1938 FIFA World Cup qualification

A total of 37 teams entered the 1938 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds, competing for a total of 16 spots in the final tournament. For the first time the title holders and the host country were given automatic qualification. Therefore, France, as the hosts, and Italy, as the defending champions, qualified automatically, leaving 14 spots open for competition.

Due to the Spanish Civil War, Spain withdrew from the competition. The remaining 34 teams were divided into 12 groups, based on geographical considerations, as follows:

• Groups 1 to 9 - Europe: 11 places, contested by 23 teams (including Egypt and Palestine/Eretz Israel).
• Groups 10 and 11 - The Americas: 2 places, contested by 9 teams.
• Group 12 - Asia: 1 place, contested by 2 teams.

However, due to the withdrawal of Austria after qualifying (they had been annexed by Germany), only 15 teams actually competed in the final tournament. FIFA did not offer participation to the runner-up of the group that Austria had played in, Latvia.

A total of 21 teams played at least one qualifying match. A total of 22 qualifying matches were played, and 96 goals were scored (an average of 4.36 per match).

Format

The 12 groups had different rules, as follows:

• Group 1 had 4 teams. The teams played against each other once. The group winner and runner-up would qualify.
• Groups 2, 3, 4 and 7 had 2 teams each. The teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winners would qualify.
• Group 5: had 2 teams. The teams played against each other once on neutral ground. The group winner would qualify.
• Groups 6 and 8 had 3 teams each. The strongest team of each group was seeded. There would be two rounds of play:
  • First Round: The seeded team received a bye and advanced to the Final Round directly. The remaining 2 teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The winner would advance to the Final Round.
  • Final Round: The seeded team played against the winner of the First Round at home. The winner would qualify.
• Group 9 had 3 teams. The teams played against each other once. The group winner and runner-up would qualify.
• Group 10 had 2 teams. The group winner would qualify.
• Group 11 had 7 teams. The group winner would qualify.
• Group 12 had 2 teams. The group winner would qualify.

Key:

• Teams highlighted in green qualified for the finals.
• Teams highlighted in Orange qualified for the final phase of their group.

Group 1

Rank	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv	Pts
1	Germany	3	3	0	0	11	1	11.0	6
2	Sweden	3	2	0	1	11	7	1.57	4
3	Estonia	3	1	0	2	4	11	0.36	2
4	Finland	3	0	0	3	0	7	0.00	0

16 June 1937	Sweden	4 – 0	Finland	Stockholm, Sweden
	Bunke  60', 82' Personn  65' Svanström  68'	Report		Stadium: Solna Råsunda Stadion Attendance: 19,544 Referee: Kolbjørn Daehlen (Norway)

20 June 1937	Sweden	7 – 2	Estonia	Stockholm, Sweden
	Josefsson  7', 41' Bunke  40' Jonasson  49' (pen.) Wetterström  73', 77', 84'	Report	Siimenson  2' Uukkivi  3'	Stadium: Solna Råsunda Stadion Attendance: 18,270 Referee: Otto Remke (Denmark)

29 June 1937	Finland	0 – 2	Germany	Helsinki, Finland
		Report	Lehner  26' Urban  38'	Stadium: Pallokenttä Attendance: 6,619 Referee: Otto Remke (Denmark)

19 August 1937	Finland	0 – 1	Estonia	Turku, Finland
		Report	Kuremaa  56'	Stadium: Urheilupuisto Attendance: 4,797 Referee: Ivan Eklind (Sweden)

29 August 1937	Germany	4 – 1	Estonia	Königsberg, Germany
	Lehner  50', 65' Gauchel  53', 86'	Report	Siimenson  34'	Stadium: Horst-Wessel Stadion Attendance: 18,000 Referee: Bruno Pfützner (Czechoslovakia)

21 November 1937	Germany	5 – 0	Sweden	Hamburg, Germany
	Siffling  2', 57' Szepan  8' Schön  48', 63'	Report		Stadium: Altonaer Stadion Attendance: 51,000 Referee: Bruno Pfützner (Czechoslovakia)

Germany and Sweden qualified.

