🏆 “The STRANGEST World Cup Qualification Ever – You Won’t Believe It!”

In 1950, India qualified for the FIFA World Cup in Brazil without playing a single qualifying match! Why? Because all of their group opponents withdrew from the qualifiers.

But here’s the twist—they also withdrew from the tournament itself! Rumors have spread for decades that it was because FIFA wouldn’t let them play barefoot, which the team preferred at the time. But in reality, the withdrawal was due to a mix of travel costs, lack of preparation time, and general prioritization of the Olympics over the World Cup by Indian football authorities back then.