History of the FIFA World Cup would have no hope in a single year of planning and scheduling a 1946 World Cup. In fact, FIFA’s first meeting was on July 1, 1946 – around the time the 1946 World Cup would ordinarily have been played – and when it planned the next World Cup for 1949 no country would host it. The major international tournament in 1946 was the 1946 South American Championship in which Argentina beat Brazil 2–0 on February 10, 1946. Competitions resumed with the 1950 World Cup in Brazil, which was the first to include British participants. British teams withdrew from FIFA in
1950 FIFA World Cup was not admitted to FIFA until 1952. The French-occupied Saarland had been accepted by FIFA two weeks before the World Cup. Italy, Austria, and other countries that had been involved in World War II as allies of Germany and Japan, were able to participate in qualification. Italy qualified automatically as defending champions of 1938. Finland, despite being a co-belligerent of Nazi Germany from 1941-1944, was allowed to qualify but withdrew before qualification was complete, and FIFA declared their matches as friendlies. The British nations were invited to take part, having rejoined FIFA four years earlier, after 17 years of self-imposed