A world cup with 2 Dutch teams

Found via nu.nl (for some kind of reason I always end up there since other more responsible Dutch sources use the subscription model), uh, where was I? Yes, apparently during 1938 World Championship Football, there were two Dutch teams playing: one team representing the Netherlands, the other one the Dutch East-Indies. Not that Dutch East-Indies team actually qualified itself.

 “The Dutch East Indies (today’s Indonesia, which has been independent since 1945) were the only Asian representative after Japan – locked in war with China – had pulled out. FIFA pitted the Dutch East Indies against the USA in a pre-finals play-off but this time the Americans, victorious against Mexico under similar circumstances in 1934, declined. Thus, the Dutch East Indies qualified without playing a single qualifying game.”

Score tables of that World Cup can be found here. There’s a page at Liga Indonesia telling the story about this 2nd team: However, I don’t read bahasa, but I wouldn’t doubt it, that the text is rather sarcastic about this attempt to cheat.

Also note that Dutch Guyana was also listed among the Central American countries to attend the World Cup, however the team was withdrawn.

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