1938 FIFA World Cup
| 1938 FIFA World Cup - France Coupe du Monde 1938 |
|
|---|---|
 Official Poster |
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| Teams | 15 (from 37 entrants) |
| Host | France |
| Champions |  Italy (2nd title) |
| Matches played | 18 |
| Goals scored | 84 (average 4.667 per match) |
| Attendance | (average per match) |
| Top scorer(s) |  Leônidas7 goals |
The 1938 FIFA World Cup was the third staging of the World Cup, and was held in France from June 4 to June 19. France was chosen as hosts by FIFA in August 1936. Italy retained the championship, beating Hungary 4-2 in the final.
Qualification
FIFA's decision during the celebration of the 1936 Summer Olympics to hold the tournament in France caused outrage in South America where it was believed that the venue would alternate between the two continents. Instead, it was the second tournament in a row to be played in Europe. As a result neither Uruguay nor Argentina entered the competition. Spain had the record to be the first country to be out of the World Cup because of a war (the 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 until 2006 when this was abolished.
Originally 16 nations were going to take part. Austria had qualified but after the Anschluss to Germany in March, they withdrew, leaving 15 teams to take part.
Summary
The tournament was again held in a knockout format, similar to 1934. This was the last tournament that there was not a group stage.
Five of the first round matches required extra time to break the deadlock; two games still went to a replay. The replays saw Switzerland oust the team of Germany, to which some Austrian players had been added for political reasons, with a score of 4-2, while Cuba managed to advance to the next round at the expense of Romania.
Sweden advanced directly to the quarter-finals due to Austria's withdrawal, and they proceeded to beat Cuba 8-0. The hosts, France, were beaten by the holders, Italy (wearing a provocative all-black 'fascist' strip), 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 Czech side (both Oldřich Nejedlý and František Plánička had suffered broken bones in the first game) and won 2-1.
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 rested their star player Leônidas confident that they would qualify for the final, but the Italians won 2-1. Brazil topped Sweden 4-2 for third place.
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.
Some argued that Hungary - or at least its goalkeeper - allowed Italy to win, as a measure to save the lives of the Italian Team, which had received telegrams by Benito Mussolini with "Vincere o morire!" (mistranslated as "Win or die") written on them. Hungarian goalkeeper Antal Szabó expressed his relief following his side's defeat against Italy despite letting in four goals in the loss. Referring to Mussolini's pre-match threats, Szabó quipped "I may have let in four goals, but at least I saved their lives". Actually, this is not the case. "Win or die" was a typical slogan of encouragement from fascist era, meaning "Victory or bust!" or "do your best to get victory". The fascist regime held sporting heroes and champions in high regard, greatly using them in their propaganda machine, so an act like the one suggested by Szabó was not realistic. Szabó's words may have been just an excuse for the lost match, or an honest misunderstanding. [1]
Due to World War II, the World Cup would not be held for another 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 troops.[2]
Venues
Ten cities hosted the tournament:
- Antibes, Stade du Fort Carré
- Bordeaux, Parc Lescure
- Le Havre, Stade Cavée Verte
- Lille, Stade Victor Boucquey
- Lyon, Stade Gerland (the only match there was cancelled)
- Marseille, Stade Vélodrome
- Paris, Parc des Princes and Stade Olympique de Colombes
- Reims, Vélodrome Municipal
- Strasbourg, Stade de la Meinau
- Toulouse, Stade Chapou
Squads
For a list of all squads that appeared in the final tournament, see 1938 FIFA World Cup squads.
