1950 FIFA World Cup
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The 1950 FIFA World Cup was the only one not decided by a knockout final. It was also the first year that the cup itself would be referred to as the Jules Rimet Cup, to mark the 25th anniversary of Rimet's presidency of FIFA. It was won by Uruguay, who had won the inaugural competition in 1930.
Background and overview
Because of World War II, the World Cup had not been staged since 1938; the planned World Cups of 1942 and 1946 were both cancelled. FIFA were keen to resurrect the competition as soon as possible and began making plans for a World Cup tournament to take place in 1949. In the aftermath of the war, much of Europe lay in ruins. As a result, FIFA had some difficulties finding a country interested in hosting the event, since many governments believed that the world scenario did not favor a sportive celebration, and also (more importantly) that the resources that would have to be put into organizing the World Cup could not be diverted from other more urgent fronts. For some time, the World Cup was at risk of not being held for sheer lack of interest from the international community, until Brazil presented a bid at the 1946 FIFA conference in Luxembourg offering to host the event on condition that the tournament take place in 1950. Brazil and Germany had been the leading bidders to host the cancelled 1942 World Cup; since both the 1934 and 1938 tournaments had been held in Europe, football historians generally agree that the 1942 event would most likely have been awarded to a South American host country. Brazil's new bid was very similar to the mooted 1942 bid and was quickly accepted. As the only country to apply, Brazil had the honour of organizing the event, and proverbially saved the day.Having secured a host nation, FIFA would still dedicate some time to persuading countries to send their national teams to compete. Italy was of particular interest: the Italians were the long-standing defending champions (winners in 1938, the last World Cup prior to 1950), but the country was reconstructing from the end of World War II, and at first there was little to no interest from the country in participating. The Italians were finally persuaded to attend, although rumours have had it that FIFA had to cover all travelling expenses in order for Italy's national team to be able to come to Brazil and play.
The group stages of that year's tournament took a strange form, with some groups containing two, three, or four teams. This was because some nations qualified for the tournament and then withdrew. Germany and Japan, both under occupation, were not permitted to compete.
The British nations were able to take part, having rejoined FIFA four years earlier, after 17 years of self-imposed exile. It was decided to use the 1949-1950 British Home Championship as a qualifying group, with whoever finished first and second qualifying. England finished first and Scotland second, but the Scots withdrew as they were not British Champions. Turkey and India both withdrew, India refusing to go because FIFA would not allow the team to play barefoot. France were invited when Turkey pulled out of the competition. France agreed to play but they worked out that the venues for their two group matches were over 3,000 kilometres away from each other. The French told the Brazilians that they would stay home unless the arrangements were changed. The Brazilian Federation refused and France withdrew.
In fact, the entire tournament was arranged so that the four first phase groups (or "pools" as they were then called) had no geographical basis. Hence, several teams were obliged to cover large distances to complete their program. Although Brazil was allowed to play two of its three group matches in Rio de Janeiro while its other game was in (comparatively) nearby São Paulo.
A combined Great Britain team had recently beaten the rest of Europe 6-1 in an exhibition match and England went into the competition as one of the favourites. However, it was not to be, as they went crashing out in a shocking 1-0 defeat by the USA (when the score appeared in English newspapers, many thought it was a typo) which, combined with their 1-0 defeat by Spain, led to Spain continuing to the Final Pool.
The Final Pool took the form of a final group stage, involving all teams who won their group stage: Brazil, Spain, Sweden, and Uruguay. The overall winner of the World Cup for 1950 would be the team that managed to finish on top of this group. The final group's six matches were shared between Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Brazil played all its final group matches at the Estadio Maracaná in Rio while the games that didn't involve the host nation were played in São Paulo. Brazil outscored everyone with a 7-1 thrashing of Sweden and 6-1 rout of Spain. Before the decisive match, Brazil were sitting on top of the Final Pool and had one game left to play Uruguay who lay just behind in second and only a point behind. On July 16th, before a huge home crowd of 174,000 (estimated at 205,000) in the Estádio Maracanã, the host nation had only to draw against Uruguay and the trophy would be theirs. After such crushing victories over Spain and Sweden, it looked certain they would take the title, especially as the home nation went ahead in the second minute of the second half, thanks to a goal from Friaça. However, Uruguay equalised and then with just over 11 minutes left to play, went ahead 2-1 and Uruguay were crowned World Cup Winners for a second time. The stunning defeat of Brazil is referred to as the "Maracanazo".
The average attendance of nearly 61,000 per game, aided greatly by eight matches (including five featuring hosts Brazil) held in the newly-built Maracanã, set a record that would not be broken until 1994. Not counting the Maracanã matches, the average attendance was a still-impressive 37,500. However, the only venues that saw crowds comparable to or greater than those in recent World Cups were the Maracanã and São Paulo. Other venues saw considerably smaller crowds.
Qualification
See Football World Cup 1950 (qualification).Squads
For a list of all squads that appeared in the final tournament see, 1950 FIFA World Cup squadsFirst round
Group 1
| Team | Pts | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Brazil | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 2 |
Yugoslavia | 4 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 3 |
| Switzerland | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 |
Mexico | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 10 |
Group 2
| Team | Pts | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Spain
| 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 |
England | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
Chile | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 6 |
USA | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 8 |
Group 3
| Team | Pts | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sweden | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 4 |
Italy | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 |
Paraguay | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
India withdrew
Group 4
| Team | Pts | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Uruguay | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
Bolivia | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8 |
Turkey withdrewScotland withdrew
Final round
| Team | Pts | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Uruguay | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 5 |
Brazil | 4 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 4 |
Sweden | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 11 |
| Spain
| 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 11 |
Awards
| 1950 World Cup Winners: |
|---|
|
URUGUAY Second title |