The 1930 FIFA World Cup was the first FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national football teams. It took place in Uruguay from 13 to 30 July 1930. FIFA, football's international governing body, selected Uruguay as the host nation, as the country would be celebrating the centenary of its first constitution and the Uruguay national football team had retained their football title at the 1928 Summer Olympics. All matches were played in the Uruguayan capital, Montevideo, the majority at the purpose built Estadio Centenario.
Thirteen teams (seven from South America, four from Europe, and two from North America) entered the tournament. Only a handful of European teams chose to participate because of the difficulty of traveling to South America due to the Great Depression. 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 United States, who defeated Mexico 4–1 and Belgium 3–0, respectively. Lucien Laurent of France scored the first goal in 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, hosts and pre-tournament favourites Uruguay defeated Argentina 4–2 in front of 68,346 people to become the first nation to win the World Cup. Francisco Varallo from Argentina was the last surviving player from this World Cup. He died in 2010 at the age of 100. The 2030 FIFA World Cup opening match to be played at Estadio Centenario will honor the centennial anniversary of the World Cup.
The 1930 FIFA World Cup final is the first and only one to date to have been contested between two Spanish-speaking sides. It is also the only one that was contested between two South American nations, as the 1950 match between Brazil and Uruguay was technically the deciding match of the final group stage, not an actual cup final.
Participants
FIFA, the governing body of world football, had been discussing the creation of a competition for national teams for several years prior to 1930. The organisation had managed the football segment of the Summer Olympics on behalf of the International Olympic Committee since the early 20th century and the success of the competition at the 1924 and 1928 Olympic Games led to the formation of the FIFA World Cup. At the 17th FIFA congress, held in Amsterdam in May 1928, the competition was proposed by president Jules Rimet and accepted by the organisation's board, with vice-president Henri Delaunay proclaiming "international football can no longer be held within the confines of the Olympics".
thumb|Participating countries, tinted by order of finish|400px|alt=World map highlighting competing nations, colour-coded by finishing position with the top four marked separately (Uruguay 1, Argentina 2, United States 3, Yugoslavia 4). Most of the Americas are shaded, with small representation in Europe. Other continents are entirely unshaded.
The first World Cup was the only one without qualification. Every country affiliated with FIFA was invited to compete and given a deadline of 28 February 1930 to accept. The competition was originally planned as a 16-team knockout tournament with a potential second division if enough teams entered; however, the number of teams failed to reach 16, so there were no qualifications. Plenty of interest was shown by nations in the Americas; Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and the United States all entered. A total of seven South American teams participated, more than in any subsequent World Cup Finals. However, because of the long, costly trip by ship across the Atlantic Ocean and the length of absence required for players, Some refused to countenance travel to South America in any circumstances, and no European entries were received before the February deadline. In an attempt to gain some European participation, the Uruguayan Football Association sent a letter of invitation to The Football Association, even though the British Home Nations (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales) had resigned from FIFA at the time. This was rejected by the FA Committee on 18 November 1929. Out of the two Asian countries affiliated to FIFA at the time, Japan and Siam (modern-day Thailand), neither elected to enter the competition, while Egypt, the lone African team to enter, was delayed due to a storm in the Mediterranean, and the ship intended to take them to Uruguay departed without them.
Two months before the start of the tournament, no team from Europe had officially entered. FIFA president Rimet intervened and four European teams eventually made the trip by sea: Belgium, France, Romania and Yugoslavia. The Romanians, managed by Constantin Rădulescu and coached by their captain Rudolf Wetzer and Octav Luchide, entered the competition following the intervention of the newly crowned King Carol II. He selected the squad personally and negotiated with employers to ensure that the players would still have jobs upon their return. The French entered at the personal intervention of Rimet, but neither France's star defender Manuel Anatol nor the team's regular coach Gaston Barreau could be persuaded to make the trip. The Belgians participated at the instigation of German-Belgian FIFA vice-president Rodolphe Seeldrayers.
The Romanians boarded the SS Conte Verde at Genoa, Italy; the French and Yugoslavs were picked up at Villefranche-sur-Mer, France, on 21 June 1930; and the Belgians embarked at Barcelona, Spain. The Conte Verde carried Rimet, the trophy and the three designated European referees: Belgians John Langenus and Henri Christophe, along with Thomas Balvay, a Parisian who may have been English. The Brazilian team were picked up when the boat docked in Rio de Janeiro on 29 June before arriving in Uruguay on 4 July.
List of invited teams
The following 16 teams planned to compete at the final tournament. However, 13 teams participated due to withdrawals of Egypt, Japan and Siam.
Asia (0)
- <s></s> (withdrew)
- <s></s> (withdrew)
Africa (0)
- <s></s> (missed ship)
North America (2)
South America (7)
- (hosts)
Europe (4)
Venues
Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain, Hungary, and Uruguay all lodged applications to host the event. Uruguay's bid became the clear selection after all the other countries withdrew their bids.
All matches took place in Montevideo. Three stadiums were used: Estadio Centenario, Estadio Pocitos, and Estadio Gran Parque Central. The Estadio Centenario was built both for the tournament and as a celebration of the centenary of Uruguayan independence. Designed by Juan Scasso, With a capacity of 90,000, it was the largest football stadium outside the British Isles. Early matches were played at smaller stadiums usually used by Montevideo football clubs Nacional and Peñarol, the 20,000 capacity Gran Parque Central and the Pocitos.
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
!colspan=3|Montevideo
|-
|Estadio Centenario
|Estadio Gran Parque Central
|Estadio Pocitos
|-
|<small></small>
|<small></small>
|<small></small>
|-
|Capacity: 90,000
|Capacity: 20,000
|Capacity: 10,000
|-
|250px
|226px
|226px
|-
!
!colspan="2"|
|}
Match officials
Fifteen referees participated in the tournament: four Europeans – two Belgians (Henri Christophe and John Langenus), a Frenchman (Thomas Balvay) and a Romanian (Constantin Rădulescu, also the Romanian team coach), and eleven from the Americas – among them six Uruguayans. To eliminate differences in the application of the Laws of the Game, the referees were invited to one short meeting to iron out the most conflicting issues that could arise.
Of all the refereeing appointments, the two that attracted the most attention were that of Gilberto de Almeida Rêgo in the match between Argentina and France, in which the Brazilian referee blew for full-time six minutes early, and that of the Bolivian Ulises Saucedo's Argentina and Mexico encounter, which Argentina won 6–3. During the game, Saucedo, who was also the coach of Bolivia,
Since there were no qualifying games, the opening two matches of the tournament were the first World Cup games ever played, taking place simultaneously on 13 July 1930; France beat Mexico 4–1 at the Estadio Pocitos, while the United States defeated Belgium 3–0 at the same time at the Estadio Gran Parque Central. France's Lucien Laurent was the scorer of the first World Cup goal.