Who won the World Cup in 1950?

The fourth edition of the World Cup was held in the year 1950. The World Cup took place after a gap of 12 years, for the first time since World War II.

Who were the hosts of the 1950 World Cup?

Brazil were selected as the host for the 1950 World Cup.

19 teams entered the qualification round out of which 14 teams initially made it to the final competition. Reigning champions Italy had automatically qualified for this edition of the tournament while hosts Brazil too were guaranteed a berth in the main competition. Before the main tournament kicked off, Scotland, Turkey and India withdrew from the World Cup which meant only 13 teams competed in the final round including the host nation and the reigning champions.

After entering the qualification stage, Argentina, Ecuador, and Peru from South America, Philippines, Indonesia, and Burma from Asia and Austria and Belgium from Europe also pulled out of the competition. With the three Asian teams out of the qualification round, India directly made it to the main tournament for the first time in their history but they too withdrew from the final competition.

Why did India pull out of the 1950 World Cup?

India decided to pull out of the competition due to a combination of several reasons. The Indian players, back in those days, did not wear boots and preferred to play barefoot which would have not been approved by FIFA. Another reason was that the players were habituated to playing 70 minutes matches in domestic football.So playing for 90 minutes at the highest stage could have resulted in an embarrassing result.

The third reason which several historians (including the late Novy Kapadia in his book 'The Football Fanatic’s Essential Guide: 2018 World Cup Special') cite is that being a newly independent nation, the Indian government was not in a position financially to bear the expenses of the team travelling to Brazil - a journey that took almost a month by ship back then. Thus they preferred participating in the Olympics as it was considered a more prestigious competition in those days.

What was the format of the 1950 World Cup?

A new format came into play replacing the old direct knock-out format of the World Cup. 13 teams were divided into four groups, with four teams each in Group 1 and Group 2, three teams in Group 3 and two teams in Group 4.

The top teams from each group qualified for a final round where they played each other once in a round-robin format. The team with the highest points won the title.

Who won the 1950 World Cup?

Uruguay won their second title beating Brazil 2-1 in the final match of the tournament.

Which teams participated in the qualifying round?

The teams who took part in the qualifying round were - England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Turkey, Syria, Yugoslavia, Israel, France, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Sweden, Ireland, Finland, Spain, Spain, Portugal, Mexico, USA, Cuba.

The teams who eventually played in the World Cup were - Bolivia, Brazil (hosts), Chile, England, Italy (reigning champions), Mexico, Paraguay, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, USA, Uruguay, Yugoslavia.

The 22-man 1950 World Cup-winning Uruguay squad