The 1938 tournament, would be the most politicised tournament in the competition’s pre-war history, from South American withdrawals in protest at the staging of a second consecutive tournament in Europe to the choice of host itself. While rumours have long flown around the hosting selection, which was decided at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, it is well documented that Jules Rimet lobbied hard to host the tournament in his native France.
This however did not come to pass – while the FIFA archives have yet to be fully unsealed, Germany won a split vote after five rounds of voting, and it’s commonly assumed that the last minute switch from France to Germany was due to financial inducements.
[1]
What is clear, is that the National Socialist regime, inspired by the overall success of the 1936 Olympics and the propaganda triumph the Italians had gained from hosting (and winning) the tournament in 1934 persuaded the German government to bid heavily for the tournament.
The decision to host a second consecutive tournament in Europe caused widespread anger in the Americas with Argentina, Uruguay and Mexico withdrawing from the tournament, while in Europe the British nations continued in their isolation
[2] and Spain’s civil war precluded them sending a team, while both Italy and Germany qualified as holders and hosts respectively.
Qualification
Faced with a significant number of withdrawals, including rivals Argentina and Uruguay, Brazil qualified easily for the tournament cruising past both Colombia and Dutch Guiana, both of whom had entered qualification for the first time, to become the first side to qualify for the tournament directly.
[3] In the North, the United States comfortably topped their four team group (consisting of themselves, Cuba, El Salvador and Costa Rica) to become with Brazil one of only four sides to participate at all of the 1930s tournaments.
[4]
In Europe, qualification was relatively smooth for the established sides, with France and Sweden comfortably qualifying ahead of Finland and Estonia, while Norway and Switzerland both qualified ahead of Ireland and Portugal.
[5] Poland and Czechoslovakia, both countries suspicious of the host nation, qualified ahead of Yugoslavia and Bulgaria, while Hungary topped a group containing neighbours Austria and Greece. The final two automatic spots saw Belgium and the Dutch comfortably defeat their neighbours Luxembourg and the Danes, whose early prowess in Olympic football had failed to replicate on the world stage.
The final European spots would be decided by a playoff on neutral ground, with Austria who had finished second to the Hungarians playing the Soviets who had defeated Turkey and then Latvia in two playoff games. Held in Bucharest, the match ended in an draw, with the Soviets winning the subsequent replay to qualify for the finals for the first time.
[6]
The final qualifying spot was taken by Japan who defeated the Dutch East Indies and the Philippines to qualify for the first time since the inaugural tournament in 1930, where they had acquitted themselves better than expected. Following their qualification, the list of participants looked like this:
Participating teams:
- Germany (hosts)
- Italy (holders)
- Belgium
- Brazil
- Czechoslovakia
- Egypt
- France
- Hungary
- Japan
- Netherlands
- Norway (debut)
- Poland (debut)
- Soviet Union (debut)
- Switzerland (debut)
- Sweden (debut)
- United States
The tournament
Similarly to their Italian counterparts, the German hosting committee outlined eight cities that would host matches – Berlin, Cologne, Dresden, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich, Nuremberg and Stuttgart, with matches taking the format of a straight knockout.
First round
The holders Italy began their defence with a 3-1 victory over Belgium in Hamburg, who took the Italians to extra-time before the holders overall quality finally told, with Silvio Piola netting a hat-trick. In the other matches, France overcame debutantes Norway to set up a quarter-final with Italy, while Poland overcame the Netherlands 5-3 in a thriller, with Ernst Prandella
[7] scoring five of Poland’s goals. South America’s only entrant, Brazil managed to win a bad-tempered game with the Czechoslovaks thanks to a hat-trick from Leônidas da Silva to set-up a quarter final with the Poles.
On the other half of the draw, hosts Germany comfortably saw off Japan, while the Hungarians overcame a stubborn Swiss side
[8] following a replay to set up a quarter final to be played in Berlin. The Soviet Union, making their debut, defeated Egypt 1-0 thanks to a goal from captain Nikolai Starostin to set-up a quarter final with the Swedes who had defeated the Americans 3-0 in the first round.
