The Football World Cup is going to start from November 20 in Qatar. After this competition between the 32 best teams playing football around the world, it will be decided who is the king of the football world.

According to FIFA, the governing body of football around the world, the World Cup, which will begin on November 20, will be watched by about five billion people live and through screens.

This number will be one billion more than the 2018 World Cup viewers.

The World Cup in Qatar is the 22nd World Cup football event overall. But there is no enthusiasm among the Indian sports fans for this game, as till now India too like Pakistan has not participated in this tournament even once.

Although India never made it to the Football World Cup, very few fans of the game would know that there was a time when India could make it to the Football World Cup.

It will be hard to believe but the fact is that the Indian football team was going to participate in the World Cup played in Brazil 72 years ago in 1950 but the Bujo team could not participate in it.

How did India get a chance to participate in the World Cup?

In fact, World Cup football could not be held in 1942 and 1946 due to the Second World War. In 1950, the World Cup was about to take place after 12 years of waiting. Only 33 countries agreed to play the qualifying round for the World Cup in Brazil.

India were placed in the qualifying Group 10 along with Burma (Myanmar) and the Philippines. But Burma and the Philippines withdrew their names from the qualifying round.

That is, India had qualified for the World Cup competitions without playing. The start date of the World Cup competitions was not far away and the Indian team was going to get a chance to showcase its achievements in the Football World Cup for the first time.

India's group in the 1950 World Cup

When the draft was held for the final round of the 1950 World Cup football, India was placed in the third pool along with Sweden, Italy and Paraguay.

What would have happened if India had participated in this tournament?

In this regard, the late football journalist Novi Kapadia wrote in the World Cup Football Guidebook that "At that time, Paraguay's team was not very strong, Italy did not include eight of its main players in the team due to discipline." The condition of the team was so bad that coach Vittorio Pozo resigned after reaching Brazil.

"The Swedish team was in a very good position against India, in that sense India could have finished second in the group but it was important that the team took advantage of this great opportunity."