The First Qualifiers Ever Played for a FIFA World Cup
Currently it is almost impossible to imagine football without the FIFA World Cup qualifiers. Punters can make profitable online sports betting on 1xBet on matches of this kind as well. The first edition of the tournament was held in 1930. However, this competition was quite different from the current ones.
Just to illustrate, the 1930 FIFA World Cup had no qualifiers. Instead, all teams that participated did so after being invited. However, thanks to the success of the competition, it was decided to introduce a qualifying round for the following tournament. There are profitable online sports betting opportunities on the 1xBet website, where bettors can also wager on qualifiers from all over the world.
No place assured
Now it is quite natural to expect that the host of a FIFA World Cup will have a guaranteed spot on it. However, this was not the case for the 1934 tournament. Although Italy had been chosen as the host nation, the Italians also needed to participate in the qualifying round in order to be present at the tournament. While waiting for the next qualifiers, go to the http://1xbet.com/en/casino website and try out its excellent selection of casino games.
Back then, FIFA decided to divide the entire world into different groups in order to participate in the qualifiers. The main geographical areas were:
- Europe;
- Americas;
- and a combined zone between Africa and Asia.
In total, 21 European teams would play to get one of 12 available spots. At the same time, eight teams from the American continent played for three available spots. Finally, the Asian and African zone featured only three teams contesting a single spot. The modern qualifiers are also featured at 1xBet, where punters can try their best wagers on these football matches.
A chaotic qualifying round
Prior to the beginning of the qualifiers, FIFA had arranged the 32 teams that would participate in them into the aforementioned groups. On paper, things seemed to be quite organized. However, things began to become a bit chaotic once the qualifiers began. You can spend some time at 1xBet – place best live bet now on the FIFA World Cup itself too.
For example, four South American teams were divided in pairs and were supposed to play once between themselves. However, Peru and Chile withdrew from the instance. This meant that Brazil and Argentina qualified for the 1934 FIFA World Cup without playing a single match.
The African and Asian zone had the teams of Egypt, Palestine and Turkey. However, the Turkish squad also decided to withdraw prior to the beginning of the matches. You can place your best live bet now on the 1xBet website on the modern Turkish national football team as well.