The first World Cup after the war was played in Brazil in 1950. European teams from countries most affected by World War II (among others the Polish team) didn't enter the qualifiers. The silver medallists of the previous championships, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Argentina didn't participate either. For the first time teams from England and Scotland entered the competition and Uruguay, the world champion of 1930, entered after 20 years of absence. Eventually 13 out of 16 entered teams played in the tournament, after India, Scotland and Turkey had withdrawn from the competition after the draw. Under these circumstances, FIFA invited France and Portugal to play, but both countries rejected the offer.

There were no play-offs in the tournament, all games were played in groups. Most surprisingly, favoured England lost to USA and Spain (both games 0:1), which eliminated the pretender to the cup in the preliminary phase of the games. The team from Yugoslavia didn't get past the first round either, despite two victories. Spain, Sweden, Brazil and Uruguay made the finals, but in this stage only the South American teams counted. "Canarinhos" defeated Sweden 7:1 and Spain 6:1 and the game for the gold was to be played with Uruguay. Surprisingly, Uruguay was better and won the World Cup again, after 20 years. The 3. place went to Sweden.

Top players of the tournament: Ademir, Bauer, Chico, Zizinho (Brazil), Basora (Spain), Ghiggia, Máspoli, Schiaffino, Varela (Uruguay), Mitiæ (Yugoslavia).