1947 Aardrijk Voetbal Beker World Cup

The Aardrijk Voetbal Beker 1947 World Cup was an international football tournament contested by men's national teams that took place in the summer of 1947 in Uruguay. It was the first World Cup, a worldwide football tournament held once every three years. It was the first World Cup to be held in Uruguay and South America too. The tournament phase involved 32 teams in a purely knockout round. All participating countries did not have to qualify, and were chosen by willingness to compete and transport and economic factors,

Participating countries
This World Cup saw every independent South American nation take part, as well as the colonies of Guyana and Suriname, at 12. They were chosen because of their proximity to the hosting country. Furthermore, 7 North American countries took part due to their proximity too. Overall, this meant that 19 (or over half) of the countries competing were in the Americas. Twelve countries were European, mostly western democratic countries. Australia was the only Oceanic / Asian country to take part. No African nations took part.