Page "1934 FIFA World Cup" Paragraph 3

32 countries applied to enter the tournament, so qualifying matches were required to thin the field to 16.

Even so, there were several notable absentees.

Reigning World Cup holders Uruguay declined to participate, in protest at the refusal of several European countries to travel to South America for the previous World Cup, which Uruguay had hosted in 1930.

As a result, the 1934 World Cup is the only one in which the reigning champions did not participate.

The Home Nations, in a period of self-imposed exile from FIFA, also refused to participate.

Football Association committee member Charles Sutcliffe's view was typical of British attitudes: " the national associations of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland have quite enough to do in their own International Championship which seems to me a far better World Championship than the one to be staged in Rome ".