Three of some interesting personalities were together at a sports table. Mór Fischer, Vice President of FIFA, Árpád Kenyeres, Secretary General of the MLS and a journalist. The topic: the World Cup, which was very close to its closing date for entries on 28 February 1933. The venue is Italy. Date around May 1934. Fischer was very optimistic. Never has a more perfect football tournament been held. How many participants? 16. However, they were still discussing wether it would be 16 or 24 teams. This is the question that gave rise to the debate that led to the world rankings shown below. First, Mór Fischer drew up his own, but Árpád Kenyeres differed and drew up another. The journalist produced a third. Of course, all the lists in the world would differ in ranking. There is no perfect basis for comparison. But it's also fun and useful to have this Christmas world ranking debate.


Mór Fischer: 1. Uruguay, 2. England (Scotland), 3. Austria, 4. Italy, 5. Argentina, 6. Netherlands, 7. Hungary, 8. Czechoslovakia, 9. Spain, 10. Brazil, 11. France, 12. Switzerland, 13. Sweden, 14. Germany, 15. Belgium, 16. Norway, 17. Yugoslavia, 18. Portugal, 19. USA, 20. Denmark, 21. Poland, 22. Egypt, 23. Bulgaria, 24. Romania.  

Árpád Kenyeres: 1. Scotland (England), 2. Argentina, 3. Uruguay, 4. Austria, 5. Italy, 6. Hungary, 7. Czechoslovakia, 8. Brazil, 9. Spain, 10. Netherlands, 11. Switzerland, 12. France, 13. Belgium, 14. Germany, 15. Norway, 16. Yugoslavia, 17. USA, 18. Sweden, 19. Denmark, 20. Portugal, 21. Poland, 22. Romania, 23. Egypt, 24. Bulgaria.

The jounalist: 1. Austria, 2. England (Scotland), 3. Argentina, 4. Uruguay, 5. Italy, 6. Spain, 7. Hungary, 8. Czechoslovakia, 9. Switzerland, 10. Netherlands, 11. Belgium, 12. Yugoslavia, 13. Norway, 14. Germany, 15. France, 16. Brazil, 17. Sweden, 18. Egypt, 19. Denmark, 20. Romania, 21. Poland, 22. Portugal, 23. USA, 24. Bulgaria.


Mór Fischer: I put Uruguay in first place because it deserves it on the basis of its three world championships. England's tradition and current results put it ahead of Austria. I put the Netherlands before Hungary, counting through Germany. Spain have fallen back, but France and Switzerland have made great progress.

Árpád Kenyeres: England is still the number one in football and has not suffered a decisive defeat. South America must also be put ahead of Central Europe until we have beaten them. The order of the Central European teams was determined by our European Cup.

The journalist: Austria have proven to be equal on English soil, on neutral soil they would be better than England. Argentina were already better than Uruguay in Amsterdam, and in the last World Cup it was only the home soil and home crowd that kept the spirit and the World Cup in Uruguay. However, on neutral ground — even today — we put England and Scotland, but especially a mixed team, ahead of them. Italy's place is not in dispute. Spain cannot be beaten. Until we beat them, we have to put them ahead of Hungary. We value Switzerland's more assured footballing culture more than the Dutch success in detail. It would be equally unfair not to see the great development of Yugoslavia. Norway must also be put first, because it won the round robin of the Nordic countries by a landslide. Praise for the French will have to wait, because their form is no more stable than that of the Germans. Egypt, however, is not far behind. In the lower regions, the basis for comparison is not as secure as it is higher up.