The 1934 FIFA World Cup was the first World Cup where the teams had to qualify, since the first edition in 1930 had no qualification rounds (the participating teams were invited by FIFA). This time, a total of 32 teams entered the competition, so FIFA had to organize qualification (or preliminary) rounds to reduce the field to 16 teams for the final tournament. Curiously, Italy had to qualify despite being the hosts of the World Cup (the only time the hosts had to qualify), while the defending champions Uruguay refused to participate and defend their title because many European nations declined to take part in the 1930 World Cup held in Uruguay.