Brazil was the host for the first World Cup after World War II. In the FIFA congress in Luxembourg in July 1946, Brazil was the only candidate to host the World Cup in 1950, although it was originally planned to be held in 1949. The decision to stage the fourth World Cup in South America stemmed from the fact that a large part of Europe was still in turmoil after the war. The choice of Brazil was to be a good one. They were reigning South American champions and interest in football was reaching remarkable levels of fanaticism in that vast country. FIFA was confident Brazil would stage a spectacular carnival of football. At this 1946 congress, FIFA also announced that, from 1950, the World Cup trophy would in the future be known as the Jules Rimet Cup, although it was subsequently referred to as the Jules Rimet Trophy. This was to mark Rimet's 25th anniversary as FIFA president.

     This 1950 Cup also finally saw the entrance of British teams. After Great Britain had beaten Rest Of Europe 6-1 in a match in 1947, England arrived as one of the hottest favourites to win. This tournament had a strange schedule. Some nations withdrew from the cup after the draw of various reasons. India, for example withdrew because FIFA wouldn't let them play in bare feet! This made the groups look weird, with two groups of four, one with three and one with only two teams. The groupwinners would progress to a final pool where the winners were crowned champions. 

     One of the biggest shocks in World Cup history came on June 29th when England were beaten by USA by 1-0. Uruguay who were lucky enough to only have one opponent in the groupstage, took advantage of that and trashed Bolivia by 8-0 with their starplayer Schiaffino scoring four of the goals. Sweden and Spain also showed class and topped their groups.

     This World Cup has been the only one without a real final. When Uruguay met Brazil in the last match, the hosts needed only a draw to win the World Cup. They had beaten Sweden by 7-1 and Spain by 6-1 in their two earlier games in the group and were favourites. Uruguay had drawn against Spain and beaten Sweden by a single goal. A World record 200.000 spectators watched the game and couldn't believe the outcome. Uruguay stunned the crowd and won 2-1 after coming from behind. Read more about the final by clicking on the "Decisive match" link in the left column.
 
 

TOPSCORERS
Ademir (BRA)                 9 goals
Juan Schiaffino (URU)        5 goals
Estanislao Basora (SPA)      5 goals
Chico (BRA)                  4 goals
Telmo Zarra (SPA)            4 goals
Omar Miguez (URU)            4 goals
Alcides Ghiggia (URU)        4 goals



OTHER STATISTICS
Number of games                   22
Total Goals scored                88
Average per game                4,00
Expulsions                      none
Own goals                       none
Total attendance           1,337,000
Average attendance            60,773



WORLD CUP 1950 STANDINGS

                       P   W  D  L   Goals  Pts
 1.Uruguay         C   4   3  1  0   15- 5    7
 2.Brazil          F   6   4  1  1   22- 6    9
 3.Sweden          SF  5   2  1  2   11-15    5
 4.Spain           SF  6   3  1  2   10-12    7
 5.Yugoslavia      1R  3   2  0  1    7- 3    4
 6.Switzerland     1R  3   1  1  1    4- 6    3
 7.Italy           1R  2   1  0  1    4- 3    2
 8.England         1R  3   1  0  2    2- 2    2
 9.Chile           1R  3   1  0  2    5- 6    2
10.United States   1R  3   1  0  2    4- 8    2
11.Paraguay        1R  2   0  1  1    2- 4    1
12.Mexico          1R  3   0  0  3    2-10    0
13.Bolivia         1R  1   0  0  1    0- 8    0

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