Have the World Cup hosts ever failed to qualify for the previous World Cup?

1998 FIFA World Cup host, FRANCE failed to qualfy for the 1994 FIFA World Cup which was held in the UNITED STATES. the French who only needed just a point in the last two qualifying matches, lost 2-1 to both ISRAEL & BULGARIA, allowing BULGARIA to qualify instead with a last minute goal.

the other host nations which has failed to qualify for the previous FIFA World Cup are SWEDEN in 1954 (host nation in 1958), CHILE in 1958 (host nation in 1962), MEXICO in 1982 (host nation in 1986) & of course, SOUTH AFRICA in 2006 (host nation in 2010)

ITALY (host nation in 1934) did not take part in the first ever FIFA World Cup in 1930 coz there was no qualifying matches at that time. the first ever FIFA World Cup tournament in URUGUAY in 1930 was open to all national teams affiliated with FIFA & many European teams declined to take part due to the duration and cost of travel. only 4 European teams (BELGIUM, YUGOSLAVIA, ROMANIA & FRANCE) agree to take part.

It's happened 4 times before.

Sweden didn't qualify for the 1954 WC but held the 1958 finals. Chile failed to reach the 1958 competiton and they hosted the 1962 WC. Mexico never qualified for the 1982 finals but in 1986 they got to hold it for a second time. And the last time this has happened was in 1994 when France failed to qualify for the 1998 finals.

yes,it happened to france.they were hosts of the 1998 world cup and they didnt qualify for the 1994 world cup!!

Yes.

The French failed to qualify in 1994.