1950 Football World Cup - Brazil
IV Campeonato Mundial de Futebol
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Official 1950 Football World Cup poster
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| Participant teams
| 32
(final tournament: 13)
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| Host
| Brazil
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| Champions
| Uruguay (2nd title)
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| Matches played
| 22
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| Goals scored
| 88
(4.00 per match)
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| Attendance
| 1,337,000
(60,773 per match)
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| Top scorer
| Ademir (BRA)
9 goals
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The 1950 Football World Cup is the only one which never had a single final match. 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 won the inaugural competition in 1930.
Because of World War II, the World Cup had not been held since 1938; In the aftermath of the conflict, Europe lay in ruins after the ravaging effects of the war. As a result, FIFA could not find a country interested in hosting the event, since most governments believed not only that the world scenario did not favor a sportive celebration, but also, and mainly, that the resources that would have to be put into organizing the World Cup were much more needed in other, more urgent, fronts. For some time, the World Cup of 1950 was at risk of not being held for sheer lack of interest from the international community, until Brazil presented a bid. 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 convincing 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 in ruins at the end of World War II, and at first there was little to no interest from the country in participating. The Italians were finally convinced to attend, although rumors 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. India withdrew after qualification because FIFA would not allow the team to play barefoot. 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 said that they would not go as they were not British Champions. Turkey withdrew as well.
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. Brazil outscored everyone with a 7-0 thrashing of Sweden and 6-1 rout of Spain. In 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 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 average attendance of nearly 61,000 per game set a record that would not be broken until 1994, when the World Cup came to the United States for the first time.
First Round
Group A
| Team |
Pts |
Pld |
W |
D |
L |
GF |
GA |
 Brazil |
5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 2 |
Missing image
Flag_of_SFR_Yugoslavia.png
Yugoslavia |
4 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 3 |
Missing image
Switzerland_flag_large.png
Switzerland |
3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 |
Missing image
Mexico_flag_large.png
Mexico |
0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 10 |
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Group B
Group C
| Team |
Pts |
Pld |
W |
D |
L |
GF |
GA |
 Sweden |
3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 4 |
Missing image
Flag_of_Italy.png
Italy |
2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 |
 Paraguay |
1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
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Group D
Final Round
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nl:Wereldkampioenschap Voetbal - 1950
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pl:Mistrzostwa Świata w piłce nożnej 1950
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sl:Svetovno prvenstvo v nogometu 1950
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zh:1950年世界杯足球赛
