portugal-01-may-1957-226876/ POR Casey 22Simpson 60McIlroy 70 pen. Belfast, Northern Ireland 35,000 Phillips (Scotland) Portugal v Italy 26 May 1957 POR 3 – 0 Report ITA Vasques 41Teixeira 81Matateu 87 Lisbon, Portugal 37,000 Treichel (West Germany) Italy v Portugal 22 December 1957 ITA 3 – 0 Report POR Gratton 36 72Pivatelli 84 Milan, Italy 50,000 Damiani (Yugoslavia) Northern Ireland v Italy 15 January 1958 NIR 2 – 1 https://www.11v11.com/matches/northern-ireland-v-italy-15-january-1958-227035/ ITA McIlroy 13Cush 28 Da Costa 56 Belfast, Northern Ireland 50,000 Zsolt (Hungary) References External links FIFA official page RSSSF - 1958 World Cup Qualification Allworldcup 8 Category:1956–57 in Portuguese football Category:1957–58 in Portuguese football Category:1956–57 in Italian football Category:1957–58 in Italian football Category:1956–57 in Northern Ireland association football Category:Northern Ireland at the 1958 FIFA World Cup