1938 FIFA World Cup

Association football tournament in France January 2020 FIFA World Cup 1938 fr Coupe du MondeFrance 1938 1938 fifa worldcup poster.jpg 200px Official poster France 4–19 June 4 15 10 9 Italy 1861 2 Hungary 1920 Brazil 1889 Sweden 18 84 main BRA 1889 Leônidas (7 goals) 1934 1950 The 1938 FIFA World Cup was the 3rd edition of the World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held in France from 4 to 19 June 1938. Italy defended its title in the final, beating Hungary 4–2. Italy's 1934 and 1938 teams hold the distinction of being the only men's national team to win the World Cup multiple times under the same coach, Vittorio Pozzo. It was the last World Cup for 12 years, as the 1942 and 1946 World Cups were cancelled due to World War II. Host selection FIFA World Cup hosts France was chosen as host nation by FIFA in Berlin on 13 August 1936. France was chosen over Argentina and Germany in the first round of voting. The decision to hold a second consecutive tournament in Europe (after Italy in 1934) caused outrage in South America, where it was believed that the venue should alternate between the two continents. Qualification 1938 FIFA World Cup qualification Because of the decision to hold a second successive World Cup in Europe, many teams from the Americas did not join the competition or withdrew after an initial application. Most of the South American teams, including Uruguay and Argentina, declined to take part in the competition after the controversy of the Peru v Austria match at the football tournament of the 1936 Summer Olympics.https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k4630068n/f5.item L'Auto 9 November 1937 C'est un télégramme de la Confédération sud-américaine qui a motivé mon intervention fr Paris, France gallica.bnf.fr The United States and Mexico joined the qualifying rounds but eventually withdrew. Argentina submitted a late application (which was accepted) before a definitive withdrawal due to disagreements between its national federation and the local clubs.https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k4636145v/f1.item L'Auto 27 March 1938 Pas d'argent! Pas de Coupe du Monde pour l'Argentine!... fr Paris, France gallica.bnf.fr 13 September 2025 25 August 2025 https://web.archive.org/web/20250825000801/https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k4636145v/f1.item live Spain meanwhile could not participate because of the ongoing Spanish Civil War. It was the first time that the hosts, France, and the title holders, Italy, qualified automatically. Title holders were given an automatic entry into the World Cup from 1938 until 2002. Of the fourteen remaining places, eleven were allocated to Europe, two to the Americas, and one to Asia. As a result, only three non-European nations took part: Brazil, Cuba (making their debut), and Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia, also making their debut), the latter being the first Asian country to participate in a FIFA World Cup.2 March 2023 Did you know Dutch East Indies, erstwhile Indonesia, were the first flagbearers of Asia in FIFA World Cup? https://www.fifa.com/fifaplus/en/articles/did-you-know-dutch-east-indies-erstwhile-indonesia-were-the-first-flagbearers-of-asia-in-fifa-world-cup 2 January 2024 FIFA.com 13 July 2023 https://web.archive.org/web/20230713132722/https://www.fifa.com/fifaplus/en/articles/did-you-know-dutch-east-indies-erstwhile-indonesia-were-the-first-flagbearers-of-asia-in-fifa-world-cup live This is the smallest ever number of teams from outside the host continent to compete at a FIFA World Cup. The Austrian team qualified for the World Cup, but after qualification was complete, Austria lost its independence under the Anschluss. Austria subsequently did not take part in the tournament, with some Austrian players joining the German squad, although not including Austrian star player Matthias Sindelar, who refused to play for the Nazi German team.Ashdown John https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/apr/22/world-cup-stunning-moments-austria-wunderteam World Cup: 25 stunning moments … No11: Austria's Wunderteam The Guardian 22 April 2014 29 June 2014 27 April 2014 https://web.archive.org/web/20140427224201/http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/apr/22/world-cup-stunning-moments-austria-wunderteam live Austria's place remained empty, and Sweden, which would have been Austria's initial opponent, progressed directly to the