1950 FIFA World Cup (UKatWC)

See also 1950 FIFA World Cup The 1950 FIFA World Cup was the 4th World Cup, held 12 years after the previous World Cup in France, 1938. Subsequent tournaments were cancelled due to World War II. FIFA had some difficulty in finding entrants due to the destruction and scarce resources caused by the war, and had banned Germany and Japan from entering the competition. Initially the UK home nations applied to enter separately, but the USA lodged a complaint with FIFA. FIFA had previously prevented the USA from entering two separate teams, representing the competing North American Soccer Football League and the American Soccer League.

Format
For the first time the competition's first rounds were played in groups, rather than the previous knockout competition. The 16 entrants were divided into four groups of four, with the winners of each group progressing into a further group of four, and the winner being declared the champion.

Draw
The 16 entrants were drawn into four groups.
 * Group 1: Brazil, Mexico, Switzerland and Yugoslavia
 * Group 2: United Kingdom, Chile, Spain and the United States.
 * Group 3: Italy, India, Paraguay and Sweden
 * Group 4: Uruguay, Bolivia and France

However after the draw India and France both withdrew due to the cost of travel, leaving 3 teams in group 3 and just 2 in group 4.