The world also witnessed the rise of greatest footballer the world had seen — Pele. At 17 and in only 239 days, Pele became the youngest player to score a goal in the World Cup, when his team faced Wales.
The mega event also saw the Soviet Union not participating following their dismal performance at the 1952 Summer Olympics. Scotland also made their debut in the tournament but failed to make any impact and were knocked out after the group stage.
This tournament set a number of all-time goalscoring records including highest average goals per game and Hungary became the highest-scoring team. Most goals in a single match came in the quarter-finals contest between Austria and Switzerland with the former winning 7—5.
In an attempt to erase the humiliation suffered in the “maracanazo” of the past World Cup, Brazil dressed for the first time in the green-yellow shirt, instead of the traditional white uniform that they had been using.
