1950 FIFA World Cup

Infobox International Football Competition
tourney_name = FIFA World Cup
year = 1950
other_titles = IV Campeonato Mundial de Futebol


size = 150px
caption = 1950 FIFA World Cup official logo
country = Brazil
country-flagvar = 1889
dates = June 24 – July 16
confederations = 3
num_teams = 13
venues = 6
cities = 6
champion = Uruguay
count = 2
second = Brazil
second-flagvar = 1889
third = Sweden
fourth = Spain
fourth-flagvar = 1939
matches = 22
goals = 88
attendance = 1036000
top_scorer = flagicon|BRA|1889 Ademir (8 goals)The 1950 FIFA World Cup, held in Brazil from June 24 to July 16, was the fourth staging of the World Cup, and the first staged in 12 years due to World War II. Brazil was chosen as the host country by FIFA in July 1946. It was also the first tournament that the trophy 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 had won the inaugural competition in 1930, clinching the cup by beating the hosts Brazil 2-1 in the deciding match of the four-team final group (this was the only tournament not decided by a one-match final).

Background

Because of World War II, the World Cup had not been staged since 1938; the planned World Cups of 1942 and 1946 were both cancelled. After the war, FIFA were keen to resurrect the competition as soon as possible, and they began making plans for a World Cup tournament to take place. In the aftermath of the war, much of Europe lay in ruins. As a result, FIFA had some difficulties finding a country interested in hosting the event, since many governments believed that the world scenario did not favour a sportive celebration, and also (more importantly) that the resources that would have to be put into organizing the World Cup could not be diverted from other more urgent fronts. For some time, the World Cup was at risk of not being held for sheer lack of interest from the international community, until Brazil presented a bid at the 1946 FIFA Congress, offering to host the event on condition that the tournament take place in 1950 (it was originally planned to take place in 1949). [ [http://www.planetworldcup.com/CUPS/1950/wc50index.html Planet World Cup - 1950] ] Brazil and Germany had been the leading bidders to host the cancelled 1942 World Cup; since both the 1934 and 1938 tournaments had been held in Europe, football historians generally agree that the 1942 event would most likely have been awarded to a South American host country. Brazil's new bid was very similar to the mooted 1942 bid and was quickly accepted.

Qualification

Having secured a host nation, FIFA would still dedicate some time to persuading countries to send their national teams to compete. Italy was of particular interest: the Italians were the long-standing defending champions (winners in 1938), but the country was reconstructing from the end of World War II, and at first there was little to no interest from the country in participating. The Italians were finally persuaded to attend, although rumours 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.Fact|date=April 2008

With Italy and Austria, two successful pre-war teams had not been subject to international sanctions, while Japan, still under occupation, and occupied and partitioned Germany had not been permitted in time to compete or qualify. The French-occupied Saarland had been accepted by FIFA two weeks before the World Cup, several months before (West) Germany's DFB was reinstated, while Soviet-occupied East Germany had not even founded a football association yet.

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 withdrew as they were not British Champions.

Two other teams, Turkey and India, also withdrew after qualifying, with India refusing to go because FIFA would not allow the team to play barefoot. France and Portugal were invited as replacements but declined. Initially France agreed to play but they worked out that the venues for their two group matches were over 3,000 kilometres away from each other. The French told the Brazilians that they would stay at home unless the arrangements were changed. The Brazilian Federation refused and France withdrew. Therefore, even though 16 teams were originally going to participate, after the withdrawals only 13 teams were left to take part.

ummary

Originally, the tournament format would be that the 16 teams be divided into four first round groups (or "pools" as they were then called) of four teams, with the group winners advancing to a final group stage, playing in round-robin format to determine the winner. However, because only 13 teams competed, this left two first round groups with four teams, another with three teams, and the last group with only two teams. The draw took place in Rio de Janeiro, on May 22, 1950. [ [http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/fifafacts/mcwc/ip-201_10e_fwcdraw-history_8842.pdf History of the World Cup Final Draw] ] In fact, the entire tournament was arranged in such a way that the four first round groups had no geographical basis. Hence, several teams were obliged to cover large distances to complete their program, although Brazil was allowed to play two of its three group matches in Rio de Janeiro while its other game was in (comparatively) nearby São Paulo.

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 United States (when the score appeared in English newspapers, many thought it was a misprint) which, combined with their 1-0 defeat by Spain, led to England being eliminated.