Group 2

Rank	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv	Pts
1	Norway	2	1	1	0	6	5	1.20	3
2	Irish Free State	2	0	1	1	5	6	0.83	1

10 October 1937	Norway	3 – 2	Irish Free State	Oslo, Norway
	Kvammen  30', 64' Martinsen  78'	Report	Geoghegan  37' Dunne  49'	Stadium: Ullevaal Stadion Attendance: 19,000 Referee: Peco Bauwens (Germany)

7 November 1937	Irish Free State	3 – 3	Norway	Dublin, Irish Free State
	Dunne  10' O'Flanagan  62' Duggan  88'	Report	Kvammen  16', 33' Martinsen  49'	Stadium: Dalymount Park Attendance: 27,000 Referee: Thomas Gibbs (England)

Norway qualified.

Group 3

Rank	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv	Pts
1	Poland	2	1	0	1	4	1	4.00	2
2	Yugoslavia	2	1	0	1	1	4	0.25	2

10 October 1937	Poland	4 – 0	Yugoslavia	Warsaw, Poland
	Piatek  3', 20' Wostal  59' Wilimowski  78'	Report		Stadium: Stadion Wojska Polskiego Attendance: 30,000 Referee: Lucien Leclercq (France)

3 April 1938	Yugoslavia	1 – 0	Poland	Belgrade, Yugoslavia
	Marjanovic  61'	Report		Stadium: Stadion BSK Attendance: 26,000 Referee: Rinadlo Barlassina (Italy)

Poland finished above Yugoslavia on goal average, and thus qualified.

Group 4

Egypt withdrew, so Romania qualified automatically.

Group 5

Rank	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv	Pts
1	Switzerland	1	1	0	0	2	1	2.00	2
2	Portugal	1	0	0	1	1	2	0.50	0

1 May 1938	Switzerland	2 – 1	Portugal	Milan, Italy
	Aeby  24' Amado  29'	Report	Peyroteo  72' (pen.)	Stadium: Stadio Civico Arena Attendance: 16,000 Referee: Francesco Mattea (Italy)

Switzerland qualified.

Group 6

First round

Rank	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv	Pts
1	Greece	2	2	0	0	4	1	4.00	4
2	Palestine/Eretz Israel	2	0	0	2	1	4	0.25	0

22 January 1938	Palestine/Eretz Israel	1 – 3	Greece	Tel-Aviv, Palestine/Eretz Israel
	Neufeld  36'	Report	Vikelidis  15', 30' Migiakis  73'	Stadium: Maccabiah Stadium Attendance: 8,000 Referee: Mohammed Youssef (Egypt)

20 February 1938	Greece	1 – 0	Palestine/Eretz Israel	Athens, Greece
	Vikelidis  88' (pen.)	Report		Stadium: Stadio Leoforos Alexandras Attendance: 12,000 Referee: Mika Popovic (Yugoslavia)

Greece qualified for the final round.

Final round

Rank	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv	Pts
1	Hungary	1	1	0	0	11	1	11.0	2
2	Greece	1	0	0	1	1	11	0.09	0

25 March 1938	Hungary	11 – 1	Greece	Budapest, Hungary
	Zsengellér  15', 23' (pen.), 25', 65', 81' Titkos  18', 75' Vincze  26' Nemes  34', 40', 52'	Report	Makris  89'	Stadium: Hungária[disambiguation needed ] Attendance: 12,000 Referee: Denis Xifando (Romania)

Hungary qualified.

Group 7

Rank	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv	Pts
1	Czechoslovakia	2	1	1	0	7	1	7.00	3
2	Bulgaria	2	0	1	1	1	7	0.14	1

7 November 1937	Bulgaria	1 – 1	Czechoslovakia	Sofia, Bulgaria
	Panchediev  89' (pen.)	Report	Ríha  44'	Stadium: Junak Stadion Attendance: 15,000 Referee: Rinaldo Barlassina (Italy)

24 April 1938	Czechoslovakia	6 – 0	Bulgaria	Prague, Czechoslovakia
	Šimůnek  21', 79', 89' Nejedlý  57', 77' Ludl  73'	Report		Stadium: AC Sparta Stadion Attendance: 28,000 Referee: Pál von Hertzka (Hungary)

Czechoslovakia qualified.

