It was held from 30 May to 17 June in Chile. The qualification rounds took place between August and December , with 56 teams entering from six confederations, and fourteen qualifying for the finals tournament alongside Chile , the hosts, and Brazil , the defending champions.
Brazil successfully defended their World Cup title, defeating Czechoslovakia 3β1 in the final in the Chilean capital Santiago. They became the second team, after Italy in and , to win the World Cup twice consecutively; no team has since achieved the feat. Host nation Chile finished third, defeating Yugoslavia 1β0 in the third-place play-off. The tournament was marred by violence between players on the pitch and a toxic atmosphere; it included the first-round match between Chile and Italy 2β0 , which became known as the Battle of Santiago , one of a number of violent matches played throughout the tournament.
It was the first World Cup that used goal average as a means of separating teams with the same number of points. It was also the first World Cup in which the average number of goals per match was less than three 2. After Europe hosted two consecutive World Cups, the American federations demanded the edition must be held in South America or they would stage a complete boycott of the tournament, similar to He considered that Chile was able to organise the World Cup.
Several sources also say that FIFA did not want Argentina to run alone, requesting the participation of Chile as almost symbolic. That day, Raul Colombo, representing Argentina's candidacy, ended his speech with the phrase "We can start the World Cup tomorrow. We have it all. In addition, Dittborn invoked Article 2 of the FIFA statutes that addressed the tournament's role in promoting the sport in countries deemed "underdeveloped". Chile as host nation and Brazil as reigning World Cup champions were granted automatic qualification, with the remaining 14 finals places divided among the continental confederations.
The tournament was the last one for which only nations from Europe or the Americas qualified. Two teams qualified for the first time ever: Colombia and Bulgaria. Colombia would not qualify for another World Cup until Among the teams who failed to qualify were the runners up Sweden and third-place finishers France. Austria withdrew during the qualification tournament due to financial problems.
