Brazil 1950
The first post-war FIFA congress meeting, held on 25 July 1946 in Luxembourg, was historic for several reasons. Firstly, by paying tribute to the FIFA President, who during the war years did everything in his power to keep the spirit of football alive. The World Cup was henceforth to be known as the “Jules Rimet Cup”. The congress also heralded the return of the British federations, absent since 1929. It was to be the Brazilian Sports Confederation, however, whose team had made such an impact on the 1938 World Cup, that was granted the responsibility of hosting the next World Cup, scheduled for 1950.
The planet’s biggest stadium
Football in Brazil had become so popular that it was decided to build a brand new stadium with a capacity of 220,000 in the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro. Work began on 2 August 1948. The deadline however, proved too ambitious, and building work was soon running behind schedule. Five weeks before the Opening Match, the Brazilian organisers found themselves somewhat overwhelmed by the situation, and FIFA decided to send Ottorino Barassi, the president of the Italian Football Federation who had so brilliantly organised the 1934 World Cup, to Rio. On 24 June 1950, the Maracana stadium was officially inaugurated, though still looking like a building site and without a press stand. But the stadium was ready to play host to the 13 teams qualified for the Finals. The teams were divided into 4 groups (2 groups of 4 teams, 1 group of 3 teams and 1 group of 2 teams).
A nation gets behind its team
After an easy victory over Mexico (4-0), the Brazilians, to everybody’s surprise, were held to a draw (2-2) by the Swiss. Yugoslavia, having won its first two matches, needed only a draw against the Brazilians to qualify for the next round. But in front of a fervent 150,000-strong crowd at Maracana, Brazil ran out winners (2-0). Brazil, then, qualified with three other teams, Spain, Uruguay and Sweden, not for the semi-finals, but for a final series of matches in round robin format, in which England and Italy were surprising absentees. After a week’s rest, the Brazilians ran riot, thrashing Sweden (7-1) and then Spain (6-1). Nobody doubted for a minute that this impressive string of results would continue against Uruguay, who having drawn against Spain, had just three points to its credit. The Brazilians therefore needed only a draw to become World champions. But in front of a crowd of 200,000, Brazil, though it opened the score just after half-time, seemed tense, and never displayed its characteristic samba-style football. The Uruguayans equalised – far from being overawed by the partisan crowd – and then, with just 11 minutes to go, scored the winner. Brazil had lost “its” World Cup. A whole nation was plunged instantly into mourning. The Brazilian officials even forgot to present the Uruguayans with the World Cup trophy. And it was left to Jules Rimet himself to go down onto the pitch in search of the Uruguayan captain to perform the office. Brazil could only console itself in the knowledge that the “Taça de Mondo” proved to be a tremendous sporting and financial success story. Football had entered a new era…