Football World Cup 1938 / qualification

Participant in the qualification for the 1938 World Cup

A total of 36 teams had registered for the 1938 World Cup in France , including

• 25 teams from Europe (including Egypt and Palestine)
• 2 teams from South America
• 7 teams from North and Central America
• 2 teams from Asia.

The number of entries of 36 teams meant a new record of participants. Since the defending champions Italy and the hosts France were directly qualified and the World Cup tournament was to be played with 16 teams, 14 free places in the final round were available for the remaining 34 teams. Nine associations did not send their selection teams to the continental qualifying competitions . Therefore, only in Europe there were playoffs, in which 21 teams took part.

Finalists

The following finally qualified for the 16 places in the World Cup:

Defending champion:	Italy		Host:	France
11 to Europe	German Empire	Sweden	Norway	Poland
	Romania	Switzerland	Hungary	Czechoslovakia
	Austria *	Netherlands	Belgium
1 to South America	Brazil
1 to North and Central America	Cuba
1 to Asia	Dutch East Indies

* After Austria was annexed to the German Reich, a large German team started at the 1938 World Cup in France. Austria's place remained vacant. This reduced the number of participants in the World Cup finals to 15 teams.

Europe

In Europe, the 25 registered teams were divided into nine groups, including one group of four, three groups of three and five groups of two. From the group of four and one of the groups of three (group 9), two teams qualified for the final round, and one team each from the remaining seven groups, which were played in the knockout system with a return leg.

Group 1

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	German Empire	3	3	0	0	011: 100	+10	06-00
2.	Sweden	3	2	0	1	011: 700	+4	04: 20
3.	Estonia	3	1	0	2	004:110	−7	02: 40
3.	Finland	3	0	0	3	000: 700	−7	00: 60

Game results:

06/16/1937	Stockholm	Sweden	-	Finland	4: 0 (0: 0)
06/20/1937	Stockholm	Sweden	-	Estonia	7: 2 (3: 2)
06/29/1937	Helsinki	Finland	-	German Empire	0: 2 (0: 2)
08/19/1937	Turku	Finland	-	Estonia	0: 1 (0: 0)
08/29/1937	Koenigsberg	German Empire	-	Estonia	4: 1 (0: 1)
11/21/1937	Hamburg	German Empire	-	Sweden	5: 0 (2: 0)

Group 2

Game results:

date		Result		place
10/10/1937	Norway	3: 2 (1: 1)	Ireland	Oslo
11/07/1937	Ireland	3: 3 (1: 2)	Norway	Dublin
Total:	Norway	6: 5	Ireland

Group 3

Game results:

date		Result		place
10/10/1937	Poland	4: 0 (2: 0)	Yugoslavia	Warsaw
04/03/1938	Yugoslavia	1: 0 (0: 0)	Poland	Belgrade
Total:	Poland	4: 1	Yugoslavia

Group 4

Game results:

Romania

-

Egypt

Egypt renounced

Group 5

Game results:

date		Result		place
05/01/1938	Switzerland	2: 1 (2: 0)	Portugal	Milan 1

¹ The two teams had agreed on a single game on neutral ground.

Group 6

1 round

Game results:

date		Result		place
01/22/1938	Palestine	1: 3 (1: 2)	Greece	Tel Aviv
02/20/1938	Greece	1: 0 (0: 0)	Palestine	Athens
Total:	Palestine	1: 4	Greece

2nd round

Game results:

date		Result		place
03/25/1938	Hungary	11: 1 (7: 0)	Greece	Budapest

Group 7

Game results:

date		Result		place
11/07/1937	Bulgaria	1: 1 (0: 1)	Czechoslovakia	Sofia
04/24/1938	Czechoslovakia	6: 0 (1: 0)	Bulgaria	Prague
Total:	Bulgaria	1: 7	Czechoslovakia

Group 8

1 round

Game results:

date		Result		place
07/29/1937	Latvia	4: 2 (1: 0)	Lithuania	Riga
09/03/1937	Lithuania	1: 5 (0: 4)	Latvia	Kaunas
Total:	Latvia	9: 3	Lithuania

2nd round

Game results:

date		Result		place
05/10/1937	Austria	2: 1 (2: 1)	Latvia	Vienna

Group 9

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Netherlands	2	1	1	0	005: 100	+4	03: 10
2.	Belgium	2	1	1	0	004: 300	+1	03: 10
3.	Luxembourg	2	0	0	2	002: 700	−5	00: 40

Game results:

11/28/1937	Rotterdam	Netherlands	-	Luxembourg	4: 0 (1: 0)
March 13, 1938	Luxembourg	Luxembourg	-	Belgium	2: 3 (2: 1)
04/03/1938	Antwerp	Belgium	-	Netherlands	1: 1 (0: 1)

South America

The South American qualifying round should only be played with two teams. However, by renouncing Argentina, Brazil qualified for the World Cup without a game.

Group 10

Game results:

Brazil

-

Argentina

Argentina waived

North America

A total of seven teams should play in the qualification. However, since all teams except Cuba withdrew their participation, no games took place and Cuba qualified for the World Cup finals.

Group 11

1 round

Group A

Game results:

Cuba

-

United States

USA waived

Group B

Game results: ¹

Colombia

Costa Rica

Mexico

El Salvador

Dutch Guiana

¹ No games were played in group B, as all teams waived.

2nd round

Because all teams from group B withdrew in the first round, the second round between Cuba and the winner of group B was omitted.

Asia

Only two Asian teams registered for qualification. As Japan withdrew its participation, the Dutch East Indies qualified for the World Cup.

Group 12

Game results:

Dutch East Indies

-

Japan

Japan renounced

Web link

• RSSSF - qualification for the 1938 World Cup