The 1938 FIFA World Cup took place in France from June 4 to June 19, 1938. 15 teams of 4 confederations participated in the final tournament: 12 teams from UEFA (Europe), 1 from CONMEBOL (South America), 1 from CONCACAF (North America, Central America and the Caribbean) and 1 from AFC (Asia). Four teams made their first World Cup presentation (Cuba, Dutch East Indies, Norway and Poland). Austria, already classified, was barred from competing for its annexation by Germany and was replaced by Sweden. Asia, on the other hand, was represented for the first time by Indonesia, playing as Dutch East Indies. This is the smallest ever number of teams from outside the host continent to compete at a FIFA World Cup. Brazil, Cuba and Dutch East Indies were the only countries outside the continent to participate in this World Cup.
There was 57 countries affiliated to FIFA and most of them were from Europe. This is one of the reasons why FIFA decided to give the World Cup to France. This was the era of Benito Mussolini in Italy and Adolf Hitler in Germany. Most American teams declined to participate as this would be the second tournament in a row to be played in Europe. They said that there was a previous agreement, which was not respected to host alternate between the two continents. Brazil and Cuba were the only representatives of America.
The Italian style prevailed in this World Cup and they deservedly won the second World Cup title in a row.
The German Nazism and Italian Fascism pursue territorial expansionist agendas (1935).
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Iceland becomes the first country to legalize abortion (1935).
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The longest bridge in the world is opened over the Zambezi River (1935).
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Persia is renamed Iran (1935).
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The first edition of the Vuelta a España is raced (1935).
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The Argentinean Carlos Gardel, the Father of Tango, dies in a plane crash in Colombia (1935).
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The Ethiopian Empire (Abyssinia) is invaded by Italy (1935-1936).
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The Dictator Francisco Franco comes to the power in Spain (1936).
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The Spanish Civil War begins (1936-1939).
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China declares war on Japan (1936).
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The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge is opened (1936).
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Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, holds the IV Winter Olympic games (1936).
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The Summer Olympic Games take place in Berlin (1936).
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Pablo Picasso paints Guernica (1937).
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Amelia Earhart is lost somewhere in the Pacific on her flight around the world (1937).
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German troops enter Austria and Czechoslovakia (1937).
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Spanish Civil War: More than 35,000 Republican supporters are massacred in Piedrafita de Babia, near León (1937).
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J.R.R. Tolkien publishes The Hobbit (1937).
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The dictator Anastasio Somoza becomes President of Nicaragua (1937).
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Ernest Hemingway publishesTo Have and Have Not (1937).
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Germany annexes Austria (1938).
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The 1938 Yellow River flood was a flood created by the Nationalist Government in central China during the early stage of the Second Sino-Japanese War in an attempt to halt the rapid advance of Japanese forces. People affected: 5 million, the number of dead: 500,000, and the number of homeless: 500,000 (1938).
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The second and larges Asian War between Republic of China and the Empire of Japan begins (1937-1945).
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The President of Mexico, Lázaro Cárdenas, nationalizes the oil (1938).
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Superman, an American cultural idol, a comic book superhero, appears in DC Comics publications (1938).
Antecedents
The 1938 FIFA World Cup took place before war broke out the following year. Two years after Hitler had used the Berlin Olympics to glorify Nazism, France was chosen to stage the 1938 World Cup at the congress held in Berlin, Germany, on August 13, 1936. Argentina and Germany had also submitted the bid to host the championship, but the France bid was chosen in preference to those from Argentina and Germany. France in the first round of voting had 19 votes, Argentina 4 votes, and Germany 0 votes. It should be noted that there was 57 countries affiliated to FIFA in those years and most of them were from Europe.
FIFA’s decision to hold the World Cup in France was highly controversial and led to the chagrin of many South American countries that were obviously not happy with the decision and so stayed at home. The American countries believed that the venue would alternate between the two continents, as has been previously agreed, and this was not respected. This would be the second tournament in a row to be played in Europe that was on the brink of war. Spain, on the other hand, declined to participate because it was in the midst of civil war.
