In the wake of the roaring 20s, the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) declared that it would organise a tournament to decide the best football team in the world. After deliberations, Uruguay, a country celebrating a century of independence and the winner of back-to-back Olympic gold medals in football, was chosen to host the event.
The first FIFA World Cup held in 1930, was hosted in Montevideo, Uruguay under the era of FIFA president Jules Rimet who put this idea into place. On 13 July 1930, France defeats Mexico 4-1 and the United States defeats Belgium 3-0 in the first-ever World Cup football matches, played simultaneously in host city Montevideo, Uruguay. Lucien Laurent of France scored the first goal in FIFA World Cup history, while United States goalkeeper Jimmy Douglas posted the first clean sheet in the tournament the same day.
Argentina, Uruguay, the United States, and Yugoslavia won their respective groups to qualify for the semi-finals. In the final, played on 30 July 1930, hosts and pre-tournament favourites Uruguay defeated Argentina 4-2 in front of 68,346 people to become the first nation to win the FIFA World Cup. The World Cup has since become the world’s most watched sporting event.
The national
associations of selected nations were invited to send a team, but the choice of
Uruguay as a venue for the competition meant a long and costly trip across the
Atlantic Ocean for the European sides at the time of the Great Depression. No
European country pledged to send a team until two months before the start of
the competition. Rimet eventually persuaded teams from Belgium, France,
Romania, Hungary and Yugoslavia to make the trip. In total, 13 nations
took part – seven from South America, four from Europe, and two from North
America. The teams were divided into four groups, with the winner of each group
progressing to the semi-finals.
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