The privilege of hosting the tournament was given to Sweden, which withdrew in 1954, giving way to Switzerland. Argentina joined the competition after a long break, not having been in the finals since 1938. For the first time the USSR team entered the competition. There was already a surprise in the qualifiers: the elimination of two-time world champions from the first 4 tournaments, Uruguay and Italy. The Welsh team, after some bad performance in the qualifiers was selected opponent for Israel, which was boycotted in its qualifiers zone, and made the finals (beating Israel 2:0).

Before launching the VI World Cup, the first round was modified. Dividing the teams into weaker and stronger ones was exchanged for group games played "everyone against everyone". The favourites were the Brazilians and the English, but the latter didn't make it past the first round after losing to USSR 0:1 in an additional game. There were no surprises in the quarterfinals - the winners were the teams that did best in the group games. The semis were played between teams from Brazil, France, Sweden and West Germany. France gave Brazil a hard time only in the first half and in second half completely lost initiative. The other game the home team beat defending champion, West Germany. In the final Sweden was no match for the "canarinhos" and lost 2:5. The Rimet Cup went to Brazil for the first time in history. France won 3. place, defeating West Germany 6:3.

Top players of the tournament: Didi, Garrincha, Pelé, N. Santos (Brazil), Fontaine, Kopa (France), Liedholm, Skoglund (Sweden), Rahn (West Germany), Blanchflower (Northern Ireland), Jaszyn (USSR).