The1938 FIFA World Cup was the 3rd edition of theWorld Cup, the quadrennial internationalfootball 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, beatingHungary 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 would be the last World Cup until1950; the 1942 and 1946 World Cups were cancelled due toWorld War II.
France was chosen as host nation byFIFA inBerlin 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 (afterItaly in 1934) caused outrage in South America, where it was believed that the venue should alternate between the two continents. This was the last World Cup to be staged before the outbreak of theSecond World War.
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, includingUruguay andArgentina, declined to take part in the competition after the controversy of thePeru v Austria match at theFootball tournament of the1936 Summer Olympics.[1] TheUnited States andMexico joined the qualifying rounds but eventually withdrew. Argentina submitted a late application (which was accepted), before a definitive withdrawal due to disagreements between theNational Federation and the local clubs.[2]Spain meanwhile could not participate due to the ongoingSpanish 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 until2002.
Of the 14 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.[3] This is the smallest ever number of teams from outside the host continent to compete at a FIFA World Cup.
Austria qualified for the World Cup, but after qualification was complete, theAnschluss united Austria with Germany. Austria subsequently did not take part to the tournament, with some Austrian players joining the German squad, although not including Austrian star playerMatthias Sindelar, who refused to play for the unified team.[4] 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.
The knockout format from1934 was retained. If a match was tied after 90 minutes, then 30 minutes ofextra 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.
The draw was staged in Paris on 5 March 1938.[5] 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, so six European teams and two South-American. The whole table was drawn the same day: Round of 16, Quarter-finals, Semi-finals. The Teams were drawn in the following order:
Round of 16 A. Germany vs. Switzerland or Portugal B. Austria vs. Sweden C. Hungary or Greece vs. USA or Dutch East Indies D. France vs. Belgium or Luxembourg E. Argentina or Central America vs. Romania F. Czechoslovakia or Bulgaria vs. Netherlands or Luxembourg G. Brazil vs. Poland or Yugoslavia H. Italy vs. Norway
Quarter-finals 1. Winner B vs. Winner E 2. Winner A vs. Winner C 3. Winner D vs. Winner H 4. Winner F vs. Winner G
Semi-finals Winner 4 vs. Winner 3 Winner 2 vs. Winner 1
On 15 March 1938, Austria wasinvaded by Nazi Germany and the Austria National Team disappeared.Argentina withdrew from the tournament after disagreements between the clubs and the National Federation.So two of the original seeded Teams did not take part to the final competition.
Sweden was given a bye due to Austria's withdrawal.[6]
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 ofRomania. In the other replay,Germany, which had led 1–0 in the first game againstSwitzerland, 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 coachSepp 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".[7] Until they were knocked out in the group stage in2018, this was the only time Germany had failed to advance past the first round, and until their penalty shoot-out victory overFrance in the round of 16 ofUEFA Euro 2020, this would be the last time Switzerland advanced past the first knockout game of a tournament.[8]
Sweden advanced directly to the quarter-finals as a result ofAustria's withdrawal, and they proceeded to beat Cuba 8–0. The hosts,France, were beaten by the holders,Italy, and Switzerland were seen off byHungary.Czechoslovakia tookBrazil to extra time in a notoriously feisty match inBordeaux before succumbing in a replay; the South Americans proved too strong for the depleted Czechoslovak side (bothOldřich Nejedlý andFrantišek 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 destroyed 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 playerLeônidas, who was injured, and the Italians won 2–1.[9] Brazil topped Sweden 4–2 for third place.
Rumour has it, before the finalsBenito 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 playerPietro 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'."[10]
The final itself took place at theStade Olympique de Colombes inParis.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 ofWorld War II, the World Cup would not be held for next 12 years, until1950. 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 thetrophy in a shoe-box under his bed throughout the Second World War and thus saved it from falling into the hands of occupying troops.[11]
Eleven venues in ten cities were planned to host the tournament; of these, all hosted matches except theStade de Gerland inLyon, which did not due to Austria's withdrawal.
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, overall results and quality of the opposition.[14][15] The rankings for the 1938 tournament were as follows:
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