Group 8

First round

Rank	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv	Pts
1	Latvia	2	2	0	0	9	3	3.00	4
2	Lithuania	2	0	0	2	3	9	0.33	0

27 July 1937	Latvia	4 – 2	Lithuania	Riga, Latvia
	Kaneps  19', 52', 83' Vestermans  50'	Report	Gudelis  79' Paulionis  90'	Stadium: ASK Stadion Attendance: 10,000 Referee: Gustav Krist (Czechoslovakia)

3 September 1937	Lithuania	1 – 5	Latvia	Kaunas, Lithuania
	Paulionis  72'	Report	Kaneps  4', 45' (pen.) Borduško  11', 30' Vestermans  67'	Stadium: Valstybinis stadionas Attendance: 10,000 Referee: Hans Frankenstein (Austria)

Latvia qualified for the final round.

Final round

Rank	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv	Pts
1	Austria	1	1	0	0	2	1	2.00	2
2	Latvia	1	0	0	1	1	2	0.50	0

October 10 1937	Austria	2 – 1	Latvia	Vienna, Austria
	Jerusalem  15' Binder  33'	Report	Vestermans  6'	Stadium: Stadion Prater Attendance: 16,000 Referee: Pál von Hercka (Hungary)

Austria qualified, but was later incorporated by Germany during the Anschluss. FIFA offered the place to England, who had opted not to enter the competition, but they declined the offer; FIFA decided not to allow anyone else to qualify, leaving the World Cup one team short.

Group 9

Pos.	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv	Pts
1	Netherlands	2	1	1	0	5	1	5.00	3
2	Belgium	2	1	1	0	4	3	1.33	3
3	Luxembourg	2	0	0	2	2	7	0.29	0

28 November 1937	Netherlands	4 – 0	Luxembourg	Rotterdam, Netherlands
	Smit  29' de Boer  68', 78', 82'	Report		Stadium: Stadion Feyenoord Attendance: 40,000 Referee: Karl Weingarter (Austria)

13 March 1938	Luxembourg	2 – 3	Belgium	Luxembourg, Luxembourg
	Libar  4' Kemp  33'	Report	Voorhoof  19' Braine  55' de Vries  59'	Stadium: Stade Municipal[disambiguation needed ] Attendance: 11,200 Referee: Georges Capdeville (France)

3 April 1938	Belgium	1 – 1	Netherlands	Antwerp, Belgium
	Isemborghs  53'	Report	van Spaandonck  37'	Stadium: Bosuil Stadion Attendance: 47,660 Referee: Arthur Jewell (England)

Netherlands and Belgium qualified.

Group 10

Argentina withdrew, so Brazil qualified automatically.

Group 11

Colombia, Costa Rica, Dutch Guiana, El Salvador, Mexico, and the United States all withdrew, so Cuba qualified automatically.

Group 12

Japan withdrew, so Dutch East Indies qualified automatically.

Qualified teams

Qualifying countries

Team	Finals Appearance	Streak	Last Appearance
Belgium	3rd	3	1934
Brazil	3rd	3	1934
Cuba	1st	1	–
Czechoslovakia	2nd	2	1934
Dutch East Indies	1st	1	–
France (h)	3rd	3	1934
Germany	2nd	2	1934
Hungary	2nd	2	1934
Italy (c)	2nd	2	1934
Netherlands	2nd	2	1934
Norway	1st	1	–
Poland	1st	1	–
Romania	3rd	3	1934
Sweden	2nd	2	1934
Switzerland	2nd	2	1934

•  Austria withdrew after qualifying.
• (h) - qualified automatically as hosts
• (c) - qualified automatically as defending champions

Notes

• It was originally intended that the World Cup would be held alternately between the continents of South America and Europe. However Jules Rimet, the creator of the World Cup, convinced FIFA to hold the competition in France, his home country. Because of this controversy, many American countries, including Argentina (the most likely hosts if the event was held in South America), Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Mexico, Dutch Guiana, Uruguay, and the United States all withdrew or refused to enter.

External links

• FIFA World Cup Official Site - 1938 World Cup Qualification
• RSSSF - 1938 World Cup Qualification