The final group stage involved the teams who won their groups: Brazil, Spain, Sweden, and 1930 FIFA World Cup champions Uruguay, who were making their first World Cup appearance since winning the inaugural tournament. The World Cup winner would be the team that managed to finish on top of this group. The final group's six matches were shared between Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Brazil played all its final group matches at the Estádio do Maracanã in Rio while the games that didn't involve the host nation were played in São Paulo. Brazil won their first two matches with a 7-1 thrashing of Sweden and 6-1 rout of Spain. Before the decisive match, Brazil was sitting on top of the final group and had one game left to play against Uruguay, in second and only a point behind. On July 16, before a huge home crowd of 199,954 (some estimated as 205,000) in the Estádio do Maracanã, the host nation only had 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 when Alcides Ghiggia squeaked a goal past Moacyr Barbosa, and Uruguay was crowned World Cup champions for a second time. This stunning defeat surprised Brazil and is referred to as the "Maracanazo."

The average attendance of nearly 61,000 per game, aided greatly by eight matches (including five featuring hosts Brazil) held in the newly-built Maracanã, set a record that would not be broken until 1994. Not counting the Maracanã matches, the average attendance was a still-impressive 37,500. However, the only venues that saw crowds comparable to or greater than those in recent World Cups were the Maracanã and São Paulo. Other venues saw considerably smaller crowds.

Venues

Six cities hosted the tournament:
*Belo Horizonte, Estadio Sete de Setembro
*Curitiba, Estádio Durival de Britto
*Porto Alegre, Estádio dos Eucaliptos
*Recife, Estádio Ilha do Retiro
*Rio de Janeiro, Estádio do Maracanã
*São Paulo, Estádio do Pacaembu

quads

For a list of all squads that appeared in the final tournament, see "1950 FIFA World Cup squads".

Results

First round

Group 1

footballbox
date = 1950-06-25
time = 15:00
team1 = fb-rt|SWE
score = 3 – 2
report = [http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=7/results/matches/match=1219/report.html (Report)]
team2 = fb|ITA
goals1 = Jeppson goal|25 goal|68
Andersson goal|33
goals2 = Carapellese goal|7
Muccinelli goal|75
stadium = Estádio do Pacaembu, São Paulo
attendance = ~50,000
referee = Lutz (Switzerland) ----footballbox
date = 1950-06-29
time = 15:30
team1 = fb-rt|SWE
score = 2 – 2
report = [http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=7/results/matches/match=1228/report.html (Report)]
team2 = fb|PAR
goals1 = Sundqvist goal|17
Palmér goal|25
goals2 = López goal|34
López Fretes goal|74
stadium = Estádio Durival de Britto, Curitiba
attendance = ~8,000
referee = Mitchell (Scotland) ----footballbox
date = 1950-07-02
time = 15:00
team1 = fb-rt|ITA
score = 2 – 0
report = [http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=7/results/matches/match=1218/report.html (Report)]
team2 = fb|PAR
goals1 = Carapellese goal|12
Pandolfini goal|62
goals2 =
stadium = Estádio do Pacaembu, São Paulo
attendance = ~26,000
referee = Ellis (England)

*fb|IND "withdrew"

Group 4

footballbox
date = 1950-07-02
time = 18:00
team1 = fb-rt|URU
score = 8 – 0
report = [http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=7/results/matches/match=1185/report.html (Report)]
team2 = fb|BOL
goals1 = Míguez goal|14 goal|40 goal|51
Schiaffino goal|17 goal|53
Vidal goal|18
Pérez goal|83
Ghiggia goal|87
goals2 =
stadium = Estádio Independência, Belo Horizonte
attendance = ~5,000
referee = Reader (England)

*fb|TUR "withdrew"
*fb|SCO "withdrew"

