The 15 Participants:

Civil war raged in Spain, Germany had annexed Austria and a crisis-ridden Europe was preparing for hostilities when FIFA decided that the third World Cup would take place in France. To be equal to the occasion, the stade de Colombes was enlarged while the stadiums at Bordeaux and Marseille were renovated. And for the first time the host nation and the holder qualified automatically, a privilege which lives on to this day. Once again, however, the competition was boycotted by the South Americans, who felt that the tournament should have been held in Argentina this time around and not in Europe again. Happily Brazil did make the trip and proved to be the competition's biggest draw, playing their inimitably skilful game, getting off to a flying start and justifying their reputation by overcoming Poland after extra-time by an incredible 6 goals to 5 - Leonidas, "the black diamond", and Willimowski scoring 4 goals apiece! Sadly, the quarter-final game at Bordeaux between Brazil and Czechoslovakia ended in an all-out brawl: 3 players were sent off and 5 injured, 2 of which were rushed to hospital with broken limbs.

Pride comes before a fall 

The host nation France defeated Belgium (3-1), thanks largely to its right winger Fred Aston, known as the "will-o'-the-wisp", whose bursting forays to the bye line were decisive. Unhappily for the 58,455 supporters crammed into the Yves-du-Manoir stadium at Colombes for the quarter-final match, France went down (3-1) to Italy. Unlike Uruguay and Italy in the two previous competitions, France, the host nation, would not lift the World Cup played on its own soil. The Italy-Brazil semi-final promised to be the Final before the event itself, until the Brazilian coach Adheniar Pimenta made a gross error of judgement and decided to leave out two key players, most notably his marksman Leonidas. "I am resting him for the Final", declared Pimenta. Far from being overawed, the Squadra Azzurra ran out victors (2-1) and earned the right to defend its title against Hungary, easy winners over Sweden. In the Final, Meazza and Ferrari, the two Italian playmakers, called the tune and the already legendary Italian pragmatism did the rest. Italy triumphed (4-2), and with back-to-back World Cup victories entered football history as one of the all-time great national teams. Alas, war came, putting an end to the World Cup competition for 12 years to come: and perhaps depriving this talented generation of Italian footballers of even greater glory.

Match for 3rd Place: Brazil - Sweden: 4-2