FIFA World Cup: Brazil, 1950

Qualifiers

England declined to enter the pre-war World Cups over a dispute with FIFA over payments to amateur players. The four British associations quit FIFA in 1928 after a disagreement with FIFA over 'broken time payments' to amateur players. They rejoined FIFA in 1946, and participated in World Cup for the first time in 1950.
To prevent the Nazis from confiscating the golden Jules Rimet Trophy, Dr. Ottorino Barassi, an Italian sports official, smuggled the trophy from the bank in Rome, and hid it under his bed for most of the war time before the 1950 World Cup.

Scotland declined to play in the 1950 finals because they were not the British Champions. Scotland finished second to England in the British Home International Championship, and both teams then qualified for the 1950 finals. Scotland withdrew simply because they had earlier ungraciously announced that they would only participate as British champions.
Eight Italian internationals were killed in an air crash shortly before the 1950 finals, in the Superga air disaster.

In the 1950 finals, where there was only a final pool to determine the winner, without a knock-out Final as has been held in other Finals series.
The highest attendance for a match, which will probably never be beaten, was during the 1950 tournament: 199,854 spectators for the "final" match between Brazil and Uruguay at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro on 16 July 1950.
India withdrew from the 1950 finals as they were not allowed to play in bare feet. They have not had the chance to compete again since.
USA beat England 1-0 in the 1950 finals, though some British newspapers reported the result as USA 1, England 10 as the editor believed that the reporter had made a typing mistake. Before the match, both sides believed that it would be an easy win for England, and double-digit goals were expected. This match is now considered by many people as the greatest upset in World Cup history.
Larry Gaetjens, the goal scorer in USA's 1-0 win over England in 1950, returned to his native Haiti, where he was arrested for organizing an anti-government movement, eventually dying in jail.
Yugoslavia started the 1950 finals match against Brazil with only 10 players as giant Yugoslavian player Rajko Mitic was knocked by an iron girder as he was leaving the dressing room, leaving a gash in his forehead. The referee refused to delay the game, and when the heavily-bandaged Mitic joined his teammates, his team were already one goal down.

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