THE 1950 FIFA World Cup, held in Brazil from June 24 to July 16 1950, was the fourth FIFA World Cup. It was the first World Cup since 1938, the planned 1942 and 1946 competitions having been cancelled due to World War II.
It was won by Uruguay, who had won the inaugural competition in 1930. They clinched 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. It was also the first tournament where the trophy was referred to as the Jules Rimet Cup, to mark the 25th anniversary of Jules Rimet’s presidency of FIFA. Having secured a host nation, FIFA still dedicated some time to persuading countries to send their national teams to compete.

Italy were of particular interest as the long-standing defending champions, having won the previous two tournaments in 1934 and 1938. However, Italy’s national team was weakened severely as most of its starting line-up perished in the Superga air disaster one year before the start of the tournament. The Italians were eventually persuaded to attend, but travelled by boat rather than by plane.

Brazil (the host country) and Italy (the defending champions) qualified automatically, leaving 14 places remaining. Of these, seven were allocated to Europe, six to the Americas, and one to Asia.
Both Germany (still occupied and partitioned) and Japan (still occupied) were not permitted to participate in qualification. The French-occupied Saarland had been accepted by FIFA two weeks before the World Cup, several months before the German Football Association (DFB) was reinstated, while Soviet-occupied East Germany had not yet founded a football association.

Italy, Austria, and other countries that had been involved in World War II as allies of Germany and Japan, were not subject to international sanctions, and Italy qualified automatically as defending champions of 1938.
Finland, despite being on the Axis side from 1941-1944, were allowed to qualify, but withdrew before qualification was complete and FIFA declared their matches as friendlies. The British nations were invited to take part, having rejoined FIFA four years earlier, after 17 years of self-imposed exile.

It was decided to use the 1949-50 British Home Championship, as a qualifying group, with the top two teams qualifying. England finished first and Scotland second.