A total of 34 teams entered the

qualification Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...

rounds of the

1950 FIFA World Cup The 1950 FIFA World Cup was the fourth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams and held in Brazil from 24 June to 16 July 1950. The planned 1942 and 1946 World Cups were ...

, competing for a total of 16 spots in the final tournament.

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, as the hosts, and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, as the defending champions, qualified automatically, leaving 14 spots open for competition. The remaining 32 teams were divided into 10 groups, based on geographical considerations, as follows: *Groups 1 to 6 –

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

: ''7 places'', contested by 18 teams (including

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

). *Groups 7 to 9 –

The Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America, North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. ...

: ''6 places'', contested by 10 teams. *Group 10 –

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

: ''1 place'', contested by 4 teams. However, due to the withdrawals of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

and

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

after qualifying, only 13 teams actually competed in the final tournament. A total of 19 teams played at least one qualifying match. A total of 26 qualifying matches were played, and 121 goals were scored (an average of 4.65 per match). Listed below are the dates and results of the qualification rounds.

Groups

The 10 groups had different rules, as follows: *Group 1 had 4 teams. The teams played against each other once. The group winner and runner-up would qualify. *Groups 2, 3 and 4 had 3 teams each. The strongest team of each group was seeded. There would be two rounds of play: ** First Round: The seeded team received a bye and advanced to final round directly. The 2 unseeded teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The winner would advance to final round. ** Final Round: The seeded team played against the winner of the First Round on a home-and-away basis. The winner would qualify. *Group 5 had 3 teams. The teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winner would qualify. *Group 6 had 2 teams. The teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winner would qualify. *Group 7 had 3 teams. The group winner and runner-up would qualify. *Group 8 had 4 teams. The group winner and runner-up would qualify. *Group 9 had 3 teams. The teams played against each other twice. The group winner and runner-up would qualify. *Group 10 had 4 teams. The group winner would qualify.

Group 1

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- England qualified. Scotland also qualified, but declined to participate.

Group 2

First round

Syria withdrew, and remaining match was not played. Turkey advanced to the Final Round.

Final round

Austria withdrew, so Turkey qualified automatically. But Turkey later also withdrew, and FIFA offered the place to Portugal, the runner-up of Group 6, but they declined. FIFA decided not to allow anyone else to qualify, leaving the World Cup two teams short.

Group 3

First round

---- Yugoslavia advanced to the Final Round.

Final round

---- ''France 2–2 Yugoslavia on aggregate, and a play-off on neutral ground was played to decide who would qualify.'' Yugoslavia qualified while France were also offered a place by FIFA. France initially accepted, but later declined.

Group 4

First round

---- Switzerland advanced to the Final Round.

Final round

Belgium withdrew, so Switzerland qualified automatically.

Group 5

---- ---- ---- Sweden qualified. Finland withdrew before the group was completed. Ireland (FAI) were subsequently invited to enter competition but declined the opportunity because of travelling costs. Sweden beat Finland 8–1 on 2 October 1949 in Malmö. However, FIFA's website does not include this match in the list of matches or in the group standings.

RSSSF The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF) is an international organization dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around the ...

's website lists the match with the note "Sweden played B-team", and does not provide group standings.

Group 6

---- Spain qualified. Portugal were also invited to take part but they declined.

Group 7

Argentina withdrew, so Bolivia and Chile qualified automatically.

Group 8

Ecuador and Peru withdrew, so Uruguay and Paraguay qualified automatically.

Group 9

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Mexico and the United States qualified.

Group 10

Burma, Indonesia and the Philippines all withdrew before the draw, so India qualified automatically. But India later also withdrew "because of the expense of travelling such a long way to play," and the

AIFF Audio Interchange File Format (AIFF) is an audio file format standard used for storing sound data for personal computers and other electronic audio devices. The format was developed by Apple Inc. in 1988 based on Electronic Arts' Interchange File ...

wanted to concentrate on the 1952 Olympics. Although according to some reports, it was caused by a FIFA ruling that players were not allowed to play barefoot.WM 1950 , Brasilien , sportschau.de
FIFA decided not to invite anyone else, leaving the World Cup three teams short.

Qualified teams

Qualification for the 1950 FIFA World Cup

*, and withdrew after qualifying. *(H) – qualified automatically as hosts *(c) – qualified automatically as defending champions

Goalscorers

;4 goals *

Jack Rowley John Frederick Rowley (7 October 1918 – 28 June 1998) was an English footballer who played as a forward from the 1930s to the 1950s, mainly remembered for a 17-year spell with Manchester United. He was nicknamed "The Gunner" because of his p ...

