KOMPAS.com – The Indian football team came close to participating in the World Cup for the first time in its history in 1950.

India automatically qualified for the 1950 World Cup after three other Asian countries, Indonesia, Burma (Myanmar) and the Philippines withdrew before the qualifying round.

At that time, there was only one Asian slot machine. Along with the withdrawal of the three countries, India came forward to represent Asia.

Asian slots are determined by a group of 10 Asian zones including Indonesia, Philippines, Burma and India.

India automatically qualified because three countries withdrew before the start of the qualifying round.

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At that time, the performance of the Indian national team also surprisingly appeared in the 1948 London Olympics and was considered worthy of the 1950 World Cup.

World Cup dreams disappear

However, the dream of Indian players participating in the 1950 World Cup faded. What caused it?

There is news that India cannot participate in the 1950 World Cup because they played barefoot i.e. to push or no shoes.

In the match against France at the 1948 French Olympics, India managed to hold France to a draw for 70 minutes by playing without shoes.

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Some players appear wearing socks, the rest to push.

The situation attracted the attention of the European media. Apart from to pushalso thanks to a game that was able to follow France until the 70th minute.

Despite losing 1-2 to France, India can be praised at this point.

FIFA then asked India to play with shoes to participate in the 1950 World Cup.

FIFA’s warning, which was later “fried” into a ban on India, failed to make it to the 1950 World Cup.

According to the Sports Illustrated archives, the facts are not like that.

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India canceled their participation in the 1950 World Cup because the Indian Football Federation decided independently not to go.

According to them, the federation has not found an agreement on the selection of the team and lacks preparation.

Moreover, there are reports that India are running out of money to travel to Brazil to compete in the 10950 World Cup.

The financial factor is the most important reason besides the federation’s decision not to have the team.

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