Wales prepared for their world cup qualifying matches against Scotland, England and Northern Ireland in 1952 as they embarked on a string of friendly matches, including a 3-2 victory over the Rest of the UK in December 1951. The 1954 world cup qualifying campaign began in October 1952, a match at Cardiff against Scotland, a game that the Welsh lost 2-1. After suffering heavy defeats against France and Yugoslavia in friendly matches they met England at Cardiff in their second qualification match knowing victory was essential, they lost the tie heavily 4-1. They lost their third qualification match at Wrexham against Northern Ireland and finished the group off in bottom position. The Welsh met Austria in a key qualification match for the 1956 European tournament; however they lost the encounter 2-1 at Wrexham.
Wales found themselves in the same qualifying group as Czechoslovakia and East Germany in qualifying for the 1958 world cup finals. They met Czechoslovakia at Cardiff in May 1957 and won the tie 1-0 to put them on top of the group. They followed that up suffering two consecutive defeats against East Germany and Czechoslovakia away from home. Wales met East Germany in Cardiff in September 1957, knowing a heavy victory may put the Welsh in to the world cup finals. They defeated East Germany 4-1 by the end of the match and secured qualification.
They drew their three matches in the group stage of the world cup, against Hungary, Mexico and Sweden and they then defeated Hungary in the play offs. They played against Brazil in the quarter finals and lost the tie 1-0 in a match played at Gothenburg.