By May 1929, FIFA had still no finalised any plans for a world competition the
following year. A host nation had still not been selected and financial support
for the tournament was still a major issue. The FIFA Vice-President, Rodolfe
Seeldrayers proposed that the country given the honour of hosting the first ever
world cup should pay for all travel arrangements for all teams wishing to enter
the competition. This soon led to several countries refusing to host the
tournament due to the financial burden. European countries supported Italy
whilst the South American countries were behind Uruguay in their quest to host
the world cup. Eventually Italy withdrew and it was left to Uruguay to host the
inaugural World Cup Tournament.
There were no qualification rounds for the first world cup and teams were
invited to compete by the host nation, Uruguay. Only 13 teams attended, reduced
by the unwillingness of many European teams to travel at sea for many weeks in
order to attend the world cup.
For the record, the first ever Official world cup game was played between France
and Mexico with France winning the game 4-1. The first ever goalscorer in World
Cup history was Lucien Laurent of France.
Uruguay eventually went on to win the tournament, beating Argentina
4-2 in the Final.
Due to the previous disagreements between FIFA and the I.O.C. no football
competition was held at the 1932 Olympic Games. However the World Cup Tournament
of 1930 was considered a success after so many previous failures.
The next World Cup Tournament was held in 1934 in Italy. For the first time
qualification rounds were held to determine the 16 teams that would appear in
the ‘World Cup Finals’. Italy came through as the tournament winners, beating
Czechoslovakia 2-1 in a closely contested final. For the record this was the
first World Cup Final broadcast on radio.
Four years later, the ‘Father of the World-Cup’ Jules Rimet saw his wish
fulfilled, when the 3rd World Cup took place in France, his home country.
Despite earlier successes, this tournament certainly had its problems. Austria
literally disappeared so Sweden did not play one of their games. In addition,
Uruguay and Argentina both withdrew from the world cup finals. Italy went on to
win the World Cup of 1938.
There was no World Cup Tournament in 1942 due to the Second World War. However
in 1946, the Tournament was held in Luxembourg and there was a huge celebration
for Jules Rimet for his 25 years as President of FIFA. From then on the actual
World Cup trophy was called the Jules Rimet cup.
Over the years, F.I.F.A. have increased its membership numbers to include almost
every country in the world, and in France 1998, there were 32 finalists, making
it the largest in the history of the event and this allowed even greater
participation from all its confederations. Currently there are over 200
countries and territories affiliated through FIFA.
The 1930 World Cup Tournament