Qualified as hosts: France
Qualified as holders: Italy
Group 1 [Germany, Sweden]
16.06.37 Stockholm Sweden 4-0 Finland 1.GERMANY 3 3 0 0 11- 1 6
20.06.37 Stockholm Sweden 7-2 Estonia 2.SWEDEN 3 2 0 1 11- 7 4
29.06.37 Helsinki Finland 0-2 Germany 3.Estonia 3 1 0 2 4-11 2
19.08.37 Turku Finland 0-1 Estonia 4.Finland 3 0 0 3 0- 7 0
29.08.37 Königsberg Germany 4-1 Estonia
21.11.37 Hamburg Germany 5-0 Sweden
Group 2a [Norway]
10.10.37 Oslo Norway 3-2 Ireland
07.11.37 Dublin Ireland 3-3 Norway
Group 2b [Poland]
10.10.37 Warszawa Poland 4-0 Yugoslavia
03.04.38 Beograd Yugoslavia 1-0 Poland
Group 3 [Romania]
Egypt withdrew, Romania had a walkover.
Group 4 [Switzerland]
01.05.38 Milano Switzerland 2-1 Portugal
Group 5 [Hungary]
1st round
22.01.38 Tel-Aviv Palestina 1-3 Greece
20.02.38 Athinai Greece 1-0 Palestina
2nd round
25.03.38 Budapest Hungary 11-1 Greece
Group 6 [Czechoslovakia]
07.11.37 Sofia Bulgaria 1-1 Czechoslovakia
24.04.38 Praha Czechoslovakia 6-0 Bulgaria
Group 7 [Austria]
1st round
29.07.37 Riga Latvia 4-2 Lithuania
03.09.37 Kaunas Lithuania 1-5 Latvia
2nd round
05.10.37 Wien Austria 2-1 Latvia
Group 8 [Netherlands, Belgium]
28.11.37 Rotterdam Netherlands 4-0 Luxembourg
13.03.38 Luxembourg Luxembourg 2-3 Belgium
03.04.38 Antwerpen Belgium 1-1 Netherlands
Group 9 [Dutch East Indies]
Tie was to be decided over one match in Saigon on 25 January 1938.
Japan withdrew, Dutch East Indies had a walkover.
NB: after Japan's withdrawal, FIFA ruled that the Dutch East Indies had to
play off against the USA for a place in the final tournament.
The match was scheduled for 26 May 1938 (Ascension Day) in Rotterdam
(Netherlands) but the USA withdrew at the end of April for financial
reasons (they had hoped to finance the trip to Europe with the profits
of a match against an English team on the occasion of the silver jubilee
of the American federation, but the English cancelled the match refusing
to play on a Sunday) and the Dutch Indies qualified by walkover.
Group 10 [Brazil]
Argentina withdrew, Brazil had a walkover.
NB: Argentina were later allowed to re-enter and in January 1938 they were
scheduled to play the winners of Central America in Bordeaux on 29 May 1938;
however, Argentina withdrew again in spite of the fact they had been included
among the 8 seeded nations in the final tournament in the draw of the fixtures
on 5 March 1938.
Groups 11/12 [Cuba]
Group 11
Mexico withdrew; USA scheduled to play Dutch East Indies on 26 May 1938
in Rotterdam (see group 9) but withdrew in April.
Group 12
A tournament was announced for the second half of April 1938 between
Cuba, Colombia, Costa Rica and El Salvador, in a knock-out format
with each tie decided over three legs. Surinam (Dutch Guyana) were
excluded on 9 April 1938 for allegedly having not replied to
correspondence from the organisers, a decision against which Surinam
successfully protested. Later in April 1938, Colombia and El Salvador
withdrew, and a triangular tournament between Cuba, Costa Rica and
Surinam was to be played in La Habana, from which Surinam withdrew for
financial reasons (requesting instead to play the match against the
Dutch East Indies for which the USA had meanwhile withdrawn, but this
was refused by the FIFA), and as Costa Rica withdrew as well, Cuba had
a walkover, as the match scheduled for the winners of this group against
Argentina in Bordeaux on 29 May 1938 was also cancelled after the renewed
withdrawal of Argentina.
Prepared and maintained by Karel Stokkermans and Sergio Henrique Jarreta for the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
Authors: Karel Stokkermans and Sergio Henrique Jarreta
Last updated: 4 Jun 2020
(C) Copyright Karel Stokkermans, Sergio Henrique Jarreta
and RSSSF 1995/2020
You are free to copy this document in whole or part provided that proper
acknowledgement is given to the authors. All rights reserved.