second round by default. Other teams to make their World Cup debuts included Poland and Norway. List of qualified teams The following 16 teams originally qualified for the final tournament. However, 15 teams participated after Austria's withdrawal due to the Anschluss. start Asia (1) INH (debut) Africa (0) None qualified break North, Central America and Caribbean (1) CUB 1902 (debut) South America (1) BRA 1889 break Europe (13) AUT 1934 Austria (withdrew) BEL TCH FRA 1830 (hosts) GER 1935 HUN 1920 ITA 1861 (holders) NED NOR (debut) POL 1928 (debut) ROU SWE SUI end As of 2026, this was the only time Cuba and Indonesia (formerly Dutch East Indies) qualified for a FIFA World Cup. Format The knockout format from 1934 was retained. If a match was tied after 90 minutes, then 30 minutes of extra time were played. If the score was still tied after extra time, the match would be replayed. This was the last World Cup tournament that used a straight knockout format. Final draw The draw was staged in Paris on 5 March 1938.https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k4636124p/f1.item L'Auto 6 March 1938 On a tiré au sort les rencontres de la Coupe du Monde fr Paris, France gallica.bnf.fr As the qualifying process was still ongoing, many paper slips reported the names of two teams, which were both in competition to qualify. The FIFA committee identified eight seeded teams, irrespective of their current qualification. The seeded teams were Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Hungary, and Italy, a total of six European and two South American teams. The whole table was drawn the same day, in the following order: Round of 16 A. Germany v Switzerland or Portugal B. Austria v Sweden C. Hungary or Greece v United States or Dutch East Indies D. France v Belgium or Luxembourg E. Argentina or Central America v Romania F. Czechoslovakia or Bulgaria v Netherlands or Luxembourg G. Brazil v Poland or Yugoslavia H. Italy v Norway Quarter-finals Winner B v Winner E Winner A v Winner C Winner D v Winner H Winner F v Winner G Semi-finals Winner 4 v Winner 3 Winner 2 v Winner 1 On 15 March 1938, Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany, and the Austria national team withdrew. Argentina withdrew from the tournament after disagreements between the clubs and the national federations, so two of the original seeded teams did not take part in the final competition. Summary left|thumb|430px|Qualifying countries and their results Sweden were given a bye when Austria withdrew.https://www.fifa.com/mm/document/fifafacts/mcwc/ip-201_10e_fwcdraw-history_8842.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20080226235749/http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/fifafacts/mcwc/ip-201_10e_fwcdraw-history_8842.pdf dead 26 February 2008 History of the World Cup Final Draw 26 March 2012 Five of the seven first round matches required extra time to break the deadlock; two games still went to a replay. In one replay, Cuba advanced to the next round at the expense of Romania. In the other replay, Germany, which had led 1–0 in the first game against Switzerland, led 2–0 but eventually was beaten 2–4. This loss, which took place in front of a hostile, bottle-throwing crowd in Paris, was blamed by German coach Sepp Herberger on a defeatist attitude from the five Austrian players he had been forced to include; a German journalist later commented that "Germans and Austrians prefer to play against each other even when they're in the same team". Tor!: The Story of German Football Ulrich Hesse-Lichtenberger WSC Books 2003 095401345X 85 https://books.google.com/books?id=rQfNyLM5svIC London Until they were knocked out in the group stage in 2018, this was the only time Germany had failed to advance past the first round, and until their penalty shoot-out victory over France in the round of 16 of UEFA Euro 2020, this was the last time Switzerland advanced past the first knockout game of a tournament.Steinberg Jacob 27 June 2018 Germany crashed out of the World Cup group stages and finished bottom of Group F after defeat to South Korea https://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2018/jun/27/world-cup-2018-south-korea-v-germany-live 8 July 2021 The Guardian 26 August 2021 https://web.archive.org/web/20210826122133/https://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2018/jun/27/world-cup-2018-south-korea-v-germany-live live Sweden advanced directly to the quarter-finals as a result of Austria's