1930 FIFA World Cup

The first men's football world championship kicked off in Uruguay in July 1930, hosted by a nation celebrating a century since its first constitution. FIFA chose Uruguay partly because its national team had won the previous Olympic football title in 1928. All games took place in Montevideo, mostly at the newly built Estadio Centenario. Thirteen teams entered—seven from South America, four from Europe, and two from North America—but few European sides made the journey due to the Great Depression’s travel costs.

The tournament began with two simultaneous matches: France beat Mexico 4–1, and the United States defeated Belgium 3–0. France’s Lucien Laurent scored the first goal in World Cup history, while US goalkeeper Jimmy Douglas recorded the first clean sheet that same day. Argentina, Uruguay, the United States, and Yugoslavia won their groups to reach the semi-finals. In the final, host nation Uruguay beat Argentina 4–2 in front of 68,346 spectators, becoming the first World Cup winner.

Argentina’s Francisco Varallo, the last surviving player from this tournament, died in 2010 at age 100. The 2030 World Cup’s opening match at Estadio Centenario will mark the centennial. This final was the first between two Spanish-speaking nations, and remained the only such match for 96 years until the 2026 final between Argentina and Spain. It is also the only final between two South American teams (the 1950 match between Brazil and Uruguay was a group-stage decider, not a final).

No qualifying rounds were held; every FIFA-affiliated nation was invited, but the response fell short of the planned 16-team format. Seven South American teams participated—more than in any later World Cup—but European interest was low due to the long, costly sea voyage and the Great Depression. The British Home Nations had left FIFA and declined. Japan and Siam (Thailand) did not enter, and Egypt, the lone African entrant, missed its ship after a Mediterranean storm.

Two months before kickoff, no European team had officially entered. FIFA president Jules Rimet and Uruguayan diplomat Enrique Buero intervened, securing four European teams: Belgium, France, Romania, and Yugoslavia. Romania’s King Carol II personally selected the squad and arranged job guarantees for players. France’s entry came at Rimet’s insistence, though star defender Manuel Anatol and coach Gaston Barreau refused to travel.

Belgium joined at the urging of FIFA vice-president Rodolphe Seeldrayers. The Romanian team boarded the SS Conte Verde in Genoa, picked up the French and Yugoslavs at Villefranche-sur-Mer on 21 June, and the Belgians at Barcelona, with Rimet and the trophy aboard.