User:Foghe/1942 FIFA World Cup

The 1942 FIFA World Cup, the fourth staging of the FIFA World Cup, was held in Argentina from 17 to 26 July.

Host selection

 * See also: FIFA World Cup hosts

Becuase of the outbreak in Europe of World War II in September 1939, as well as the location of two previous editions in Italy and France, the 1942 FIFA World Cup was expected to be assigned to an American country. Several national teams from the continent in fact withdrew or refused to qualify four years before, in protest against the decision to award to France the organization of the 1938 tournament, which was originally intended to be held alternately between the two continents.

Ultimately, Argentina was awarded, after an agreement of mutual support with the Brazilian confederation, the tournament unopposed on 20 November 1940, the same day that Brazil was selected for the 1950 FIFA World Cup. The 1946 edition was not awarded, in order let the possibility to assign it to a European country in the eventuality of a future bid.

Qualification

 * Main article: x|1942 FIFA World Cup qualification

The hosts (Argentina) and the defending champions (Italy) qualified automatically. Of the remaining fourteen available places, nine were allocated to the Americas, four to Europe and one to Asia.

Europe
Due to the ongoing World War II in Europe and northern Africa several teams demonized the qualification process or refused to participate at all. The 1934 and 1938 finalists Czechoslovakia and Hungary were unable to enter, France, Germany and the communist Soviet Union were unwilling to do so, while the four Home Nations were at the time not yet FIFA members. Turkey, who qualified for the Asian continent, was forced to withdrew due to the danger of travelling, especially in the Mediterranean Sea.

Considering the conflict in progress and the consequential impossibility of organizing European teams in qualification groups, as well as the extreme shortage of countries disposed to travel, FIFA decided to invite them rather than force them to compete for a spot. Thus, Spain, Portugal, Sweden and Switzerland, four of the five main European neutral countries not to fight the war, were selected to compete in the tournament. However, the Swiss and the Swedish teams soon declined the invitation due to the difficulties and the dangerousness of the travel, expected to be through a zone of active war. Additionally, Italy ultimately decided not to participate due to her prolonged involvement in the war.

At the end of the whole qualifying path, just two teams from Europe accepted to participate in the final stage of the tournament, resulting in the lowest number of countries from the continent to have ever played in a single edition of the World Cup.

Americas
For this edition of the competition the American continent had nine places up for grab in the final stage, plus the assured pot for the Argentinian hosts. As a sort of compensation for the 1938 layout, with just two spots for the American teams on a total of sixteen, this time seven of the the nine CONMEBOL teams (including Argentina) had the right to participate without needing to qualify. Colombia and Ecuador played a qualification play-off, which was won by Ecuador. This arrangement left two empty American places which were later filled, via two qualification group, by the United States and Costa Rica.

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NAFC Mexico played in a second-round play-off, unsuccessfully challenging Brazil, the runners-up of the 1946 South American Championship, thus losing the spot and making the 1946 FIFA World Cup the only two-confederation edition of its history. No other team from the rest of world was admitted by FIFA (nor there were requests in such way).

Becasue of the perduration of World War II into mid-1945 the qualification process was made difficoult by the short available time and by the teams' reluctance to travel. FIFA decided to follow a fast qualification calendar, staging only two matches

After

Becuase of the lack of time due to the outbreak of World War II in Europe in September 1939,

Becuase of the outbreak in Europe of World War II in September 1939, the 1942 edition did not take place and was therefore cancelled, even before a host country could have been selected. At the end of the war, in May 1945, the idea of holding the competition in the following year was discussed, and FIFA eventually decided to ask to countries if there was certain interest to organize the tournament. To facilitate applications to be proposed, FIFA decided to exceptionally reduce the number of participating teams to eight and to request the arrangement of just one venue in which play the matches.

Becuase of the outbreak in Europe of World War II in September 1939, the 1942 edition did not take place and was therefore cancelled, even before a host country could have been selected. Shortly after the end of the war, in May 1945, FIFA discussed, and eventually decided, to ask to countries if there were certain interests to organize the 1946 tournament. As a way to facilitate applications to be proposed, it was agreed to exceptionally reduce the number of participating teams to eight (instead of sixteen) and to request the arrangement of just one venue (instead of six) in which play the matches.

Becuase of the outbreak in Europe of World War II in September 1939, the 1942 edition did not take place and was therefore cancelled, even before a host country could have been selected. Shortly after the end of the war, in May 1945, discussions begun about the possiblity of holding the competition in the following year, even if, considered the large damage and high number of dead the war had inflicted, the organization initially seemed in strong jeopardy. At the end FIFA decided to ask to countries if there were certain interests to organize the tournament and, as a way to facilitate applications to be proposed, it was agreed to exceptionally reduce the number of participating teams to eight (instead of sixteen) and to request the arrangement of just one venue (instead of six) in which play the matches.

Becuase of the outbreak in Europe of World War II in September 1939, the 1942 edition did not take place and was therefore cancelled, even before a host country could have been selected.

Despite the fact that the organization, due to the large damage and high number of dead the war had inflicted, initially seemed in strong jeopardy, discussions begun in mid-1945 about the possibility of holding the competition in the following year. After some months of debate, FIFA eventually decided to ask to countries if there were certain interests to organize the tournament and, as a way to facilitate applications to be proposed, it was agreed to exceptionally reduce the number of participating teams to eight (instead of sixteen) and to request the arrangement of just one venue (instead of six) in which play the matches.

whether it was the case to hold the competition in the following year

if was possible to hold the competition in the following year

if it was possible to hold the competition in the following year

lodged applications to host the event

to ask if there were countries interested to organize the tournament. To facilitate the

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List of qualified teams
The following teams qualified for the final tournament (are included the teams that withdrew).

Americas:
 * 🇦🇷 argentina (hosts)
 * 🇧🇴 bolivia
 * 🇧🇷 brazil
 * 🇨🇱 chile
 * 🇪🇨 ecuador
 * 🇵🇾 paraguay
 * 🇵🇪 peru
 * 🇺🇸 united states
 * 🇺🇾 uruguay
 * 🇺🇾 uruguay

Europe:
 * 🇮🇹 Italy (withdrew)
 * 🇵🇹 portugal
 * 🇪🇸 spain
 * 🇸🇪 Sweden (withdrew)
 * Switzerland (withdrew)

Asia:
 * 🇹🇷 Turkey (withdrew)

Format


Abc.

Draw
The draw took place on 15 July 1942 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, once all the teams arrived in the country.

Notable results
Abc.

Final
Abc.

Records
Abc.

Other landmarks
Abc.

Venues
Abc.

Squads
For a list of all squads that appeared in the final tournament, see x|1942 FIFA World Cup squads.

Match officials

 * Flag of None.svg x|First
 * Flag of None.svg x|Second
 * Flag of None.svg x|Third
 * Flag of None.svg x|Fourth
 * Flag of None.svg x|Fifth
 * Flag of None.svg x|Sixth
 * Flag of None.svg x|Seventh
 * Flag of None.svg x|Eight

Group A
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Group B
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Group C
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Group D
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Semi-finals
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Third place play-off
The two runners-up of each group qualified for the third place play-off.

Final
The two winners of each group qualified for the final of the competition.

Goalscorers
Abc.

FIFA retrospective ranking
Abc.