Results
| First Round | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | |||||||||||
| 5 June - Paris | ||||||||||||||
 France |
3 | |||||||||||||
| 12 June - Paris | ||||||||||||||
.svg) Belgium |
1 | |||||||||||||
| France |
1 | |||||||||||||
| 5 June - Marseille | ||||||||||||||
.svg) Italy |
3 | |||||||||||||
| Italy (AET) |
2 | |||||||||||||
| 16 June - Marseille | ||||||||||||||
 Norway |
1 | |||||||||||||
| Italy |
2 | |||||||||||||
| 5 June - Strasbourg | ||||||||||||||
.svg) Brazil |
1 | |||||||||||||
| Brazil (AET) |
6 | |||||||||||||
| 12 June – Bordeaux (replayed 14 June) |
||||||||||||||
 Poland |
5 | |||||||||||||
| Brazil |
1 (2) | |||||||||||||
| 5 June - Le Havre | ||||||||||||||
 Czechoslovakia |
1 (1) | |||||||||||||
| Czechoslovakia (AET) |
3 | |||||||||||||
| 19 June – Paris | ||||||||||||||
 Netherlands |
0 | |||||||||||||
| Italy |
4 | |||||||||||||
| 4 June - Paris (replayed 9 June) |
||||||||||||||
 Hungary |
2 | |||||||||||||
 Germany |
1 (2) | |||||||||||||
| 12 June - Lille | ||||||||||||||
 Switzerland |
1 (4) | |||||||||||||
| Switzerland |
0 | |||||||||||||
| 5 June - Reims | ||||||||||||||
| Hungary |
2 | |||||||||||||
| Hungary |
6 | |||||||||||||
| 16 June – Paris | ||||||||||||||
| Dutch East Indies |
0 | |||||||||||||
| Hungary |
5 | |||||||||||||
| 5 June - Lyon | ||||||||||||||
 Sweden |
1 | Third place | ||||||||||||
| Sweden |
w/o | |||||||||||||
| 12 June - Antibes | 19 June - Bordeaux | |||||||||||||
 Austria[3] |
||||||||||||||
| Sweden |
8 | Brazil |
4 | |||||||||||
| 5 June - Toulouse (replayed 9 June) |
||||||||||||||
 Cuba |
0 | Sweden |
2 | |||||||||||
| Cuba |
3 (2) | |||||||||||||
 |
3 (1) | |||||||||||||
First round
| June 4, 1938 18:00 |
|||
| Germany |
1 – 1 (a.e.t.) |  Switzerland |
Paris, Parc des Princes Attendance: ~30000 Referee: Langenus (Belgium) |
Gauchel  29' |
(Report) | Abegglen 43' |
| June 5, 1938 17:00 |
|||
| Hungary |
6 – 0 |  Dutch East Indies |
Reims, Vélodrome Municipal Attendance: ~8000 Referee: Conrié (France) |
| Kohut 14' Toldi  16'Sárosi 25', 88'Zsengellér 30', 67' |
(Report) |
| June 5, 1938 | |||
| Sweden |
walkover Austria withdrew [3] |
 Austria |
Lyon, Stade Gerland |
| June 5, 1938 17:00 |
|||
| Cuba |
3 – 3 (a.e.t.) | |
Toulouse, Stade Chapou Attendance: +6000 Referee: Scarpi (Italy) |
| Socorro 44', 103' Magriña 69' |
(Report) | Bindea 35' Barátky 88'Dobay 105' |
| June 5, 1938 17:00 |
|||
| France |
3 – 1 |  Belgium |
Paris, Stade Olympique de Colombes Attendance: ~32000 Referee: Wüthrich (Switzerland) |
| Veinante 1' Nicolas 16', 69' |
(Report) | Isemborghs 38' |
| June 5, 1938 17:00 |
|||
| Italy |
2 – 1 (a.e.t.) |  Norway |
Marseille, Stade Vélodrome Attendance: ~18000 Referee: Beranek(1) (Germany) |
