The FIFA World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament has been contested every four years since 1930, except in 1942 and 1946, due to the Second World War. The Wales national football team have entered every World Cup since 1950, but to date have only qualified for two finals tournaments: in 1958 and 2022. In 1958, they reached the quarter-finals before being eliminated by eventual winners Brazil. In 2022, they finished bottom of Group B behind England, the United States and Iran. History Before 1950 During the preparations for the 1928 Olympic Football Tournament, FIFA ruled that all its member associations must provide "broken time" payments to cover the expenses of players from their country who participated. In response to what they considered to be unacceptable interference, the football associations of Wales, England, Ireland and Scotland held a meeting at which they agreed to resign from FIFA. As a result, Wales did not compete in the three interwar World Cup competitions. The Football Association of Wales did not rejoin FIFA as a permanent member until 1946. Brazil 1950 The 1949–50 British Home Championship was used as the qualifying group for the four British teams ahead of the 1950 FIFA World Cup, with the top two qualifying for the finals in Brazil. Defeats in their first two matches against England (4–1 at home) and Scotland (2–0 away) meant Wales were no longer able to qualify regardless of the result in their final game against Ireland (IFA). Despite finishing in second place and thus qualifying for the finals, Scotland declined to travel to Brazil, but instead of retaining two British qualifiers and inviting either Wales or Ireland to replace the Scots, FIFA invited France, Portugal and the other Ireland team to participate. Only France accepted, but they ultimately also pulled out. Switzerland 1954 As in 1950, the 1953–54 British Home Championship was used to determine which British nations would qualify for the 1954 FIFA World Cup in Switzerland. In their three matches, Wales managed just one point, with a 3–3 draw in Scotland sandwiched between home defeats to England (4–1) and Northern Ireland (2–1), leaving them bottom of the table. Wales' five goals in qualifying were scored by just two players: John Charles (3) and Ivor Allchurch