1950 FIFA World Cup

The **1950 FIFA World Cup** was the eighth FIFA World Cup to be held since its inception in 1906. It was the first World Cup after the Second World War after the planned 1942 and 1946 editions were cancelled.

This World Cup saw an attendance of over one million people for the first time in World Cup history which was reached in the final. Sweden who would take out the title after they defeated Great Britain by a score of 2-1 at Solna.

## Background

After the Second World War ended in 1945 which cancelled the 1942 and 1946 editions of the World Cup, FIFA was keen to resurrect the competition as soon as possible so that they make plans. After the war, most of the European countries were in ruin and FIFA look towards the north as the Nordic countries stayed out of the war. On June 15, 1947, Sweden won the hosting rights for the 1950 edition. It was also discussed that the competition would expand to a twenty team competition to try and get more teams into international football. After Denmark qualified through to the World Cup, the Swedish FA decided to move some of the Group B games over to Copenhagen to create history by being the first World Cup to not be exclusivly feature in one country.

## Qualifying

Main article: 1950 FIFA World Cup qualification

Qualifying for the World Cup began in 1948 with the first round of North American qualifying taking place with Cuba taking on Hawaii. With the competition expanded to twenty teams and Sweden (hosts) and Italy (defending champions) automatically qualifying, this left eighteen spots remaining. Of these, ten spots went to Europe, four spots went to North America, three spots went to South America and one spot went to Asia.

File:Flag of Austria.svg Austria
File:Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Belgium
File:Flag of Denmark.svg Denmark
File:Flag of France.svg France
File:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Great Britain
File:Flag of Italy.svg Italy
File:Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands
File:Flag of Norway.svg Norway
File:Flag of Romania (1948-1952).svg Romania
File:Flag of Spain (1945 - 1977).svg Spain
File:Flag of Sweden.svg Sweden

**North America**
File:Flag of Costa Rica.svg Costa Rica
File:Flag of Jamaica (1906-1957).svg Jamaica
File:Flag of Mexico (1934–1968).png Mexico
File:U.S. flag, 48 stars.svg United States
**CONMEBOL**
File:Flag of Brazil (1889-1960).svg Brazil
File:Flag of Chile.svg Chile
File:Flag of Uruguay.svg Uruguay
**Asia**
File:Flag of Korea (1899).svg Korea

## Seeding

* File:Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands (2)
* File:Flag of SFR Yugoslavia.svg Yugoslavia (3)
* File:Flag of France.svg France (5)
* File:Flag of Brazil (1889-1960).svg Brazil (7)
* File:U.S. flag, 48 stars.svg United States (7)
* File:Flag of Sweden.svg Sweden (9) (Host)
* File:Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Belgium (14)
* File:Flag of Austria.svg Austria (16)
* File:Flag of Denmark.svg Denmark (16)
* File:Flag of Norway.svg Norway (21)
* File:Flag of Romania (1948-1952).svg Romania (28)
* File:Flag of Spain (1945 - 1977).svg Spain (28)
* File:Flag of Jamaica (1906-1957).svg Jamaica (36)
* File:Flag of Korea (1899).svg Korea (38)
* File:Flag of Costa Rica.svg Costa Rica (42)

## Group Stage

### Group A

Group A saw the hosts in Sweden being placed with two World Champions in Italy (1934 and 1938) and Belgium (1922) with the other two teams being Mexico and Chile. The big surprise in Group A was on the 20th June when Albert De Hert scored the winning goal for Belgium to later cause a shock elimination of the Italians. Despite some people thinking that Sweden would only just scrape through the group stage, they would finish on top spot after a shaky start against Mexico (who would finish in the last spot) before winning three on the trot including a 4-2 win over Italy in Stockholm.

### Group B

Group B saw a massive upset with the Netherlands struggling in the Group B with only a lonely win in the first match of the group against Jamaica who conceded 29 goals against them without even troubling the goalkeeper at the other end. The team that would replace the Netherlands would be Norway who claimed a surprise second in the group (Uruguay came in first) after Gunnar Dahlen scored a goal in the 76th minute to give Norway a victory over the second-ranked Netherlands. For Jamaica, as well as the worst World Cup record in history, they also were the wrong end of the record scoreline when the game against Uruguay saw a score line of eleven-nil in favour of Uruguay which is the biggest margin in a World Cup. Austria would be the unlucky one after the 2-2 draw against Norway on the final matchday couldn’t get the team into the quarter-finals.

