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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.