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, fb|FRA, as the hosts, and fb|ITA|1861, as the defending champions, qualified automatically, leaving 14 spots open for competition.

Due to the Spanish Civil War, fb|ESP|1931 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).
*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 fb|AUT 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

(Poland finished above Yugoslavia on goal average).

October 10, 1937, Warsaw, Poland - fb|POL 4 - 0 fb|YUG|kingdom

April 3, 1938, Belgrade, Yugoslavia - fb|YUG|kingdom 1 - 0 fb|POL

Group 4

fb|EGY|1922 withdrew, so fb|ROU qualified automatically.

Group 5

May 1, 1938, Milan, Italy - fb|SUI 2 - 1 fb|POR

Group 6

First round

July 29, 1937, Riga, Latvia - fb|LVA 4 - 2 fb|LTU|1918

September 3, 1937, Kaunas, Lithuania - fb|LTU|1918 1 - 5 fb|LVA

Final round

footballbox
date = October 10, 1937
time =
team1 = fb|AUT
report =
score = 2 – 1
team2 = fb|LVA
goals1 = Jerusalem goal|15
Binder goal|33
goals2 = Vestermans goal|6
stadium = Stadion Prater, Wien
attendance = ~16,000
referee = P. Hercka (Hungary)

Austria qualified, but was later incorporated by Germany during the Anschluss. FIFA offered the place to fb|ENG, who had opted not to enter the competition, but they declined, but FIFA decided not to allow anyone else to qualify, leaving the World Cup one team short, although they could offer participation to the runner-up of Austria's group, Latvia, but didn't do so.

Group 9

November 28, 1937, Rotterdam, Netherlands - fb|NED 4 - 0 fb|LUX

March 13, 1938, Luxembourg, Luxembourg - fb|LUX 2 - 3 fb|BEL

April 3, 1938, Antwerpen, Belgium - fb|BEL 1 - 1 fb|NED

Group 10

fb|ARG withdrew, so fb|BRA|1889 qualified automatically.

Group 11

fb|USA|1912, fb|COL, fb|CRC, fb|MEX|1934, fb|SLV and flagicon|Netherlands Dutch Guiana all withdrew, so fb|CUB qualified automatically.

Group 12

fb|JPN withdrew, so fb|Dutch East Indies qualified automatically.

Qualified teams

*fb|AUT 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

* [http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/p/pwc/q/1938.html FIFA World Cup Official Site - 1938 World Cup Qualification]
* [http://www.rsssf.com/tables/38q.html RSSSF - 1938 World Cup Qualification]