### Group C

Group C went according to the seeds that were set earlier in the year with France and Brazil each booking a spot in the quarter-final. But that wasn’t almost the case with third place Denmark needing to win against Spain to book a spot at the expensive of France and after conceding early in the second half, they got one back in the second half from Edvin Hansen but they couldn’t get a winner. Also in this group was debutantes Costa Rica who couldn’t defend against tough opposition but did score two goals with both being late in the match.

### Group D

Group D saw the debut of Great Britain in a FIFA World Cup and they delivered on the favourite tag that was given to them before the tournament when they easily got through the group with four from four. The only real test for them was second place Yugoslavia who kept the team to only two lucky goals in the second half. Korea who was the second team that was debuting in this group almost caused a massive boilover when they ahead of the United States who lost to Romania in the first game when they were 4-3 up with only fifteen minutes left to play. But the Americans held the nerves and score two goals from John Souza who also got his hat-trick in this match to give the United States their only win of the group stage.

## Knockout Stage

### Quarter Finals

In quarterfinal action, all of the semi-finalists would be European after Uruguay and Brazil both got knocked out in their quarterfinals to France and Norway respectively. Also happening in the quarter-finals was the host nation in Sweden making it through to their first semi-final after they defeated Yugoslavia in extra time after Bror Mellberg scored a goal in the 117th minute to record the victory. In the other quarter-final it was Great Britain who would take out a 3-0 victory over Belgium with Stanley Matthews scoring a double in the victory.

### Semi Finals

The Semi-Finals of the 1950 FIFA World Cup saw two new nations make it to the final for the first time. The first semi-final saw Sweden completely outplay their fellow Nordic opponents in Norway with goals on either side of the half giving the victory to Sweden at home.

Unlike the first semi, the second saw a struggle between two neighbours battled it out for all ninety minutes with both teams having numerous chances in taking out the victory. Extra time was the same and a lucky fluke in the 113th minute from Bill Eckersley got the British into the final at the expense of the French.

### Third Place Playoff

In the curtain raiser to the final, it was Norway who would take out the victory by only a single goal over their French opponents with Harry Karlsen getting a goal in 63rd minute.

### Final

For the Swedes, this would be a moment that the nation would savour as their team became the seventh team to win the World Cup after they defeated Great Britain in the final which was held at Solna. The man that got them the critical goal was Karl-Erik Palmér who score the goal with ten minutes left to play in the match. This was also after they did fell behind early as Jim Taylor scored the first goal of the match.

## Goalscorers

7 goals

* File:Flag of Brazil (1889-1960).svg Ademir

6 goals

* File:Flag of Uruguay.svg Óscar Míguez

5 goals

* File:Flag of France.svg Jean Baratte
* File:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Stanley Matthews
* File:Flag of Korea (1899).svg Chung Kook-Chin
* File:Flag of Norway.svg Hans Andersen
* File:Flag of Sweden.svg Karl-Erik Palmér
* File:Flag of Yugoslavia.svg Kosta Tomašević

4 goals

* File:Flag of Italy.svg Riccardo Carapellese
* File:Flag of Uruguay.svg Rubén Morán
* File:Flag of Yugoslavia.svg Željko Čajkovski

3 goals

* File:Flag of Austria.svg Ernst Ocwirk
* File:Flag of Belgium.svg Jef Mermans
* File:Flag of Brazil (1889-1960).svg Chico
* File:Flag of Brazil (1889-1960).svg Jair
* File:Flag of Denmark.svg Poul Petersen
* File:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Mal Griffiths
* File:Flag of the Netherlands.svg Mick Clavan
* File:Flag of Norway.svg Gunnar Thoresen
* File:Flag of Romania (1948-1952).svg Gheorghe Bodo
* File:Flag of Sweden.svg Bror Mellberg
* File:Flag of Sweden.svg Hasse Jeppson
* File:US flag 48 stars.svg John Souza