withdrawal, and they proceeded to beat Cuba 8–0. The hosts, France, were beaten by the holders, Italy, and Switzerland were seen off by Hungary. Czechoslovakia took Brazil to extra time in a notoriously feisty match in Bordeaux before succumbing in a replay; the South Americans proved too strong for the depleted Czechoslovak side (both Oldřich Nejedlý and František Plánička had suffered broken bones in the first game) and won 2–1. This was the last match to be replayed in a World Cup. Hungary convincingly beat Sweden in one of the semi-finals 5–1, while Italy and Brazil had the first of their many important World Cup clashes in the other. The Brazilians were without their star player Leônidas, who was injured, and the Italians won 2–1.Gehringer Max November 2005 Faltaram os papéis A Saga da Jules Rimet Portuguese Editora Abril São Paulo 3 37 Brazil topped Sweden 4–2 for third place. Rumour has it, before the finals Benito Mussolini was to have sent a telegram to the team, saying "Vincere o morire!" (literally translated as "Win or die!"). This should not have been meant as a literal threat, but instead just an encouragement to win. However, no record remains of such a telegram, and World Cup player Pietro Rava said, when interviewed in 2001, "No, no, no, that's not true. He sent a telegram wishing us well, but no never 'win or die'."Martin Simon 5 April 2018 World Cup stunning moments: Mussolini's blackshirts' 1938 win http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/apr/01/world-cup-moments-1938-italy-benito-mussolini 8 July 2021 TheGuardian.com en The final itself took place at the Stade Olympique de Colombes in Paris. Vittorio Pozzo's Italian side took the lead early, but Hungary equalised within two minutes. The Italians took the lead again shortly after, and by the end of the first half were leading the Hungarians 3–1. Hungary never really got back into the game. With the final score favouring the Italians 4–2, Italy became the first team to successfully defend the title and were once more crowned World Cup winners. Because of World War II, the World Cup was not held for next 12 years, until 1950. As a result, Italy were the reigning World Cup holders for a record 16 years, from 1934 to 1950. The Italian Vice-president of FIFA, Dr. Ottorino Barassi, hid the trophy in a shoe-box under his bed throughout the Second World War and thus saved it from falling into the hands of occupying Nazi troops.History http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/p/h/rimet.html dead https://web.archive.org/web/20070320063520/http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/p/h/rimet.html 20 March 2007 14 June 2014 FIFAWorldCup.comWorld Cup mystery: what happened to the original Jules Rimet trophy? https://web.archive.org/web/20180308041436/https://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/jun/13/world-cup-mystery-what-happened-jules-rimet-trophy 8 March 2018 - the guardian.com Venues Initially, the tournament was planned to be hosted at 11 venues across France. However, after Austria withdrew, the Stade de Gerland in Lyon was no longer needed, so it was removed from the stadium list. Host cities and stadiums 1 350 350 right 47 2 5 circle 8 11,background,outline west Locations of the 1938 FIFA World Cup host cities Antibes 43.5808 7.1239 #000091 Antibes east Bordeaux 44.8378 -0.5792 #000091 Bordeaux west Colombes 48.9236 2.2522 #000091 Colombes west Le Havre 49.4935 0.1079 #000091 Le Havre west Lille 50.62925 3.05726 #000091 Lille west Marseille 43.29695 5.38107 #000091 Marseille west Paris 48.8566 2.3522 #000091 Paris east Reims 49.2628 4.0347 #000091 Reims east Strasbourg 48.58392 7.74553 #000091 Strasbourg west Toulouse 43.60426 1.44367 #000091 Toulouse west +List of host cities and stadiumsCityStadiumCapacityImageAntibesStade du Fort Carré 7,000200pxBordeauxParc Lescure 34,694200pxColombesStade Olympique de Colombes 60,000200pxLe HavreStade Municipal 22,000200pxLilleStade Victor Boucquey 15,000200pxMarseilleStade Vélodrome 48,000200pxParisParc des Princes 40,000200pxReimsVélodrome Municipal 21,684200pxStrasbourgStade de la Meinau 22,000200pxToulouseStade du T.O.E.C. 15,000200px Squads For a list of all squads that appeared in the final tournament, see 1938 FIFA World Cup squads. Final tournament 1938 FIFA World Cup final tournament Bracket Bracket Round of 16 R16-1 R16-2 R16-3 R16-4 R16-5 R16-6 Brazil v Poland (1938 FIFA World Cup) R16-7 R16-8 Replays R16-1r R16-4r Quarter-finals QF1 QF2 QF3 Battle of Bordeaux (1938 FIFA World Cup) QF4 Replay QF4r Semi-finals SF1 SF2 Match for third place TPP Final 1938 FIFA World Cup final Final Statistics Goalscorers With seven goals, Leônidas was the top scorer in the tournament. In total, 84 goals were scored by 42 players, with two of them credited as own goals. 