Now the World Cup came to Europe. At a FIFA congress in October 1932, after eight lengthy conferences, Italy was chosen as the venue for the second World Cup. At the time Italy was under the fascist rule of Benito Mussolini, Il Duce, who had taken power in 1922. The awarding of the World Cup to his country was seen by the dictator as a great propaganda platform and he ensured that Italy would provide a footballing spectacle that would be the envy of the world. But even the hosts had to qualify to be allowed to participate in their own tournament! The organizing committee breathed a sigh of relief when Italy beat Greece 4-0 in the decisive match. What an anticlimax it would have been with the hosts not participating.

     Uruguay didn't participate in this cup, because many European nations refused to go to Uruguay for the previous World Cup, and therefore still remain the only champions not to defend their title. The British associations were still at loggerheads with FIFA, and neither England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland entered the qualifying rounds. 

     Qualification was now necessary for the first time. 32 nations wanted to participate. 16 nations qualified, only four were non-European. The exceptions were USA, Brazil, Argentina and Africa's first ever team, Egypt. There was no groupstage in this World Cup, just ordinary knock-out competition with extra-time in case the teams were level after 90 mins, and a replay if they were level after 120 minutes. No penalty shoot-outs at that time. Unlike in 1930 when all the matches were played in one city, the Italians spread the games all over the country with Rome as headquarters.

     Italy got a brilliant start when they trashed USA by 7-1 on the tournament's opening day. It was clear that the South American dominance in the first World Cup would not repeat itself. After the first round only European countries were left in the competition. One of the reasons to Europe's superiority, was the fact that Uruguay didn't enter and Argentina fielded a team full of reserves. Their stars from 1930 had moved to Europe, among them Guillermo Stábile the top-scorer of World Cup 1930 and Monti.

     However, new stars would show up in this tournament. Italy with Raimundo Orsi, Angelo Schiavio and Giuseppe Meazza proved to be unbeatable in their own World Cup. Spain's goalkeeper Ricardo Zamora and the Czech striker Oldrich Nejedly were other names that people of that time remember. Nejedly secured his country a place in the final when he scored a  hat-trick against Germany in the semifinal. In the final Italy waited. It was not going to be a great final. Italy came back from being 1-0 down to win by 2-1 in extra-time. Read more about this final by clicking on the "Final" link in the left column.
 
 

TOPSCORERS
Oldrich Nejedly (CZE)        5 goals
Angelo Schiavio (ITA)        4 goals
Edmund Conen (GER)           4 goals
Raimundo Orsi (ITA)          3 goals
Leopold Kielholz (SWI)       3 goals



OTHER STATISTICS
Number of games                   17
Total Goals scored                70
Average per game                4,12
Expulsions                         1
Own goals                       none
Total attendance             395,000
Average attendance            23,235



WORLD CUP 1934 STANDINGS

                       P   W  D  L   Goals  Pts
 1.Italy           C   5*  4  1  0   12- 3    9
 2.Czechoslovakia  F   4   3  0  1    9- 6    6
 3.Germany         SF  4   3  0  1   11- 8    6
 4.Austria         SF  4   2  0  2    7- 7    4
 5.Spain           QF  3*  1  1  1    4- 3    3
 6.Hungary         QF  2   1  0  1    5- 4    2
 7.Switzerland     QF  2   1  0  1    5- 5    2
 8.Sweden          QF  2   1  0  1    4- 4    2
 9.Argentina       1R  1   0  0  1    2- 3    0
 9.France          1R  1   0  0  1    2- 3    0
 9.Netherlands     1R  1   0  0  1    2- 3    0
12.Romania         1R  1   0  0  1    1- 2    0
13.Egypt           1R  1   0  0  1    2- 4    0
14.Brazil          1R  1   0  0  1    1- 3    0
15.Belgium         1R  1   0  0  1    2- 5    0
16.United States   1R  1   0  0  1    1- 7    0

* Spain and Italy involved in a QF-replay.

*The pointsystem used from 1930 to 1990 was
2 pts for a win and 1 pt for a draw.