* Horacio Casarín * Luis de la Fuente *

Željko Čajkovski Željko Čajkovski (5 May 1925 – 11 November 2016) was a Croatian Association football, football player and coach, who played as a Forward (association football), forward. He was born in Zagreb, Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Biography ...

;3 goals *

Jackie Milburn John Edward Thompson "Jackie" Milburn (11 May 1924 – 9 October 1988) was a football player principally associated with Newcastle United and England, though he also spent four seasons at Linfield. He was also known as Wor Jackie (particularly ...

Stan Mortensen Stanley Harding Mortensen (26 May 1921 – 22 May 1991) was an English professional footballer, most famous for his part in the 1953 FA Cup Final (subsequently known as the "Matthews Final"), in which he became the only player ever to score a h ...

Samuel Smyth Samuel Smyth (25 February 1925 – 19 October 2016) was a Northern Irish footballer who played in the Football League for Wolverhampton Wanderers, Stoke City and Liverpool. Career Smyth was born in Belfast in 1925 and played for local clubs ...

Con Martin Cornelius Joseph Martin (20 March 1923 – 24 February 2013) was an Irish footballer. Martin initially played Gaelic football for the Dublin county team before switching codes and embarking on a successful soccer career, playing for, among oth ...

* Henry Morris *

Telmo Zarra Telmo may refer to: People * Saint Telmo (died 303), also known as Erasmus of Formia, Christian martyr and saint * Pedro González Telmo (1190-1246), Castilian friar and priest * Luis Telmo Paz y Miño (1884-1962), President of the Supreme Militar ...

Karl-Erik Palmér Karl-Erik "Calle" Palmér (17 April 1929 – 2 February 2015) was a Swedish professional football player who played as a midfielder. He represented Malmö FF, Legnano, and Juventus during a club career that spanned between 1948 and 1960. A ful ...

Jacques Fatton Jacques Fatton (19 December 1925 – 26 July 2011) was a Swiss footballer. Career Fatton, who was born in Exincourt, France, was capped 53 times and scored 28 goals for the Switzerland national football team. He played in two FIFA World Cups, ...

* Fahreddin Cansever *

Stjepan Bobek Stjepan Bobek (; 3 December 1923 – 22 August 2010) was a Croatian and Yugoslav professional football striker and later football manager. Usually a forward or attacking midfielder, Bobek was renowned for his technique, vision and goalscoring ...

* Milutin Pajević ;2 goals *

Stan Pearson Stanley Clare Pearson (11 January 1919 – 20 February 1997) was an English footballer. Born in Salford, Lancashire, Pearson was signed by Manchester United as an amateur in December 1935 and turned professional in May 1937. His first senior ga ...

* Henri Baillot * Yehoshua Glazer *

Antonio Flores Antonio González Flores (14 November 1961 – 30 May 1995) was a Spanish singer-songwriter and actor. He was Romani on his father's side and maternal grandmother side. Antonio is known for his pop rock style of singing. His songs, which he ...

* Luis Luna * José Naranjo * William Waddell *

René Maillard René Maillard (8 April 1931 – 4 December 2012) was a French composer. Life Born in Bois-Colombes, Maillard had his first violin lessons during the Second World War with Charles Maillier, who was a violin teacher in Limoges. He was then a stu ...

Pete Matevich Pete Matevich is an American former soccer player who earned four caps, scoring two goals, as a member of the U.S. national team in 1949. Professional career Matevich was a member of the Chicago Maroons of the North American Soccer Football Lea ...

John Souza John Souza-Benavides (July 12, 1920 – March 11, 2012) known as John "Clarkie" Souza, was an American soccer player who earned 14 caps and scored 2 goals for the United States men's national soccer team, and played in the U.S. team's histor ...

* Frank Wallace *

Prvoslav Mihajlović Prvoslav Mihajlović ( sr-cyr, Првослав Михајловић; 13 April 1921 – 28 June 1978) was a Serbian- Yugoslav footballer and head coach. Biography On the national level he played for Yugoslavia national team (13 matches/6 goals ...

Marko Valok Marko Valok ( sr-Cyrl, Марко Валок, ; born 5 March 1927) is a Serbian retired professional Association football, footballer who represented Yugoslavia national football team, Yugoslavia internationally. Playing career Napredak Kruševac ...

;1 goal * Jacinto Barquín * José Gómez * Santiago Veiga *

Roy Bentley Roy Thomas Frank Bentley (17 May 1924 – 20 April 2018) was an English football player and manager. A former forward, Bentley played 367 games for Chelsea and captained the club to their first League Championship in the 1954–55 season. H ...