This was the first time that the host country, France, and former champion, Italy, qualified automatically and escaped the dangerous process of qualification. This rule lasted until 2006 when this was abolished.
Qualification
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Participating countries:
34
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Withdrew:
8
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Qualified automatically:
5
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Teams that played at least one qualifying match:
21
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Matches:
22
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Total goals:
96 (4.36 per match)
A total of 69 teams signed up to participate in the 1938 FIFA World Cup. However, the wars that ravaged the world at that time prevented the participation of many countries. Spain was in the midst of civil war, China and Japan were in full Sino-Japanese war, Austria was excluded by the annexation by Germany, and Argentina, Uruguay, Mexico, Colombia, Costa Rica, and El Salvador refused to take part by the abrupt change of venue.
Finally, a total of 34 countries entered the 1938 World Cup qualification round and competing for a total of 14 spots in the final tournament. France, as the hosts, and Italy, as the defending champions, qualified automatically and occupied the other two spots. The 14 available spots were distributed in continental zones as shown below:
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Europe (UEFA): 21 teams (including Palestine/Eretz Israel) competed for 11 direct places. Italy, as defending champion, and France, as the host, qualified automatically.
Asia (AFC): 2 teams competed for 1 spot. Japan withdrew, so Dutch East Indies qualified automatically.
Originally 16 countries qualified and were going to take part of the World Cup. Austria, already classified, was barred from competing for its annexation by Germany. England was invited in its place but declined. Therefore, only 15 teams participated in the final stage in France.
It is worth noting that the Jews, with the cooperation and support of the British side, were able to represent “Palestine” on the international level in the World Cup in both 1934 and 1938. The Palestine Football Association says that was a “Jewish” team which represented Palestine, and Arab Palestine had no relation to this team.
The competition followed a knockout format similar to the one celebrated four years before in Italy. The idea was simple: if you lose, you go home. Teams play for 90 minutes, if there is a tie after ninety minutes of regulation, thirty minutes of extra time are added. If the score remains tied after the additional time, the match would be replayed at a date established by the organizing committee.
Germany, France, Italy, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Cuba and Brazil were seeded for draw taking place in Paris, on March 5, 1938.
Squads
For a complete list of all squads that appeared in the 1938 FIFA World Cup, please, visit: 1938 World Cup squads
25 match officials from 10 countries and just one confederation were the responsible for enforcing the laws of the game during the course of the 18 World Cup matches.
The competition followed a knockout format similar to the one celebrated four years before in Italy. The first round had some facts worth noting. Five of the seven first round matches required extra time to break the tie, and two games still had to go to a replay. Italy were lucky to survive the opening round, when they won Norway 2-1 only after extra-time. The tie of the round was contested by Brazil and Poland in a wet and muddy field in Strasbourg on June 5, 1938. The match ended tied 4-4 after regular time, and then Brazil that impressed from the start beat Poland in a 6-5 thriller after extra time. On the Brazilian side, Leônidas scored a hat-trick; and on the Polish side Wilimowski became the first player ever to score four goals in a single World Cup match, but still ending on the losing side. In one replay, Cuba shocked Romania and advanced to the next round. It would be the first World Cup of Cuba, and also the last one. In the other replay, Switzerland ousted Germany 4-2 and Germans (who had enlisted several Austrian players) had to go home early. This was the only time in World Cup history in which Germany failed to advance to the final eight. Sweden advanced directly to the quarter-finals as a result of Austria's withdrawal.
