The 1930 FIFA World Cup was the first INTERNATIONAL MEN's World Cup. The tournament was held in Uruguay from 13 July to 30 July.
Poster for the 1930 FIFA World Cup
Due to the 100th anniversary of Uruguay's independence and the country's national football team winning the gold medal at the 1928 Summer Olympics, FIFA decided to give the hosting rights to Uruguay. All events are held in Monteverde, Uruguay, and the main event is held at the Stade de la Centro, which was built for the tournament.
The inaugural World Cup was the only one that did not host qualifiers. All FIFA members are invited to participate and must respond to the invitation by 28 February 1930. The Countries of the Americas were very enthusiastic, including Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and the United States, with a total of 7 South American teams participating, more than the number of teams in subsequent competitions.
The venue of the first World Cup finals - Century Stadium
However, due to the long distance and time required to cross the Atlantic, if the participants participate, they will miss the normal competitions and exercises in the team's country for a long time, so the team is reluctant to release people. Some clubs strictly forbade players from competing in South America, and in the end, no European team signed up for the tournament until the February deadline. In order to avoid the competition without European teams, the Uruguayan Football Association once sent an invitation to the English Football Association, which is not a member of FIFA.
However, on 18 November 1929, the Fawn Commission announced its refusal to participate. Two months before the start of the competition, no European team was willing to participate. Later, with the intervention of FIFA President Remit, he finally successfully invited four European teams to compete, namely Belgium, France, Romania and Yugoslavia.
As both sides of the final had their own opinions, the organisers decided that each team would choose a soccer ball to use in each half.
A total of 13 teams competed in the tournament, including 7 from South America, 4 from Europe and 2 from North America.
The participating teams are divided into 4 groups, and the first place in each group advances to the semi-finals. The first two matches were played simultaneously, with France and the United States winning. France beat Mexico 4–1 and the United States beat Belgium 3–0. Laurent scored his first goal in World Cup history for France.
Players from both sides entered the final of the first World Cup
One-armed general Castro sealed the victory for Uruguay
Group photo of Uruguay's winning squad for the first World Cup
Video loading...
Argentina, Uruguay, the United States and Yugoslavia finished first in the group and reached the semi-finals. In the end, the host country and big favourite Uruguay defeated Argentina 4–2 in the presence of 93,000 spectators to become the inaugural World Cup winner.
Argentina's Quilmo Stabir tops the top scorers with eight goals.
Argentina's Qualmo Stabir