The 1934 FIFA World Cup was the first World Cup for which teams had to qualify, after the finalists in the inaugural 1930 World Cup had participated by invitation from FIFA. With 32 teams having entered the 1934 competition, FIFA organized qualification rounds to select 16 teams for the finals.[1] Even Italy, the host of the World Cup, had to earn its spot, the only time this has been the case.[1][a] The previous champion Uruguay refused to defend its title because many European nations had declined to take part in the 1930 World Cup, held in Uruguay.[1][2]
Brazil and Argentina qualified without playing any matches owing to the withdrawal of their opponents.
The other 27 teams played at least one qualifying match.
Greece, Bulgaria and Poland withdrew partway through the planned schedule of qualifying matches.
The first match, between Sweden and Estonia, took place in Stockholm on 11 June 1933, with Swedish player Knut Kroon scoring the first goal.[b] The last match was played in Rome only three days before the start of the tournament, as late entrant United States beat Mexico to become the final team to qualify.
Format
The 32 teams were divided into 12 groups, based on geographical considerations, as follows:
Groups 1 to 8 – Europe: 12 places, contested by 21 teams.
Groups 9, 10 and 11 – Americas: 3 places, contested by 8 teams.
Group 12 – Africa and Asia: 1 place, contested by 3 teams (including Turkey).
The 12 groups had different rules, as follows:
Group 1 had 3 teams. The teams played against each other once. The group winner would qualify.
Groups 2, 3 and 5 had 2 teams each. The teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winners would qualify.
Group 4 had 3 teams. The teams played against each other twice. The group winner and runner-up would qualify.
Groups 6, 7 and 8 had 3 teams each. The teams played against each other once. The group winners and runners-up would qualify.
Groups 9 and 10 had 2 teams each. The group winners would qualify.
Group 11 had 4 teams. There would be three rounds of play:
First Round: Haiti played against Cuba thrice. The winner would advance to the Second Round.
Second Round: Mexico played against the winner of the First Round thrice at home. The winner would advance to the Final Round.
Final Round: USA played against the winner of the Second Round in a single match on neutral ground. The winner would qualify.
Group 12 had 3 teams. After Turkey withdrew before the matches began, the remaining 2 teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winner would qualify.
Key:
Teams highlighted in green qualified for the finals.
Teams highlighted in orange qualified for the next phase of their group.
12–3 on aggregate; Mexico advanced to the Final Round.
Final round
The match to decide whether USA or Mexico would qualify was played in Italy only three days before the start of the final tournament, as the USA team submitted their entry too late. Thus, the match was played on Italian ground, so that the winner would effectively stay for the tournament.[1]
The Palestine football team consisted exclusively of Jewish and British players.[8]
FIFA states, in reference to the 1930s Palestine Mandate team, that the 'Palestine team' that participated in previous competitions in the 1930s was actually the forerunner of today's Israel team, and as such bears no relation to the modern-day Palestine national team.[9] However, the region currently known as Palestine is considered one of the first Asian teams to compete in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers.[10]
Only six of the teams qualifying for the final competition – Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, France, Romania, and the USA – had already attended the World Cup in 1930.[1]
^2010 host South Africa and 2022 host Qatar also participated in the respective World Cup qualification because those tournaments doubled as continental qualifiers, but those teams were guaranteed spots in the World Cups and were only vying for places in the continental finals.
^Poland were unable to travel to Prague for the second match as the Polish government denied the team visas for political reasons.[4] The match was awarded as 2–0 to Czechoslovakia.[5]
^FIFA reports a 2–2 draw.[5] According to some sources FIFA later awarded the match as 2–0 to Switzerland as a result of Romania having fielded ineligible player Iuliu Baratky.[6][7]
Isidro Lángara
Mario López
Dionisio Mejía
