1950 FIFA World Cup

Fourth FIFA World Cup was the FIFA World Cup of 1950, held in Brazil from 24 June to 16 July 1950. This was the first World Cup since 1938, with the events scheduled for 1942 and 1946 postponed due to World War II. It was won by Uruguay, who won the inaugural event in 1930. They clinched the cup in the deciding four-team match for final place by defeating 2–1 hosts from Brazil. It was the only competition that was not determined by a one-match final. This was also the first competition at which the cup was renamed by Jules Rimet Trophy, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of FIFA's presidency. The World Cup has not been played since 1938, due to World War II; both the World Cups set for 1942 and 1946 were postponed. FIFA was eager to revive the sport as soon as possible after the war, and preparations to stage a World Cup match have been initiated. Much of Europe lies in ruins, after the war. As a result, FIFA had some difficulty locating a country that was interested in staging the game as certain nations thought like they would dedicate their limited money to more important purposes than a sporting festival. When Brazil made an bid at the FIFA Congress in 1946, promising to host the match on condition that the competition be played in 1950, the World Cup was in danger of not being scheduled due to the international community's sheer lack of participation. Brazil and Germany had been the leading bidders to host the cancelled 1942 World Cup; since both the 1934 and 1938 competitions took place in Europe, football historians generally believe that the 1942 edition should most likely have been awarded to a host nation in South America. The latest offer from Brazil was very close to the mooted contract from 1942, and was soon approved. Having secured a host country, FIFA will also spend more time convincing countries to give out the match to their national teams. Italy was of special concern as longstanding defending champions, having won the two previous tournaments in 1934 and 1938; however, Italy's national team was seriously depleted when the majority of its starting line-up died a year before the start of the tour in the Superga air crash. At last the Italians were convinced to join but travelled more by boat than by plane. The tournament's Brazilian organisers introduced a new system in which the 16 teams were grouped into four first round groups of four teams, with the four group winners going on to a final group stage, competing in round-robin format to be decided by the champion. Cash was the key explanation for this choice: The owners had invested a lot on venue and construction budgets. When seen in 1934 and 1938, a single elimination tournament would require just seventeen teams, so two rounds of the current group format would mean thirty teams and therefore more ticket sales. This format would effectively guarantee at least three games for each hand, thereby giving more incentive to European players to make the trip to and participate in South America. FIFA initially opposed this plan but eased off after Brazil threatened to withdraw if the format was not chosen to host the tournament. A united Great Britain team recently beat the rest of Europe 6–1 in an exhibition match and England joined the competition as one of the favourites; however, they crashed out on June 29 in a U.S. surprise 1–0 loss which resulted in England being excluded, along with Spain's 1–0 loss. Italy's reigning champions broke their undefeated record in the World Cup finals when Sweden defeated Team 3–2 in the opening match. Italy endured as a result of not advancing to the second round. The final match between Switzerland and Mexico in group 1 marked the first time a national team has opted to play for their own jersey.