Final round

footballbox
date = 1950-07-09
time = 15:00
team1 = fb-rt|BRA|1889
score = 7 – 1
report = [http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=7/results/matches/match=1189/report.html (Report)]
team2 = fb|SWE
goals1 = Ademir goal|17 goal|37 goal|51 goal|59
Chico goal|39 goal|87
Maneca goal|85
goals2 = Andersson goal|67|pen.
stadium = Estádio do Maracanã, Rio de Janeiro
attendance = ~138,000
referee = Ellis (England) ----footballbox
date = 1950-07-09
time = 15:00
team1 = fb-rt|URU
score = 2 – 2
report = [http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=7/results/matches/match=1207/report.html (Report)]
team2 = fb|ESP|1939
goals1 = Ghiggia goal|27
Varela goal|72
goals2 = Basora goal|39 goal|41
stadium = Estádio do Pacaembu, São Paulo
attendance = ~44,000
referee = Griffiths (Wales) ----footballbox
date = 1950-07-13
time = 15:00
team1 = fb-rt|BRA|1889
score = 6 – 1
report = [http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=7/results/matches/match=1186/report.html (Report)]
team2 = fb|ESP|1939
goals1 = Parra goal|15|o.g.
Jair goal|21
Chico goal|29 goal|55
Ademir goal|57
Zizinho goal|74
goals2 = Igoa goal|70
stadium = Estádio do Maracanã, Rio de Janeiro
attendance = ~152,000
referee = Leafe (England) ----footballbox
date = 1950-07-13
time = 15:00
team1 = fb-rt|URU
score = 3 – 2
report = [http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=7/results/matches/match=1231/report.html (Report)]
team2 = fb|SWE
goals1 = Ghiggia goal|39
Míguez goal|77 goal|84
goals2 = Palmér goal|4
Sundqvist goal|41
stadium = Estádio do Pacaembu, São Paulo
attendance = ~8,000
referee = Galeati (Italy) ----footballbox
date = 1950-07-16
time = 15:00
team1 = fb-rt|SWE
score = 3 – 1
report = [http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=7/results/matches/match=1206/report.html (Report)]
team2 = fb|ESP|1939
goals1 = Sundqvist goal|15
Mellberg goal|34
Palmér goal|79
goals2 = Zarra goal|82
stadium = Estádio do Pacaembu, São Paulo
attendance = ~11,000
referee = van der Meer (Netherlands) ----footballbox
date = 1950-07-16
time = 15:00
team1 = fb-rt|URU
score = 2 – 1
report = [http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=7/results/matches/match=1190/report.html (Report)]
team2 = fb|BRA|1889
goals1 = Schiaffino goal|66
Ghiggia goal|79
goals2 = Friaça goal|47
stadium = Estádio do Maracanã, Rio de Janeiro
attendance = ~199,954
referee = George Reader (England)

Awards

corers

8 goals
*flagicon|BRA|1889 Ademir

5 goals
*flagicon|ESP|1939 Estanislao Basora
*flagicon|URU Oscar Míguez

4 goals
*flagicon|BRA|1889 Chico
*flagicon|ESP|1939 Zarra
*flagicon|URU Alcides Ghiggia

3 goals
*flagicon|SWE Karl-Erik Palmér
*flagicon|SWE Stig Sundqvist
*flagicon|URU Juan Alberto Schiaffino

2 goals
*flagicon|BRA|1889 Baltazar
*flagicon|BRA|1889 Jair
*flagicon|BRA|1889 Zizinho
*flagicon|CHI Atilio Cremaschi
*flagicon|ITA Riccardo Carapellese
*flagicon|SWE Sune Andersson
*flagicon|SWE Hasse Jeppson
*flagicon|SUI Jacques Fatton
*flagicon|USA|1912 John Souza
*flagicon|YUG Željko Čajkovski
*flagicon|YUG Kosta Tomašević

1 goal
*flagicon|BRA|1889 Alfredo
*flagicon|BRA|1889 Friaça
*flagicon|BRA|1889 Maneca
*flagicon|CHI Andrés Prieto
*flagicon|CHI George Robledo
*flagicon|CHI Fernando Riera
*flagicon|ENG Wilf Mannion
*flagicon|ENG Stan Mortensen
*flagicon|ITA Ermes Muccinelli
*flagicon|ITA Egisto Pandolfini
*flagicon|MEX|1934 Horacio Casarín
*flagicon|MEX|1934 Héctor Ortíz
*flagicon|PAR Atilio López
*flagicon|PAR César López
*flagicon|ESP|1939 Silvestre Igoa
*flagicon|SWE Bror Mellberg
*flagicon|SUI René Bader
*flagicon|SUI Jean Tamini
*flagicon|USA|1912 Joe Gaetjens
*flagicon|USA|1912 Frank Wallace
*flagicon|URU Julio Pérez
*flagicon|URU Obdulio Varela
*flagicon|URU Ernesto Vidal
*flagicon|YUG Stjepan Bobek
*flagicon|YUG Tihomir Ognjanov

Footnotes

External links

* [http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=7/index.html 1950 FIFA World Cup on FIFA.com]
* [http://www.rsssf.com/tables/50full.html Details at RSSSF; note that they often disagree with FIFA on goal scorers and times]
* [http://homepages.enterprise.net/eico/1950.htm History of the World Cup-1950]