7 goals 35em yes BRA 1889 Leônidas 5 goals 35em yes HUN 1920 György Sárosi HUN 1920 Gyula Zsengellér ITA 1861 Silvio Piola 4 goals 35em yes ITA 1861 Gino Colaussi POL 1928 Ernest Wilimowski 3 goals 35em yes BRA 1889 Perácio BRA 1889 Romeu CUB 1902 Héctor Socorro SWE Harry Andersson SWE Arne Nyberg SWE Gustav Wetterström SUI André Abegglen 2 goals 35em yes TCH Oldřich Nejedlý FRA 1830 Jean Nicolas HUN 1920 Pál Titkos ROU Ștefan Dobay 1 goal 35em yes BEL Henri Isemborghs BRA 1889 Roberto CUB 1902 Tomás Fernández CUB 1902 José Magriñá TCH Vlastimil Kopecký TCH Josef Košťálek TCH Josef Zeman FRA 1830 Oscar Heisserer FRA 1830 Émile Veinante GER 1935 Josef Gauchel GER 1935 Wilhelm Hahnemann HUN 1920 Vilmos Kohut HUN 1920 Géza Toldi ITA 1861 Pietro Ferraris ITA 1861 Giuseppe Meazza NOR Arne Brustad POL 1928 Fryderyk Scherfke ROU Iuliu Barátky ROU Silviu Bindea SWE Tore Keller SWE Sven Jonasson SUI Alfred Bickel SUI Eugen Walaschek 1 own goal 35em yes SWE Sven Jacobsson (playing against Hungary) SUI Ernst Lörtscher (playing against Germany) Team of the Tournament FIFA published the following players for the 1938 FIFA World Cup All-Star Team.https://fbref.com/en/awards/wc_all_star/FIFA-World-Cup-All-Star-Team FIFA World Cup All-Star Team Winners FBref 31 August 2026 GoalkeeperDefendersMidfieldersForwardsCZE František PláničkaBRA Domingos da GuiaITA Pietro RavaBRA Zezé ProcópioITA Michele AndreoloITA Ugo LocatelliSWE Arne NybergITA Giuseppe MeazzaBRA LeônidasHUN György SárosiHUN Pál Titkos Tournament ranking thumb|A ball from the tournament In 1986, FIFA published a report that ranked all teams in each World Cup up to and including 1986, based on progress in the competition and overall results (not counting replay results).FIFA World Cup — Mexico '86; Official Report FIFA Technical Study Group https://digitalhub.fifa.com/m/2bb4308f4d418319/original/pfnhnhmqhdwqvp62pm27-pdf.pdf#page=45 live https://web.archive.org/web/20100614213621/https://www.fifa.com/mm/document/afdeveloping/technicaldevp/50/09/00/fwc_mexico_1986_en_part4_279.pdf#page=45 230 Permanent table 14 June 2010 8 July 2021 FIFA The rankings for the 1938 tournament were as follows: Per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses. Per FIFA's ranking, the results of replays are not considered in the tournament ranking. main WDL 2 complete FIFAhttps://digitalhub.fifa.com/m/587cb8e67646ba42/original/knfuogw4prnsdacl3ozx-pdf.pdf Milestones & Superlatives, Statistical Kit for the FIFA World Cup – FIFA World Cup final rankings by tournament FIFA 23 6 April 2018 20 August 2026 live https://web.archive.org/web/20220325073347/https://digitalhub.fifa.com/m/587cb8e67646ba42/original/knfuogw4prnsdacl3ozx-pdf.pdf 25 March 2022 H ITA, HUN, BRA, SWE, TCH, FRA, SUI, CUB, ROU, GER, POL, NOR, BEL, NED, INH Brazil's record including the replay: 5 pld, 3 won, 1 drawn, 1 lost, 14 GF, 11 GA, +3 GD, 7 pts. Cuba's record including the replay: 3 pld, 1 won, 1 drawn, 1 lost, 5 GF, 12 GA, −7 GD, 3 pts. Czechoslovakia's record including the replay: 3 pld, 1 won, 1 drawn, 1 lost, 5 GF, 3 GA, +2 GD, 3 pts. Germany's record including the replay: 2 pld, 0 won, 1 drawn, 1 lost, 3 GF, 5 GA, −2 GD, 1 pts. Romania's record including the replay: 2 pld, 0 won, 1 drawn, 1 lost, 4 GF, 5 GA, −1 GD, 1 pts. Switzerland's record including the replay: 3 pld, 1 won, 1 drawn, 1 lost, 5 GF, 5 GA, 0 GD, 3 pts. 0 0 1 1 3 2 1 1 12 10 0 1 1 3 11 1 1 0 4 1 0 0 1 0 6 1 0 1 4 4 0 1 0 1 1 3 0 1 15 5 4 0 0 11 5 0 0 1 0 3 0 0 1 1 2 0 0 1 5 6 0 1 0 3 3 1 0 2 11 9 0 1 1 1 3 BEL BRA 1889 CUB 1902 TCH INH FRA 1830 GER 1935 HUN 1920 ITA 1861 NED NOR POL 1928 ROU SWE SUI Final result #FFD700 Champions #C0C0C0 Runners-up #CD7F32 Third place Fourth place Eliminated inquarter-finals Eliminated inround of 16 yes yes yes 1st 2nd 3rd 4th QF QF QF QF R16 R16 R16 R16 R16 R16 R16 Notes References Match reports Report External links World Cup 1938 1938 FIFA World Cup 1938 FIFA World Cup at FIFA.com 1938 FIFA World Cup at RSSSF.com 1930s Association football France 1938 World Cup Category:1937–38 in French men's football 1938 Category:June 1938 sports events in Europe Category:International sports boycotts