Results (All games played on June 4, replay played on June 7)
Italy 3-1 Belgium
Norway 0-1 France
Poland 5-3 Netherlands
Czechoslovakia 2-3 Brazil
Germany 5-0 Japan
Hungary 0-0 Switzerland (replay: Switzerland 0-1 Hungary)
United States 0-3 Sweden
Egypt 0-1 Soviet Union
Quarter-finals
The quarter-finals saw Italy defeat the French to advance to the semi-finals, though the French took an early lead through Jean Nicolas before goals from Piola and Colaussi saw the Italian ease to victory, though the result was marred somewhat by the late expulsion of Italian captain Meazza for a late tackle on his opposite number Oscar Heisserer.
Brazil, despite having a player sent off and conceding an early goal to Prandella, recovered to win an entertaining game against the Poles 3-2, with Prandella’s two goals taking him to seven for the tournament. Brazil’s victory saw them finally make it past the quarter-final stage for the first time, as the tournaments last remaining non-European representatives.
Germany, aided by having longer preparation time, and it must be said some dubious refereeing, defeated the Hungarians 2-1 to make the semi-finals on home soil, in front of watching regime dignitaries. The game itself was marred with rough play, with the Hungarians passing game matched by German physicality, though in their captain Fritz Szepan they possessed a midfielder of great poise and passing ability. Hungary took the lead through Vilmos Kohut and nearly scored a second but for a late goal line intervention from right-half Paul Janes. Germany’s equaliser would be where the controversy would begin –from a corner, German centre forward Jupp Gauchel rose highest and smacked the crossbar with a header, from which his teammate Ernst Lehner bundled the ball over the line using his hand. Despite Hungarian protests, the French referee, one Monsieur Galvert allowed the goal to stand – it was from here that he began to lose control of the match.
The first brawl began when Antal Szalay was knocked unconscious in a collision with Janes, who despite protesting his innocence vociferously to the referee was dismissed, as was Hungarian captain Győrgy Sárosi, for dissent. The game then descended into a bad-tempered farce before Szepan, scored the decisive goal with a thirty-yard pile-driver.
[9] At the final whistle, the two teams began a mass brawl in which the Hungarian coach Károly Dietz was attacked by several spectators and only saved by the quick intervention of his German counterparts.
In contrast the final quarter-final was a relatively sedate affair, with the more experienced Swedes defeating the Soviets in front of a vociferous crowd in Nuremberg
[10], with Arne Nyberg scoring a goal in either half to settle the tie and set up a quarter-final with the hosts.
Results (All games played June 11)
Italy 2-1 France
Poland 2-3 Brazil
Germany 2-1 Hungary
Sweden 2-0 Soviet Union
Semi-finals
The semi-finals paired holders Italy with the sole remaining non-European side Brazil and hosts Germany with Sweden, with the first semi-final taking place in Munich and the second in Cologne. Italy’s game with Brazil saw them again edge a narrow win, though it was an inspired performance from Brazilian goalkeeper Walter Goulart kept the South American side in it until the 89th minute, when Italian defender Pietro Rava scored from a corner.
In contrast to the tight contest in Munich, Germany’s semi-final with Sweden was a one-side contest with the German’s three goals up at half time and running out eventual 6-2 winners over a Swedish side who seemed to wilt in the face of a hostile atmosphere, to set up a final with the Italians. Though Sweden had taken an early lead, Germany’s quick-fire response (aided by some erratic goalkeeping from Henock Abrahamsson in the Swedish goal) saw them take control and ease comfortably to victory.
Results (All games played June 18)
Italy 1-0 Brazil
Germany 6-2 Sweden
Bronze medal match
A hat-trick from Leônidas da Silva saw the Brazilians overturn a two-goal deficit to Sweden, in the bronze medal match played in Hamburg. In front of a crowd of 12,000, the Brazilians, whose side contained several players of African heritage, were met with both curiosity and derision, as had been the case for most of the tournament.