In the quarter-finals, Sweden that advanced directly to this round as a result of Austria’s withdrawal, beat Cuba by a devastating 8-0. Italy defeated the hosts France, and Hungary beat Switzerland 2-0. For the first time, the host nation would not win. In the last game, Brazil and Czechoslovakia tied after extra time and had to go to a replay. The Brazilians then knocked out Czechoslovakia in a quarter-final replay and ended the hopes of the Czecoslovak. The Brazilians played a wonderful football and Leônidas was emerging as the man of the tournament. This was the last ever match to be replayed in a World Cup, with all winners of replay matches in 1938 having been eliminated in the next round.
In the semi-finals, Hungary trashed Sweden 5-1, while Italy defeated Brazil 2-1. Incredibly, the Brazilian coach Adhemar Pimenta made one of the craziest decisions in World Cup history when they decided to rest their star Leônidas confident that they would qualify for the final.
On the same day and at the same time of the final, the third place match saw the victory of Brazil over Sweden 4-2. Leônidas, the “blak diamond” scored two goals.
The 1938 FIFA World Cup Final was contested at the Stade Olympique de Colombes in Paris, before a crowd of 45,000 followers, by Italy, the defending champions, led by Giuseppe Meazza, and Hungary, one of the most successful national teams of those times. Before the finals, Benito Mussolini sent a telegram to the team, saying "Vincere o morire!", which translated meant "Win or die!". Italy, however, showed again the attacking firepower. Gino Colaussi and Silvio Piola scored two each and that was enough to defeat Hungary 4-2. The performance of Italy was impressive in the tournament, won all four of their games. Italy crowned World Cup champions, and became the first team to successfully defend the title.
In total, 84 goals were scored by 42 players, with two of them credited as own goals.
Leônidas only scored seven goals at the 1938 FIFA World Cup, rather than the eight that were previously recorded. In November 2006, FIFA confirmed that in the quarter-final against Czechoslovakia, he had scored once, not twice as originally recorded.
Absolute frequency is a statistical term describing the number of times a particular piece of data, or value, appears during a trial or set of trials. Essentially, it is the number of times a particular thing happens. For example, in this World Cup two players from Hungary scored five goals, one scored two goals,and three more scored 1 goal. The sum of the absolute frequency represents the number of players that scored at least one goal (6 players in the case of Hungary: 2 + 1 + 3 = 6). The sum of the product between the number of times per value results in the number of goals for a team (15 goals in the case of Hungary: 2*5 + 1*2 + 3*1 = 15)
Milestone goals. The goal number 200 in the World Cups history was scored by Harry Andersson from Sweden in Antibes on June 12, 1938. Andersson scored the 8-0. Sweden defeated Cuba 8-0.
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This was the first and only time that Cuba and Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) qualified for the World Cup finals.
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The first Asian country to appear in finals was the Dutch East Indies –Indonesia- in 1938.
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Cuba only qualified because Mexico withdrew from the tournament.
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Cuba was the first country outside Europe and South America to qualify for the next stage in a World Cup. In the second round, Cuba lost to Sweden by a convincing 8 to 0.
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This was the first and only time –until now- that Germany was eliminated in the first round and failed to finish in the first eight.
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Ernest Wilimowski from Poland was the first player to score four goals in the World Cup history. His case is unique because although it was the first player to score four goals, his team ended up losing in extra time against Brazil 6 to 5. Therefore, Wilimowski also holding the record for more goals scored in a lost match. On the other hand, the match between Brazil and Poland, in the rain in Strasbourg, was one of the most exciting in the history of the FIFA World Cups.
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Vittorio Pozzo (1886-1968) from Italy holding the record for been the only coach to ever win two FIFA World Cups: Italy 1934 and France 1938.
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Ernest Lörtscher from Switzerland became the first player to be officially credited with an own goal in the game against Germany.
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The match between Brazil and Czechoslovakia in Bordeaux had three red cards and two fractured, both of Czechoslovakia. The goalkeeper František Plánička suffered a fractured arm and striker Oldřich Nejedlý a broken leg.