Jack Froggatt Jack Froggatt (17 November 1922 – 17 February 1993) was an English footballer. Career Coming from a footballing family, Froggatt started his football career in 1945, whilst in the RAF. Froggatt's uncle, Frank and cousin, Redfern Froggatt bot ...

Jorma Vaihela Jorma Johan Sigurd Vaihela (30 September 1925 – 9 February 2006) was a Finnish international footballer who played as an inside forward. Club career Born in Raahe, Vaihela played club football in Finland for TuTo, PoPa and RU-38, and in Swed ...

Jean Luciano Jean Luciano (2 January 1921 – 7 July 1997) was a French football player and manager who played as a midfielder. He coached OGC Nice, Sporting CP, Vitória S.C., SC Toulon, AS Monaco FC and Gazélec Ajaccio Gazélec Football Club Aja ...

* Marius Walter *

Bobby Brennan Robert Anderson Brennan (14 March 1925 – 1 January 2002) was a professional footballer who made more than 400 appearances in the Football League, which included 225 matches for Norwich City, and was capped five times for Northern Ireland. He p ...

* Peter Farrell * Johnny Gavin *

Davy Walsh David Joseph Walsh (28 April 1923 – 14 March 2016), commonly referred to as Davy Walsh or Dave Walsh, was an Irish footballer who played as a centre forward for, among others, Linfield, West Bromwich Albion and Aston Villa. Walsh was a dual ...

* Jim Kremer * Armand Muller * Michel Reuter * Camille Wagner * Mario Ochoa * Héctor Ortiz *

Carlos Septién Carlos Septién González (18 January 1923 – 1978) was a Mexican football forward who played for Mexico in the 1950 and 1954 FIFA World Cups. He also played for Real Club España and Jaibos Tampico Madero. Septién played for Mexico at ...

Fernando Cabrita Fernando da Silva Cabrita (1 May 1923 – 22 September 2014) was a Portuguese football forward and manager. He amassed Primeira Liga totals of 295 games and 88 goals over the course of 14 seasons, in representation of Olhanense and Sporting d ...

* António Jesus Correia *

José Travassos José António Barreto Travassos (22 February 1926 – 12 February 2002) was a Portuguese Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward. Club career Born in Lisbon, Travassos joined Sporting CP in 1946 ...

* Alexander Linwood * Jimmy Mason * John McPhail *

Lawrence Reilly Lawrance Reilly (28 October 1928 – 22 July 2013) was a Scottish footballer. He was one of the " Famous Five", the Hibernian forward line during the late 1940s and early 1950s, along with Bobby Johnstone, Gordon Smith, Eddie Turnbull, and W ...

Billy Steel William Steel (1 May 1923 – 13 May 1982) was a Scottish professional footballer who played for St Mirren, Morton, Derby County, Dundee and the Scotland national team. One of Scotland's greatest inside forwards, Billy Steel combined a bril ...

Estanislao Basora Estanislau Basora Brunet (also Estanislao; 18 November 1926 – 16 March 2012) was a Spanish footballer who played as a winger or striker. Most of his 15-year career was spent at FC Barcelona for which he appeared in more than 300 official ga ...

Agustín Gaínza Agustín Gaínza Vicandi (28 May 1922 – 6 January 1995) was a Spanish football forward and manager. Club career Nicknamed ''Piru'', Gaínza's entire career was spent with Athletic Bilbao. Born in Basauri, Biscay, he made his official debut a ...

* Luis Molowny *

José Luis Panizo José Luis López Panizo (6 February 1922 – 14 February 1990) was a Spanish footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. During 16 seasons he played for Athletic Bilbao, appearing in 413 official matches (179 goals) and winning seven ma ...

* Sune Anderson *

Hasse Jeppson Hans Olof "Hasse" Jeppson (10 May 1925 – 21 February 2013) was a Swedish professional footballer who played as a striker. He was known for his impressive goals to games ratio at several clubs, and represented Örgryte IS, Djurgårdens IF, Cha ...

Nils Liedholm Nils Erik Liedholm (; 8 October 1922 – 5 November 2007) was a Swedish football midfielder and coach. ''Il Barone'' (The Baron), as he is affectionately known in Italy, was renowned for being part of the Swedish "Gre-No-Li" trio of strikers al ...

