1934 FIFA World Cup qualification

The 1934 FIFA World Cup was the first World Cup where the teams had to qualify, since the first edition in 1930 had no qualification rounds (the participating teams were invited by FIFA). This time, a total of 32 teams entered the competition, so FIFA had to organize qualification (or preliminary) rounds to reduce the field to 16 teams for the final tournament. Curiously, Italy had to qualify despite being the hosts of the World Cup (the only time the hosts had to qualify), while the defending champions Uruguay refused to participate and defend their title because many European nations declined to take part in the 1930 World Cup held in Uruguay.

The 32 teams were divided into 12 groups, based on geographical considerations, as follows:
*Groups 1 to 8 - Europe: "12 places", contested by 21 teams.
*Groups 9, 10 and 11 - The Americas: "3 places", contested by 8 teams.
*Group 12 - Africa and Asia: "1 place", contested by 3 teams (including Turkey).

A total of 27 teams played at least one qualifying match. A total of 27 qualifying matches were played, and 141 goals were scored (an average of 5.22 per match).

Listed below are the dates and results of the qualification rounds.

Format

The 12 groups had different rules, as follows:
*Group 1 had 3 teams. The teams played against each other once. The group winner would qualify.
*Groups 2, 3 and 5 had 2 teams each. The teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winners would qualify.
*Group 4 had 3 teams. The teams played against each other twice. The group winner and runner-up would qualify.
*Groups 6, 7 and 8 had 3 teams each. The teams played against each other once. The group winners and runners-up would qualify.
*Groups 9 and 10 had 2 teams each. The group winners would qualify.
*Group 11 had 4 teams. There would be three rounds of play:
** First Round: Haiti played against Cuba in three matches at home. The winner would advance to the Second Round.
** Second Round: Mexico played against the winner of the First Round in three matches at home. The winner would advance to the Final Round.
** Final Round: USA played against the winner of the Second Round in a single match on neutral ground. The winner would qualify.
*Group 12 had 3 teams. After Turkey withdrew before the matches began, the remaining 2 teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winner would qualify.

Group 1

Table

Hungary and Austria qualified.

Group 5

October 15, 1933, Warsaw, Poland - fb|POL 1 - 2 fb|TCH

April 15, 1934, Prague, Czechoslovakia - fb|TCH 2 - 0 fb|POL:FIFA awarded Czechoslovakia a 2-0 win because Poland had withdrawn.

Netherlands and Belgium qualified (Belgium finished above the Irish Free State on goal average).

Group 8

March 11, 1934, Luxembourg, Luxembourg - fb|LUX 1 - 9 fb|GER|empire

April 13, 1934, Luxembourg, Luxembourg - fb|LUX 1 - 6 fb|FRA

Germany vs France was not played, since both teams were already assured of the top two spots.

"Mexico" advanced to the Final Round.

Final round

May 24, 1934, Rome, Italy - fb|USA|1912 4 - 2 fb|MEX|1934

USA qualified.

Group 12

Notes

* The match to decide whether USA or Mexico would qualify was played in Italy only three days before the start of the final tournament, as the USA team submitted their entry too late. Thus, the match was played on Italian ground, so that the winner would effectively stay for the tournament (the teams travelled by ship at that time, and travelling from America to Europe took around 15 days).

External links

* [http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/p/pwc/q/1934.html FIFA World Cup Official Site - 1934 World Cup Qualification]
* [http://www.rsssf.com/tables/34q.html RSSSF - 1934 World Cup Qualification]