2 goals

* File:Flag of Austria.svg Ernst Melchior
* File:Flag of Brazil (1889-1960).svg Ely
* File:Flag of Denmark.svg Edvin Hansen
* File:Flag of Denmark.svg Harald Lyngsaa
* File:Flag of Denmark.svg Holger Seebach
* File:Flag of France.svg Henri Baillot
* File:Flag of France.svg Jean Luciano
* File:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Ron Burgess
* File:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Stan Mortensen
* File:Flag of Italy.svg Ermes Muccinelli
* File:Flag of the Netherlands.svg Abe Lenstra
* File:Flag of Norway.svg Villy Andresen
* File:Flag of Norway.svg Gunnar Dahlen
* File:Flag of Norway.svg Harry Karlsen
* File:Flag of Spain (1945 - 1977).svg Estanislau Basora
* File:Flag of Spain (1945 - 1977).svg Luis Molowny
* File:Flag of Sweden.svg Ingvar Rydell
* File:US flag 48 stars.svg Frank Moniz
* File:Flag of Uruguay.svg Alcides Ghiggia
* File:Flag of Yugoslavia.svg Ervin Katnić

1 goal

* File:Flag of Austria.svg Lukas Aurednik
* File:Flag of Austria.svg Robert Dienst
* File:Flag of Austria.svg Robert Körner
* File:Flag of Austria.svg Otto Walzhofer
* File:Flag of Belgium.svg Albert De Hert
* File:Flag of Belgium.svg Vic Mees
* File:Flag of Belgium.svg Georges Mordant
* File:Flag of Brazil (1889-1960).svg Bauer
* File:Flag of Brazil (1889-1960).svg Baltazar
* File:Flag of Brazil (1889-1960).svg Rui
* File:Flag of Chile.svg Carlos Ibáñez
* File:Flag of Chile.svg Andrés Prieto
* File:Flag of Chile.svg Fernando Roldán
* File:Flag of Denmark.svg Hans Colberg
* File:Flag of France.svg Jean Belver
* File:Flag of France.svg André Doye
* File:Flag of France.svg Édouard Kargu
* File:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Roy Bentley
* File:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Bill Eckersley
* File:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Laurie Hughes
* File:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Jim Taylor
* File:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Billy Wright
* File:Flag of Italy.svg Amedeo Amadei
* File:Flag of Italy.svg Egisto Pandolfini
* File:Flag of Italy.svg Carlo Parola
* File:Flag of Korea (1899).svg Min Byung-Dae
* File:Flag of Korea (1899).svg An Jong-Soo
* File:Flag of Korea (1899).svg Chung Nam-Sik
* File:Flag of Mexico (1934-1968).svg José Velázquez
* File:Flag of the Netherlands.svg Cor Huijbregts
* File:Flag of the Netherlands.svg Abe Lenstra
* File:Flag of the Netherlands.svg Rinus Terlouw
* File:Flag of the Netherlands.svg Faas Wilkes
* File:Flag of Norway.svg Ragnar Hvidsten
* File:Flag of Romania (1948-1952).svg Alexandru Apolzan
* File:Flag of Romania (1948-1952).svg Zoltan Farmati
* File:Flag of Romania (1948-1952).svg Andrei Mercea
* File:Flag of Spain (1945 - 1977).svg Silvestre Igoa
* File:Flag of Spain (1945 - 1977).svg Antonio Puchades
* File:Flag of Spain (1945 - 1977).svg Telmo Zarra
* File:Flag of Sweden.svg Sune Andersson
* File:Flag of Sweden.svg Ivan Bodin
* File:Flag of Sweden.svg Arne Månsson
* File:Flag of Sweden.svg Stellan Nilsson
* File:Flag of Uruguay.svg Schubert Gambetta
* File:Flag of Uruguay.svg Washington Ortuño
* File:Flag of Uruguay.svg Rodolfo Pini
* File:Flag of Uruguay.svg Juan Alberto Schiaffino
* File:Flag of Uruguay.svg Obdulio Varela
* File:Flag of Uruguay.svg Ernesto Vidal
* File:US flag 48 stars.svg Geoff Coombes
* File:US flag 48 stars.svg Joe Gaetjens
* File:US flag 48 stars.svg Gino Pariani
* File:US flag 48 stars.svg Adam Wolanin
* File:Flag of Yugoslavia.svg Bela Palfi
* File:Flag of Yugoslavia.svg Tihomir Ognjanov

Unknown

* File:Flag of Costa Rica.svg ??? (2 goals)

## Trivia

* This is the first time in World Cup history that the top two teams in the World have been eliminated in the group stage.
* This would be the only time that the World Cup would have 20 teams as the next World Cup had four teams less which was the case until 1974.
* This is also the first time that a World Cup winner came from a team that didn’t qualify in the previous edition.
* Uruguay 11-0 win over Jamaica is the biggest win in the World Cup history and second only to the 17-1 result between Denmark and France at the 1908 Olympics.