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Five of the seven first round matches required extra time to break the deadlock and two games still went to a replay (Switzerland 4-2 Germany, Cuba 2-1 Romania). The third replay took place in quarter-finals, when Brazil defeated Czechoslovakia by 2 to 1. This was the last match to be replayed in a World Cup history.
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Giuseppe Meazza, who had been world champion with Italy in 1934, was the key to Italy got the second world championship.
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Italy had the second best overall performance in one tournament: 100%. Won all four games.
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Italy became the first team in get two World Cups in a row.
The youngest player was Bertus de Harder from Netherlands: 18y (14 January 1920). The youngest goalkeeper was Róbert Sadowski from Romania: 23y (16 August 1914). The youngest scorer was Alfred Bickel from Switzerland: 20y (12 May 1918). The youngest champion was Ugo Locatelli from Italy: 22y (5 February 1916). The youngest captain was Kurt Svanström from Sweden: 23y (24 March 1915).
Vittorio Pozzo was the head coach of the Italy national football team that leading the nation to victory in the third World Cup. Pozzo is regarded as one of the greatest head coaches of all time, and is the only head coach to guide his national team to two FIFA World Cup champions.
25 match officials from 10 countries and just one confederation were the responsible for enforcing the laws of the game during the course of the 18 World Cup matches.
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The order of the table is based on the matches as referee.
This section presents the statistics of all dissmissals and cautions since the first 1930 FIFA World Cup held in Uruguay. However, the use of red and yellow cards to indicate sent-off and cautions were officially introduced at the 1970 World Cup.
Teams' discipline
Red cards are one of the most remarkable event that can impact the outcome of a game after goals and penalties. The team receiving the red card is in a vulnerable position and faces a significant disadvantage, mainly if it occurs in the first half. The opposing side on the other hand, receives the advantage and the score is more likely to be in their favor.
The top scorer (Golden Shoe) of the tournament was "Black Diamond"Leônidas from Brazil, who would go on to score seven goals. The names that people probably remember from those times are:
Matthias Sindelar, Der Papierene or the Paper-man, considered by many as the best Austrian player of all time, the Mozart of football, for his elegant playing, decided not to play for Germany after the annexation of Austria to Nazi Germany. Sindelar was born in Kozlov in the Czech Republic within a Jewish family that emigrated to Vienna when Matthias was two years old. He had the audacity to score a goal in the friendly match between Germany and Austria to celebrate the annexation of Austria, which took place three months before the World Cup. Sindelar performed a dance to celebrate the goal in front of the box in which Hitler was. Austria beat Germany 2 to 0. Since then, The Gestapo considered that Sinderlar was a subversive element and pursued him. Matthias and his girlfriend Camila Castagnola were found dead at his apartment in Vienna on January 23, 1939. Official information says suicide by inhaling gas, although their deaths were never clarified. As a tribute, Sindelar was voted the best Austrian footballer of the 20th Century and was named Austria's sportsman of the century.
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German coach Sepp Herberger was repudiated throughout the tournament by making the Nazi salute.
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Leônidas, the black diamond, the inventor of the bicycle, was the top scorer of the tournament with 7 goals. Leônidas could have done even more goals; however, his coach inexplicably left him out of the semi-finals to Italy in Marseille, preserving it for the final. Brazil lost that game and Leônidas missed an opportunity to keep scoring more goals.
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Meazza scored the second goal against Brazil in the semi-final that sent Italy into their second consecutive World Cup final. It was also his last goal for Italy. A memorable moment occurred when he was set to take a penalty shot. When he stepped up to take the kick, his shorts fell down because the elastic around the waist had earlier been pulled and ripped by a defender. Undaunted, Meazza held up his shorts with his left hand and shot past the confused goalkeeper Walter, who was still busy laughing.
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Before the finals, Benito Mussolini sent a telegram to the team, saying "Vincere o morire!", which translated meant "Win or die!".
World Cup 1938 postcard
Allen, the official match ball of the 1938 World Cup
