Early World Cups (1930, 1934, and 1938) featured relatively few teams due to complex travel logistics for teams journeying between South America and Europe. The Second World War paused the competition until its return in 1950 in Brazil. As the tournament developed and grew, host cities needed time to prepare stadiums and infrastructure for the millions of attending fans. Then came the increased number of participating teams. However, just getting to the modern version of the World Cup takes a lot of time. Qualifying for the World Cup involves more than 200 nations competing for 31 of those 32 spots—the host nation is given an automatic place.