Football World Cup 1950 / qualification

Overview

Participant in qualifying for the 1950 World Cup

A total of 34 teams registered for the 1950 World Cup in Brazil . These were:

• 16 teams from Europe (with defending champion Italy)
• 3 teams from the Middle East
• 8 teams from South America (with host Brazil)
• 3 teams from North and Central America
• 4 teams from Southeast Asia

No teams registered from Africa or Oceania. Since the World Cup finals were played with 16 teams and defending champions Italy and hosts Brazil were set, there were 14 free places in the finals for the remaining 32 teams. Nine teams withdrew their registration at the continental elimination tournaments, with the result that four of the remaining participants were qualified for the World Cup finals without a fight.

The 16 World Cup places were distributed as follows:

Defending champion:	Italy		Host:	Brazil
7 to Europe and the Middle East	England	Scotland 1	Turkey 1	Yugoslavia
	Switzerland	Sweden	Spain
4 to South America	Chile	Bolivia	Uruguay	Paraguay
2 to North and Central America	Mexico	United States
1 to Southeast Asia	India 1

¹India decided not to participate in the finals in Brazil, as did Scotland and Turkey. The starting places for the European teams were offered to France and Portugal, but they also waived. As a result, the World Cup finals took place with only 13 teams.

Europe and the Middle East

Italy was automatically set as defending champion for the final tournament in Brazil. No selection from the then three German states took part, because the DFB was only accepted back into FIFA after the 1950 World Cup, and Saarland and the GDR were also not yet able to participate. The remaining 15 teams from Europe played in six groups, including one group of four, four of three and one group of two. In the group of four, only British teams played, as these qualifying games also represented the British Home Championship . The winner and the runner-up qualified for the World Cup finals, while from the other groups only the group winner. In the groups of three (except group 5) and the group of two, the games were played in the knockout system with a return leg.

Group 1

England and Scotland qualified for the World Cup finals. Scotland, however, decided not to take part, as originally they only wanted to take part in the tournament as the group first.

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	England	3	3	0	0	014: 300	+11	06-00
2.	Scotland	3	2	0	1	010: 300	+7	04: 20
3.	Wales	3	0	1	2	001: 600	−5	01: 50
4th	Northern Ireland	3	0	1	2	004:170	−13	01: 50

Game results

10/01/1949	Belfast	Northern Ireland	-	Scotland	2: 8 (0: 3)
October 15, 1949	Cardiff	Wales	-	England	1: 4 (0: 3)
11/09/1949	Glasgow	Scotland	-	Wales	2: 0 (1: 0)
11/16/1949	Manchester	England	-	Northern Ireland	9: 2 (4: 0)
03/08/1950	Wrexham	Wales	-	Northern Ireland	0-0
04/15/1950	Glasgow	Scotland	-	England	0: 1 (0: 0)

Group 2

Syria decided not to participate in the qualifying tournament after one game, which meant that opponents Turkey automatically reached the second elimination round against Austria. Before the game, the Austrians also withdrew their team, which qualified Turkey for the World Cup finals. But they did not make use of their right to start.

Game results

1 round

date		Result		place
11/20/1949	Turkey	7: 0 (3: 0)	Syria	Ankara

2nd round

	Result		comment
Turkey		Austria	Austria waived

Group 3

Yugoslavia won the play-off against France and qualified for the finals in Brazil. The defeated French then got the offer to take the starting place for the Scots who had jumped off at the final round. However, after the widely separated venues became known, this was rejected.

Game results

1 round

date		Result		place
08/21/1949	Yugoslavia	6: 0 (4: 0)	Israel	Belgrade
September 18, 1949	Israel	2: 5 (0: 3)	Yugoslavia	Tel Aviv
Total:	Yugoslavia	11: 20	Israel

2nd round

10/09/1949	Belgrade	Yugoslavia	-	France	1: 1 (1: 0)
10/30/1949	Colombes	France	-	Yugoslavia	1: 1 (1: 1)
December 11, 1949	Florence	Yugoslavia	-	France	3: 2 n.V. (2: 2, 1: 1)

Group 4

With two victories over Luxembourg, Switzerland reached the second round of elimination, in which they should face Belgium. These waived, however, whereby the Swiss were qualified for the World Cup finals.

Game results

1 round

06/26/1949	Zurich	Switzerland	-	Luxembourg	5: 2 (3: 1)
September 18, 1949	Luxembourg	Luxembourg	-	Switzerland	2: 3 (2: 1)

2nd round

Switzerland

-

Belgium

Belgium waived

Group 5

Finland skipped the last game against Sweden, whereupon FIFA canceled all games with Finnish participation. Sweden qualified for the World Cup finals in two games against Ireland.

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Sweden	2	2	0	0	006: 200	+4	04-00
2.	Ireland	2	0	0	2	002: 600	−4	00: 40
3.	Finland	0	0	0	0	000-000	± 0	00-00

Finland has withdrawn

Game results

06/02/1949	Stockholm	Sweden	-	Ireland	3: 1 (2: 1)
09/08/1949	Dublin	Ireland	-	Finland	3: 0 (2: 0)
10/02/1949	Malmo	Sweden	-	Finland	8: 1 (5: 1)
10/09/1949	Helsinki	Finland	-	Ireland	1: 1 (0: 0)
11/13/1949	Dublin	Ireland	-	Sweden	1: 3 (0: 2)
		Finland	-	Sweden	Finland waived

Group 6

Spain was able to prevail against Portugal in two games and was thus qualified for the finals in Brazil. Portugal later received the offer to take the starting place of the withdrawn Turkish team, but refused.

Game results

04/02/1950	Madrid	Spain	-	Portugal	5: 1 (3: 1)
04/09/1950	Lisbon	Portugal	-	Spain	2: 2 (0: 1)

South America

With hosts Brazil, a team from South America was already set for the finals. The remaining seven teams played in two groups for the starting positions. However, since Argentina from Group 7 and Peru and Ecuador from Group 8 withdrew their participation, the other teams automatically qualified for the World Cup.

Group 7

Game results

02/26/1950	La Paz	Bolivia	-	Chile	2: 0 (0: 0)
		Argentina			withdrawn

Group 8

Game results

Uruguay

Paraguay

Ecuador

Peru

no games played

North and Central America

The three registered teams Mexico, USA and Cuba played their elimination tournament in Mexico City. The teams played against each other twice. The two best teams from Mexico and the USA ultimately qualified for the World Cup finals.

Group 9

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Mexico	4th	4th	0	0	017: 200	+15	08-00
2.	United States	4th	1	1	2	008:150	−7	03: 50
3.	Cuba	4th	0	1	3	003:110	−8	01: 70

Game results

09/04/1949	Mexico city	Mexico	-	United States	6: 0 (3: 0)
09/11/1949	Mexico city	Mexico	-	Cuba	2: 0 (1: 0)
09/14/1949	Mexico city	United States	-	Cuba	1: 1 (1: 1)
September 18, 1949	Mexico city	Mexico	-	United States	6: 2 (3: 0)
09/21/1949	Mexico city	United States	-	Cuba	5: 2 (4: 1)
09/25/1949	Mexico city	Mexico	-	Cuba	3: 0 (1: 0)

Asia

Four teams from Asia originally registered for the qualification, which was to be played in two rounds. After all teams except India had withdrawn their participation, India had qualified for the World Cup finals without a fight. Later, however, India also waived its right to start.

Group 10

Game results

1 round

India	-	Burma	Burma renounced
Philippines	-	Indonesia	Both renounced

Web link

• RSSSF - Qualification for the 1950 World Cup