The victorius Uruguay team, the first FIFA World Cup champions. (FIFA)

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Hosts: Uruguay
Champions: Uruguay
Runners Up: Argentina

Summary
The 1930 FIFA World Cup was the inaugural edition of the world championship for international association football teams – the FIFA World Cup played in Uruguay from 13 July to 30 July. Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) selected Uruguay as host nation as the country would be celebrating the centenary of its independence, and the Uruguay national football team had successfully retained their football title at the 1928 Summer Olympics. All matches were played in the Uruguayan capital, Montevideo, the majority at the Estadio Centenario, which was built for the tournament.

Thirteen teams, seven from South America, four from Europe and two from North America entered the tournament. Few European teams chose to participate due to the duration and cost of travel. The teams were divided into four groups, with the winner of each group progressing to the semi-finals. The first two World Cup matches took place simultaneously, and were won by France and the USA, who defeated Mexico 4–1 and Belgium 3–0, respectively. Lucien Laurent of France scored the first goal in World Cup history.
Argentina, Uruguay, the USA and Yugoslavia each won their respective groups to qualify for the semi-finals. In the final, hosts and pre-tournament favourites Uruguay defeated Argentina 4–2 in front of a crowd of 93,000 people, and became the first nation to win a World Cup.

Notable Facts
The referee was Belgian Jean Langenus, who only agreed to officiate a few hours before the game, having sought assurances for his safety. One of his requests was for a boat to be ready at the harbour within one hour of the final whistle, in case he needed to make a quick escape.

A disagreement overshadowed the build-up to the match as the teams failed to agree on who should provide the match ball, forcing FIFA to intervene and decree that the Argentine team would provide the ball for the first half and the Uruguayans would provide their own for the second.

Golden Boot
Argentina’s Guillermo Stábile, with 8 tournament goals


The French team poses for a photograph after lunch on their way to the first World Cup in 1930. (AFP)