* Kiki Antenen * Robert Ballaman *

Hans-Peter Friedländer Hans-Peter Friedländer (6 November 1920 – July 1999) immigrated with his family to Switzerland at the age of five years. He was active as a Swiss people, Swiss association football, football Forward (association football), forward who played f ...

Walter Bahr Walter may refer to: People * Walter (name), both a surname and a given name * Little Walter, American blues harmonica player Marion Walter Jacobs (1930–1968) * Gunther (wrestler), Austrian professional wrestler and trainer Walter Hahn (born 19 ...

Ben Wattman Benjamin "Ben" Wattman is an American former soccer player who earned two caps, scoring one goal, with the U.S. national team in 1949. Wattman earned his first caps in a 6–0 loss to Mexico on September 4, 1949. Fourteen days later, he earned ...

Bülent Eken Bülent Eken (26 October 1923 – 25 July 2016) was a Turkish footballer and coach. He played most of his career at Galatasaray SK, but also played for Salernitana and Palermo in Italy. After his career he became a manager and he coached in Ital ...

Erol Keskin Erol Keskin (2 March 1927 – 1 October 2016) was a Turkish football forward who played for Turkey in the 1948 Summer Olympics and 1954 FIFA World Cup The 1954 FIFA World Cup was the fifth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial inter ...

Gündüz Kılıç "Baba" Gündüz Kılıç (29 October 1918 – 17 May 1980) was a Turkish football player and coach. He was Ali Kılıç's son and Altemur Kılıç's brother. Biography Born in 1918 in Istanbul, Gündüz Kılıç attended Galatasaray Lycee ...

* Lefter Kücükandonyadis *

Mal Griffiths William Maldwyn "Mal" Griffiths (8 March 1919 – 5 April 1969) was a Welsh footballer who played as an outside right for Leicester City and Wales. Born in Merthyr Tydfil, Griffiths started out in local football before signing for Arsenal. A ...

Zlatko Čajkovski Zlatko "Čik" Čajkovski (24 November 1923 – 27 July 1998) was a Croatian and Yugoslavian football player and coach. His brother, Željko Čajkovski, was a footballer as well. Normally a defensive midfielder, Čajkovski was renowned for hi ...

Božidar Senčar Božidar Senčar (1927–1987) was a Croatian football midfielder who started playing for his hometown club Dinamo Zagreb in Yugoslav First League in 1946. Club career After spending a season and a half with Dinamo he was picked up by Partizan ...

Notes

* At the start of 1950 there were, in effect, two ''Ireland'' teams, chosen by two rival associations. Both associations, the

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

-based

IFA IFA or Ifa may refer to: Organisations Economics * Independent financial adviser, a type of financial services professional in the UK * Index Fund Advisors * Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, representing actuaries in the UK * Institute of Ac ...

and the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

-based FAI claimed jurisdiction over the whole of

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

and selected players from the whole island. As a result, several notable Irish players from this era played for both teams. Four players –

Tom Aherne Thomas Aherne (26 January 1919 – 30 December 1999), also referred to as Bud Aherne, was an Irish footballer and hurler. He played football for Belfast Celtic and Luton Town and was a dual internationalist, playing for both Ireland teams � ...

Reg Ryan Reginald Alphonso Ryan (30 October 1925 – 13 February 1997), also referred to as Paddy Ryan, was an Irish footballer who played for West Bromwich Albion, Derby County and Coventry City. Ryan was also a dual international, playing for both I ...

and

– actually played for both the FAI XI and the IFA XI in these qualifying rounds.

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

intervened, after complaints from the FAI, pp. 50. and subsequently restricted players' eligibility based on the political border. In 1953 FIFA ruled neither team could be referred to as ''Ireland'', decreeing that the FAI team be officially designated as the

, while the IFA team was to become

. * For the third qualifying tournament in a row, the South American teams qualified automatically after withdrawals. In Group 7, Bolivia and Chile did play two matches between them, but they were not classified as official World Cup qualifiers by FIFA. * Burma, the Philippines and Indonesia all withdrew, so

qualified automatically. However, India withdrew later because of "disagreements over team selection and insufficient practice time.". India had never been able to qualify for the World Cup before and have never been able to do since then, which means they are the only team to have qualified for the World Cup and that never played a World Cup match. *

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

were both banned because of their actions during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, despite originally being a member of the

Axis powers The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were ...

, was allowed to participate because its government was overthrown in 1943 and the new government sided with the Allies.

References

External links

FIFA World Cup Official Site – 1950 World Cup Qualification

All World Cup – 1950 World Cup Qualification
{{DEFAULTSORT:1950 Fifa World Cup Qualification FIFA World Cup qualification