On 26 June 1954, in a quarter-final match of the 1954 FIFA World Cup, Austria beat Switzerland 7âÂÂ5 in Lausanne, Switzerland. The 12 goals scored in the match set a menâÂÂs World Cup record, unequalled to date, for the highest scoring match ever. The match is known by its German name, Hitzeschlacht von Lausanne (roughly translated to "The heat battle of Lausanne"), due to the high temperature that it was played under, 40 ðC (104 ðF).
Switzerland, the tournament hosts, took a notable lead early on. In four minutes, the Swiss scored three goals: forward Robert Ballaman opened the score at the 16th minute, followed quickly by two goals by Josef Hügi. Austria then became the first team in World Cup history to recover from a 3âÂÂ0 deficit, scoring 5 goals in the remainder of the first half; Theodor Wagner initiated the Austrian response at the 25th minute; forward Alfred Körner drew the score to 2âÂÂ3 one minute later, and another minute later Wagner equalized to 3âÂÂ3. Austria had tied the score in three minutes. In 11 minutes, between the 16th and the 27th minutes, six goals were scored, three by each team. At the 32nd minute, Ernst Ocwirk gave Austria the lead; Körner added his second, making the score 5âÂÂ3. Ballaman scored again for Switzerland at the 39th minute. The first half thus ended 5âÂÂ4 in favour of Austria, being the highest scoring half in World Cup history, even after inside left Körner had missed a penalty kick in the 42nd minute.
Nine minutes into the second half, Wagner put Austria up 6âÂÂ4 with his third goal, recording the seventh hat-trick of the 1954 World Cup (See List of World Cup hat-tricks). Hügi would then emulate the feat, scoring his third at the 58th minute. Switzerland was not able to equalize, and Erich Probst made it 7âÂÂ5 to end the scoring at the 76th minute. According to FIFA, the extreme heat adversely affected Switzerland after they led the match 3âÂÂ0 at one point. Other sources add that at first, Switzerland had been able to take advantage of the temperature, when Austrian goalkeeper Kurt Schmied suffered from hyperthermia early in the match, quickly allowing the first three Swiss goals, before being assisted by the Austrian masseur while in play.