1956 Individual Speedway World Championship
The 1956 Individual Speedway World Championship was the 11th edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider.
The World final was sponsored by the Sunday Dispatch and was televised live. Despite being televised a crowd of 65,000 saw the first Scandinavian winner in 23 year old Ove Fundin from Sweden.
Qualification
Qualification started in 1955.Stage 1
Norwegian qualification
The October 1955 Norwegian final was cancelled due to bad weather, resulting in riders being seeded to Nordic roundFinnish round
- 23 October 1955
- Helsinki Velodrome, Helsinki
- First 7 to 1956 Nordic round
| Pos. | Rider | Points |
| 1 | Kauko Jousanen | 15 |
| 2 | Antti Pajari | 14 |
| 3 | Simo Ylänen | 11 |
| 4 | Janne Rihkajrvi | 11 |
| 5 | Aulis Tuominen | 10 |
| 6 | Pertti Mikkola | 9 |
| 7 | Erkki Ala Sippola | 9 |
| 8 | Paavo Mikkola | 7 |
| 9 | Pekka Tenko | 7 |
| 10 | Raimo Kivinen | 6 |
| 11 | Toimi Koskela | 4 |
| 12 | Nils Staaf | 4 |
| 13 | Reino Niemi | 4 |
| 14 | Pentti Paajanen | 3 |
| 15 | Kalevi Lahtinen | 3 |
| 16 | Antti Mattila | 2 |
Stage 3
British & Commonwealth round
- Top 21 qualify for Championship round.
| Date | Venue | Winner |
| 10 July | Banister Court Stadium | Ian Williams |
| 12 July | Foxhall Stadium | Ken McKinlay |
| 12 July | Oxford Stadium | Howdy Byford |
| 13 July | Leicester Stadium | Dick Bradley |
| 14 July | Rayleigh Weir Stadium | Gerald Jackson |
| 25 July | Brandon Stadium | Bert Edwards |
| 25 July | Abbey Stadium | Bob Roger |
Nordic Final
- 8 June 1956
- Ryd Motorstadion, Linköping
- First 7 to European final
| Pos. | Rider | Points | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1 |  Continental FinalFritz Dirtl was tragically killed competing in the Continental final. He was involved in a crash with fellow Austrian rider Josef Kamper and the fell into the path of Mieczysław Połukard.
|