| Ferraris 2' Piola 94' |
(Report) | Brustad 83' |
| June 5, 1938 17:30 |
|||
| Brazil |
6 – 5 (a.e.t.) |  Poland |
Strasbourg, Stade de la Meinau Attendance: ~16000 Referee: Eklind (Sweden) |
| Leônidas 18', 93', 104' Romeu 25'Perácio 44', 71' |
(Report) | Scherfke 23' (pen) Wilimowski 53', 59', 89', 118' |
| June 5, 1938 18:30 |
|||
| Czechoslovakia |
3 – 0 (a.e.t.) | Netherlands |
Le Havre, Stade Cavée Verte Attendance: ? Referee: Leclerq (France) |
| Košťálek 93' Nejedlý 111'[4]Zeman 118'[5] |
(Report) |
Replays:
| June 9, 1938 18:00 |
|||
| Germany |
2 – 4 | Switzerland |
Paris, Parc des Princes Attendance: ~22000 Referee: Eklind (Sweden) |
| Hahnemann 8' Lörtscher 22' (o.g.) |
(Report) | Wallaschek 42' Bickel 64'Abegglen 75', 78' |
| June 9, 1938 18:00 |
|||
| Cuba |
2 – 1 | |
Toulouse, Stade Chapou Attendance: ~5000 Referee: Birlem (Germany) |
| Socorro 51' Fernández 57' |
(Report) | Dobay 35' |
Second Round
| June 12, 1938 17:00 |
|||
| Switzerland |
0 – 2 | Hungary |
Lille, Stade Victor Boucquey Attendance: ~14000 Referee: Barlassina (Italy) |
| (Report) | Sárosi 40' Zsengellér 89'[6] |
| June 12, 1938 17:00 |
|||
| Sweden |
8 – 0 |  Cuba |
Antibes, Stade du Fort Carré Attendance: ~6000 Referee: Krist (Czechoslovakia) |
| Keller 9'[7],
80'[8],
81'[9] Wetterström 32'[10], 37', 44'Nyberg 84'Andersson 90'[11] |
(Report) |
| June 12, 1938 17:00 |
|||
| France |
1 – 3 | Italy |
Paris, Stade Olympique de Colombes Attendance: +58000 Referee: Baert (Belgium) |
| Heisserer 10' |
(Report) | Colaussi 9' Piola 51', 72' |
| June 12, 1938 17:00 |
|||
| Brazil |
1 – 1 (a.e.t.) |  Czechoslovakia |
Bordeaux, Parc Lescure Attendance: ~25000 Referee: von Hertzka (Hungary) |
| Leônidas 30' |
(Report) | Nejedlý 65' (pen) |
Replay:
| June 14, 1938 18:00 |
|||
| Brazil |
2 – 1 | Czechoslovakia |
Bordeaux, Parc Lescure Attendance: ~20000 Referee: Capdeville (France) |
| Leônidas 57' Roberto 62'[12] |
(Report) | Kopecký 25' |
Semi-finals
| June 16, 1938 18:00 |
|||
| Hungary |
5 – 1 |  Sweden |
Paris, Parc des Princes Attendance: +22000 Referee: Leclerq (France) |
| Jacobsson 19' (o.g.) Titkos 37'Zsengellér 39', 85'Sárosi 65' |
(Report) | Nyberg 1' |
| June 16, 1938 18:00 |
|||
| Italy |
2 – 1 |  Brazil |
Marseille, Stade Vélodrome Attendance: ~30000 Referee: Wüthrich (Switzerland) |
| Colaussi 55' Meazza 60' (pen) |
(Report) | Romeu 87' |
Third place match
| June 19, 1938 17:00 |
|||
| Sweden |
2 – 4 | Brazil |
Bordeaux, Parc Lescure Attendance: +20000 Referee: Langenus (Belgium) |
| Jonasson 28' Nyberg 38' |
(Report) | Romeu 44' Leônidas 63', 74'Perácio 80' |
Final
| June 19, 1938 17:00 |
|||
| Hungary |
2 – 4 | Italy |
Paris, Stade Olympique de Colombes Attendance: ~60000 Referee: Capdeville (France) |
| Titkos 8' Sárosi 70' |