The Eternal Game: What the World Cup Means Now

The Iron Years: Dictators, War, and the Game That Refused to Die

This is part 2 of 10 in The Story of the World Cup

The World Cup’s second and third editions were held in the shadow of fascism, and its fourth was followed immediately by the most devastating upset in football history. Episode 2 covers the years 1934 to 1950 — a period in which football was forced to share the stage with some of the darkest forces of the twentieth century, and somehow survived.