# Canonical recap data for 1950 FIFA World Cup: Brazil (1950)
# Source: https://recap.at/1950/1950-world-cup-brazil
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: 1950-world-cup-brazil
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/1950/1950-world-cup-brazil"
title: "1950 FIFA World Cup: Brazil"
aliases:
- Fourth FIFA World Cup
- 1950 World Cup
- Brazil 1950
- Maracanã disaster
subtitle: Brazil's hosting of the World Cup and Uruguay's shock final victory marked football's arrival as a mass global phenomenon.
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 1950-06-24
endDate: 1950-07-16
datePrecision: day
year: 1950
decade: 1950
country:
name: Brazil
slug: brazil
summaryShort: The 1950 FIFA World Cup was the fourth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held in Brazil from 24 June to 16 July 1950.
summaryLong: The 1950 FIFA World Cup was the fourth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held in Brazil from 24 June to 16 July 1950.
lede: The 1950 FIFA World Cup, held in Brazil from June to July, was the first tournament after World War II and the first hosted in South America. Uruguay's shock victory over heavily favored Brazil in the final match—played before 199,854 spectators in Rio de Janeiro—remains one of sport's greatest upsets and reshaped international football's geography forever.
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ea/Poster_-_World_Cup_1950.jpg/1280px-Poster_-_World_Cup_1950.jpg"
heroImageCredit: Wikipedia · "1950 FIFA World Cup"
importance: 86
sourceConfidence: 75
keyFacts:
- label: Dates
  value: 24 June – 16 July 1950
- label: Host nation
  value: Brazil
- label: Winner
  value: Uruguay
- label: Runner-up
  value: Brazil
- label: Final attendance
  value: 199,854
- label: Participating teams
  value: "13"
- label: Final score
  value: Uruguay 2–1 Brazil
- label: Tournament goals
  value: "88"
- label: First tournament after
  value: World War II (16 years since 1934)
timeline:
- date: 1950-06-24
  title: Tournament opens
  description: Brazil's opening match against Mexico begins play at the 1950 FIFA World Cup, the first World Cup held in South America and the first since 1938.
- date: 1950-06-28
  title: USA stuns England
  description: The United States defeats England 1–0 in Belo Horizonte, one of the tournament's most shocking results and a sign of competitive parity between nations.
- date: 1950-07-02
  title: Brazil advances decisively
  description: Brazil beats Sweden 7–1 in São Paulo, demonstrating the host nation's overwhelming dominance and cementing their status as World Cup favorites.
- date: 1950-07-09
  title: Final pool matches
  description: The tournament's final group stage matches determine which four teams advance to the decisive matches, with Brazil, Uruguay, Spain, and Sweden all still in contention.
- date: 1950-07-13
  title: Uruguay beats Sweden
  description: Uruguay defeats Sweden 3–2 in a semi-final configuration, reaching the final match against Brazil and signaling their readiness for the championship.
- date: 1950-07-16
  title: Uruguay defeats Brazil
  description: In front of 199,854 spectators at the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Uruguay defeats Brazil 2–1 in the final, with Juan López and Ghiggia scoring for Uruguay and Friaça for Brazil. The result shocks a nation expecting certain victory.
sources:
- url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1950_FIFA_World_Cup"
  title: 1950 FIFA World Cup
  provider: Wikipedia
related: []
impactStatement: The 1950 World Cup established football as a genuinely global competition and proved that dominance in Europe meant nothing in unfamiliar conditions overseas. Uruguay's final victory over Brazil shattered assumptions about home-field advantage and shifted power dynamics in world sport for decades.
categories:
- sports
- festival
taxonomy:
domain: sports
eventTypes:
- world_cup
- tournament
- championship
canonicalClasses:
- competition
- celebration
- transformation
impactRadius: global
velocity: sudden
predictability: black_swan
intentionality: planned
domainCoupling: single_domain
lifecycleClass: renewal
metaDescription: "1950 FIFA World Cup in Brazil: Uruguay's shock victory and football's post-war resurrection"
wikidataQid: Q132515
archiveSnapshots:
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20260426015253/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1950_FIFA_World_Cup"
  capturedAt: 2026-04-26
  label: 1950 FIFA World Cup
  originalUrl: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1950_FIFA_World_Cup"