[11] Nevertheless, their talent won out, and the Swedes wilted, though the strong performance of outside left Erik Persson saw him accept a professional contract with Rio club Flamengo upon the conclusion of the tournament.
[12]
Result (played June 25)
Sweden 1-2 Brazil
The final
The final, staged at the Berlin Olympiastadion, was preceded by a triumphant staging of Fascist and National Socialist regalia, with both Hitler and Mussolini in attendance. Before the match, there was a parade of war veterans, huge cheers met the national anthem and even louder cheers met the stiff arm and clenched fist salutes provided by both sets of players. The game itself however, failed to live up to the climate that surrounded it, though given the circumstances it’s perhaps not surprising that the football became secondary to the spectacle itself.
The Italians, took an early lead through Meazza who had been restored to the line-up following his suspension for the semi-final against Brazil, and scored again before half-time through Piola. With the crowd beginning to quieten in the face of Italy’s superiority, Germany got one back through hard work from Stanislaus Kobierski who beat three men on a mazy run before crossing for Gauchel to score.
[13] Despite this, the Italians held on in the face of increasingly frenetic waves of German attacks and restored their two goal cushion through 36 year old veteran Raimundo Orsi who was playing his first match of the tournament.
[14] Faced with this deficit, the Germans faded and the last five minutes of the game were played out at a relatively sedate pace.
Italy’s victory saw them become the first side to win two World Cups, the first to win consecutive tournaments and the first to win a tournament not on home soil. In the face of jubilant celebrations and a relatively warm reception from the hosts, it would be hard to foresee for either side that this would be their last taste of international football for quite some time – and that when they did return to international matches, the nations they would be representing would be quite different.
Result – June 26, Berlin
Germany 1-3 Italy
[1] I have seen some evidence for this, but for legal reasons I cannot say what.
[2] Though had they been inclined to participate, there is some archival evidence that the Foreign Office would’ve been less than keen to have any representative sides there based on experiences of the 1936 Olympics and a 1938 friendly between England and Germany at Nuremberg.
[3] The South American qualifiers took part as early as possible so as not to clash with the South American Championship of 1937.
[4] The others included France and Egypt who remained the one consistent presence from outside Europe or the Americas.
[5] The Norwegians and Swiss would both make their debuts at this tournament, though the Norwegians very nearly failed to make it when the boat they were sharing with the Swedes departed earlier than planned – only an urgent cable from the Norwegian government turned the boat around.
[6] There have long been unproven rumours that the Dolfuss regime would have withdrawn from the tournament if they had qualified due to the unstable political situation on the border, with the Austrofascist government opposed to the National Socialists in Berlin, despite their supposed ideological similarities.
[7] A Silesian German, Prandella was never wholly accepted in Poland, despite a record of a goal a game for the national side, but his haul of five goals in this game remains a World Cup record.
[8] The Swiss, were using a precursor to the luchetto system which became popularised in Italy in the 1950s and 60s, which saw the use of a sweeper. National coach Karl Rappan, who had enjoyed success with the system at Servette Geneva employed the system with the national side as well.
[9] The German radio commentary became famous at the time for stating that he’d scored from the Brandenburg gate, which would become a popular neologism.
[10] The Soviet anthem was relentlessly booed as were the players, though the official reception for the Soviet side on behalf of the German government was relatively cordial.
[11] German newspapers reporting on the tournament would often use crude African caricatures when discussing the Brazilian games, while reports that some players practiced witchcraft were seized upon gleefully.
[12] Persson’s decision saw him banned from the national team following the tournament as the Swedish FA practiced strict amateurism. His transfer saw him as a pioneer however – while European players had played for and toured against South American sides, Persson’s was the first European to sign fully professional terms for a Brazilian side. In the post-war South American boom, several European players would make the journey.
[13] Kobierski had also scored his nation’s first ever world cup goal in 1934.
[14] Orsi, who had been included in the squad through intense lobbying from coach Pozzo, was a surprise inclusion, having been sold by Juventus to Genoa where he was largely viewed as winding down his career. His goal made him the first man to score in two finals.
