The national team was due to play in the 1958 World Cup qualification against Indonesia and then against Sudan.

In May 1958 the IFA stopped matches in the leagues below Liga Leumit due to suspicions of bribery.

The 1957–58 Israel State Cup started on 12 October 1957, reached the quarter-finals phase by July 1958, and was delayed over an appeal made by Hapoel Petah Tikva over the team's loss to Maccabi Tel Aviv and was completed in September 1958.

In the final round, Sudan refused to play Israel for political reasons and withdrew.

The withdrawal meant that Israel had won the qualification spot for the African/Asian zone, but as the team didn't play a match throughout the campaign, and as FIFA ruled that no team would qualify without playing at least one match (except for the defending champions and the hosts), an opponent for Israel was drawn from the runners-up in the other zones.