The 1938 FIFA Football World Championship was held in Italy. An odious victory for the hosts came in for heavy criticism. In their quarter-final encounter with Spain, and the semi-final against the Austrian Wunderteam (featuring the great Matthias Sindelar) especially, the Italians were the beneficiaries of some very questionable refereeing. If that wasn't enough, they fielded a number of South-Americans that some people thought should have been ineligible to play.

Final Italy 2-1 Czechoslowakia (a.e.t.) 3rd place play-off Austria 2-3 Germany Semi-finals
Italy	1-0	Austria	Czechoslowakia	3-1	Germany
Quater-finals
Italy	1-1	Spain	Czechoslowakia	3-2	Switzerland
(Replay: 1-0)
Hungary	1-2	Austria	Sweden	1-2	Germany
First Round
Italy	7-1	USA	Czechoslowakia	2-1	Romania
Brazil	1-3	Spain	Holland	2-3	Switzerland
Hungary	4-2	Egypt	Argentina	2-3	Sweden
Austria	3-2	France	Germany	5-2	Belgium
(a.e.t.)
1930 • FIFA World Cup • 1938