World Cup 1938 Qualifying (original) (raw)
Qualified as hosts: France Qualified as holders: Italy
Group 1 [Germany, Sweden] 16.06.37 Stockholm Sweden 4-0 Finland 1.GERMANY 3 3 0 0 11- 1 6 20.06.37 Stockholm Sweden 7-2 Estonia 2.SWEDEN 3 2 0 1 11- 7 4 29.06.37 Helsinki Finland 0-2 Germany 3.Estonia 3 1 0 2 4-11 2 19.08.37 Turku Finland 0-1 Estonia 4.Finland 3 0 0 3 0- 7 0 29.08.37 Königsberg Germany 4-1 Estonia 21.11.37 Hamburg Germany 5-0 Sweden
Group 2a [Norway] 10.10.37 Oslo Norway 3-2 Ireland 07.11.37 Dublin Ireland 3-3 Norway
Group 2b [Poland] 10.10.37 Warszawa Poland 4-0 Yugoslavia 03.04.38 Beograd Yugoslavia 1-0 Poland
Group 3 [Romania] Egypt withdrew, Romania had a walkover.
Group 4 [Switzerland] 01.05.38 Milano Switzerland 2-1 Portugal
Group 5 [Hungary] 1st round 22.01.38 Tel-Aviv Palestina 1-3 Greece 20.02.38 Athinai Greece 1-0 Palestina 2nd round 25.03.38 Budapest Hungary 11-1 Greece
Group 6 [Czechoslovakia] 07.11.37 Sofia Bulgaria 1-1 Czechoslovakia 24.04.38 Praha Czechoslovakia 6-0 Bulgaria
Group 7 [Austria] 1st round 29.07.37 Riga Latvia 4-2 Lithuania 03.09.37 Kaunas Lithuania 1-5 Latvia 2nd round 05.10.37 Wien Austria 2-1 Latvia
Group 8 [Netherlands, Belgium] 28.11.37 Rotterdam Netherlands 4-0 Luxembourg 13.03.38 Luxembourg Luxembourg 2-3 Belgium 03.04.38 Antwerpen Belgium 1-1 Netherlands
Group 9 [Dutch East Indies] Tie was to be decided over one match in Saigon on 25 January 1938. Japan withdrew, Dutch East Indies had a walkover.
NB: after Japan's withdrawal, FIFA ruled that the Dutch East Indies had to play off against the USA for a place in the final tournament. The match was scheduled for 26 May 1938 (Ascension Day) in Rotterdam (Netherlands) but the USA withdrew at the end of April for financial reasons (they had hoped to finance the trip to Europe with the profits of a match against an English team on the occasion of the silver jubilee of the American federation, but the English cancelled the match refusing to play on a Sunday) and the Dutch Indies qualified by walkover.
Group 10 [Brazil] Argentina withdrew, Brazil had a walkover.
NB: Argentina were later allowed to re-enter and in January 1938 they were scheduled to play the winners of Central America in Bordeaux on 29 May 1938; however, Argentina withdrew again in spite of the fact they had been included among the 8 seeded nations in the final tournament in the draw of the fixtures on 5 March 1938.
Groups 11/12 [Cuba]
Group 11 Mexico withdrew; USA scheduled to play Dutch East Indies on 26 May 1938 in Rotterdam (see group 9) but withdrew in April.
Group 12 A tournament was announced for the second half of April 1938 between Cuba, Colombia, Costa Rica and El Salvador, in a knock-out format with each tie decided over three legs. Surinam (Dutch Guyana) were excluded on 9 April 1938 for allegedly having not replied to correspondence from the organisers, a decision against which Surinam successfully protested. Later in April 1938, Colombia and El Salvador withdrew, and a triangular tournament between Cuba, Costa Rica and Surinam was to be played in La Habana, from which Surinam withdrew for financial reasons (requesting instead to play the match against the Dutch East Indies for which the USA had meanwhile withdrawn, but this was refused by the FIFA), and as Costa Rica withdrew as well, Cuba had a walkover, as the match scheduled for the winners of this group against Argentina in Bordeaux on 29 May 1938 was also cancelled after the renewed withdrawal of Argentina.
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Prepared and maintained by Karel Stokkermans and Sergio Henrique Jarreta for theRec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
Authors: Karel Stokkermans and Sergio Henrique Jarreta Last updated: 4 Jun 2020
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