A total of 37 teams entered the

1938 FIFA World Cup The 1938 FIFA World Cup was the 3rd edition of the FIFA World Cup, World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held in France from 4 to 19 June 1938. Italy national ...

qualification Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

rounds, competing for a total of 16 spots in the final tournament. For the first time the title holders and the host country were given automatic qualification. Therefore,

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, as the hosts, and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, as the defending champions, qualified automatically, leaving 14 spots open for competition. Due to the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

withdrew from the competition. The remaining 34 teams were divided into 12 groups, based on geographical considerations, as follows: *Groups 1 to 9 – Europe: ''11 places'', contested by 23 teams (including

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

and

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

). *Groups 10 and 11 –

The Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.'' Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sin ...

: ''2 places'', contested by 9 teams. *Group 12 – Asia: ''1 place'', contested by 2 teams. However, due to the withdrawal of

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

after qualifying (they had been annexed by

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

), only 15 teams actually competed in the final tournament. FIFA did not offer participation to the runner-up of the group that Austria had played in,

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

. A total of 21 teams played at least one qualifying match. A total of 22 qualifying matches were played, and 96 goals were scored (an average of 4.36 per match).

Format

The 12 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, 4, 5 and 7 had 2 teams each. The teams, except in Group 5, played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winners would qualify. In Group 5, Switzerland and Portugal were to play only one match on a neutral ground with the winner to qualify. *Groups 6 and 8 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 the Final Round directly. The remaining 2 teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The winner would advance to the Final Round. ** Final Round: The seeded team played against the winner of the First Round at home. The winner would qualify. *Group 9 had 3 teams. The teams played against each other once. The group winner and runner-up would qualify. *Group 10 had 2 teams. The group winner would qualify. *Group 11 had 7 teams. The group winner would qualify. *Group 12 had 2 teams. The group winner would qualify. Key: *Teams highlighted in green qualified for the finals. *Teams highlighted in Orange qualified for the final phase of their group.

Groups

Group 1

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Germany and Sweden qualified.

Group 2

---- Norway qualified.

Group 3

---- Poland finished above Yugoslavia on

goal average A goal or objective is an idea of the future or desired result that a person or a group of people envision, plan, and commit to achieve. People endeavour to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines. A goal is roughly similar to ...

, and thus qualified.

Group 4

Egypt were to play Romania on 17 December 1937. However, Egypt withdrew from the competition after

Egyptian ''Egyptian'' describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of year ...

officials objected to playing on this date since it was in the Muslim holy month of

Ramadan Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It is observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting (''Fasting in Islam, sawm''), communal prayer (salah), reflection, and community. It is also the month in which the Quran is believed ...

(Some sources say that Ramadan in that year ended on 3 December, but at the time the beginning of Islamic months depended on the sighting of the new moon which could vary depending on the country or region one was in). Therefore, Romania qualified after Egypt invited Austrian club side First Vienna FC to play a friendly match against the national team.

Group 5

Switzerland qualified.

Group 6

First round

---- Greece qualified for the final round.

Final round

Hungary qualified.

Group 7

---- Czechoslovakia qualified.

Group 8

First round

---- Latvia qualified for the final round.

Final round

Austria qualified, but was later incorporated by Germany during the

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, ), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into Nazi Germany on 12 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a "German Question, Greater Germany") arose after t ...

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

offered the place to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

(winner of the 1937–38 British Home Championship), who had opted not to enter the competition, but they declined the offer; FIFA decided not to allow anyone else to qualify, leaving the World Cup one team short.

Group 9

---- ---- Netherlands and Belgium qualified.

Group 10

Argentina withdrew, so Brazil qualified automatically.

Group 11

First round

Costa Rica, Dutch Guiana, El Salvador, Mexico, Colombia and the United States all withdrew, so Cuba qualified automatically for the second round.

Second round

All teams other than Cuba had withdrawn from competition, so they qualified automatically for the finals.

Group 12

Japan withdrew, so the Dutch East Indies qualified automatically.

Qualified teams

Qualification for the 1938 FIFA World Cup

* withdrew after qualifying due to the

. *(H) – qualified automatically as hosts *(C) – qualified automatically as defending champions

Goalscorers

;5 goals * Gyula Zsengellér * Fricis Kaņeps ;4 goals * Reidar Kvammen ;3 goals * Ladislav Šimůnek * Ernst Lehner * Kleanthis Vikelidis * József Nemes * Iļja Vestermans * Piet de Boer * Lennart Bunke * Gustav Wetterström ;2 goals * Oldřich Nejedlý * Georg Siimenson * Josef Gauchel * Helmut Schön * Otto Siffling * Pál Titkos * Jimmy Dunne * Vaclavs Borduško * Jonas Paulionis * Alf Martinsen * Leonard Piontek * Gustaf Josefsson ;1 goal * Franz Binder * Camillo Jerusalem * Raymond Braine * Hendrik Isemborghs * Bernard Voorhoof * François Devries * Georgi Pachedzhiev * Josef Ludl * Jan Říha * Richard Kuremaa * Heinrich Uukkivi * Fritz Szepan * Adolf Urban * Lefteris Makris * Antonis Migiakis * Jenő Vincze * Harry Duggan * Matty Geoghegan *

Kevin O'Flanagan Kevin Patrick O'Flanagan (10 June 1919 – 26 May 2006) was an Irish sportsman, physician and sports administrator. An outstanding all-rounder, he represented his country at both soccer and rugby union. He was also a noted Sprint (running), spri ...

* Juozas Gudelis * Gusty Kemp * Camille Libar * Peri Neufeld * Kick Smit * Henk van Spaandonck * Ernst Wilimowski * Jerzy Wostal * Fernando Peyroteo * Sven Jonasson * Erik Persson * Kurt Svanström * Georges Aeby *

Lauro Amadò Lauro Amadò (3 March 1912 – 6 June 1971), also known as Lajo, was a Switzerland, Swiss Association football, football player. Career Amadò was born in Lugano. He played 54 international games for the Switzerland national football team and ...

* Blagoje Marjanović

Notes

* It was originally intended that the World Cup would be held alternately between the continents of South America and Europe. However

Jules Rimet Jules Rimet (; 14 October 1873 – 16 October 1956) was a French football administrator who was the 3rd President of FIFA, serving from 1921 to 1954. He is FIFA's longest-serving president, in office for 33 years. He also served as the pres ...

, the creator of the World Cup, convinced

to hold the competition in France, his home country. Because of this controversial move, many American countries, including

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

(the most likely hosts if the event was held in South America),

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...

, Mexico, Dutch Guiana,

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

, and the United States, all withdrew or refused to enter.. Brazil and Cuba were the only countries from the Americas to enter qualification and thus qualified for the World Cup by default.

References

External links

FIFA World Cup Official Site - 1938 World Cup Qualification
{{FIFA World Cup qualification

Qualification Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

FIFA World Cup qualification