This was the first World Cup after the 8-year hiatus due to the Second World War. The award was named Jules Rimet Cup, after the former FIFA President and one of the first promoters of the competition. Several countries withdrew their participation before and after the selection of the 16 participants due to the post-war crisis.

This was the only World Cup in which the winner wasn’t decided at a final. In fact, after a great performance in the second round-robin stage, Brazil did not even need to win its remaining game. They were the favorite to get the title and most of the country was already in celebration.

However, in the game we now consider as a final, Uruguay managed to survive the Brazilian intense offensiveand 11 minutes before the end, Alcides Ghiggia scored the winning goal, leaving the 200.000+ people in the stadium in complete silence. This feat later became known as the “Maracanaço” (in Portuguese) or Maracanazo (in Spanish), which roughly translates to “The Blow of Maracanã”.