1930 FIFA World Cup

• The 1930 FIFA World Cup was the inaugural FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national football teams.

• 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.

• Only a few European teams chose to participate because of the difficulty of traveling to South America.

• 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.

• Participants[edit]

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 number of 16 teams was not reached 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,[6] very few European teams were inclined to take part. Some refused to countenance travel to South America in any circumstances,[7] and no European entries were received before the February deadline.

• In an effort 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.[8]

• Two teams from Asia (Japan and Siam – modern-day Thailand) withdrew,[9] while Egypt, the lone African team to enter, were delayed due to a storm in the Mediterranean, and missed the ship travelling to Uruguay.[10]

• Two months before the start of the tournament, no team from Europe had officially entered.[11] FIFA president Jules Rimet intervened and four European teams eventually made the trip by sea: Belgium, France

• The World Cup was originally scheduled to be held in Europe, but 13 teams withdrew.

• Uruguay was selected to host the World Cup, and it was the first World Cup game ever played.

• The World Cup was played in four different stadiums in Montevideo.

• The World Cup was a round-robin format, with the four group winners progressing to the knockout stage.

• The World Cup was seeded and kept apart in the draw.

• The opening two matches of the World Cup were the first World Cup games ever played.

• France had a very difficult time in their opening match against Mexico, but held on for the majority of the match.

• France's final match, against Chile, featured the first penalty kick of the World Cup. The first goalkeeper to save a penalty was Alex Thépot of France.

• In their opening match, Brazil unexpectedly lost to Yugoslavia.

• Bolivia had never previously won an international match before their first match of the tournament.

• Both of Bolivia's matches followed a similar pattern, with a promising start gradually turning into heavy defeat.

• Against Yugoslavia, Bolivia held out for an hour before conceding, but were four goals down by the final whistle.

• Against Brazil, when both teams had only pride to play for, the score was 1–0 to Brazil at half-time.

• Yugoslavia qualified for the semi-finals.

France's opening match against Mexico was difficult, as they only managed to hold on for the majority of the match. Their final match of the group, against Chile, featured the first penalty kick of the World Cup. The first goalkeeper to save a penalty was Alex Thépot of France. Bolivia had never previously won an international match before their first match of the tournament, and both of their matches followed a similar pattern of a promising start gradually turning into heavy defeat. Against Yugoslavia, Bolivia held out for an hour before conceding, but were four goals down by the final whistle. Against Brazil, when both teams had only pride to play for, the score was 1–0 to Brazil at half-time. Yugoslavia qualified for the semi-finals.

• Uruguay won the 1930 World Cup.

• The tournament was played in Uruguay.

• Uruguay was the only team to win all of their matches.

• The United States team was reputedly nicknamed "the shot-putters" by an unnamed source in the French contingent.

• They lost their first opponents, Belgium, 3-0.

• The ease of the victory was unexpected; Uruguayan newspaper Imparcial wrote that "the large score of the American victory has really surprised the experts".

• Belgian reports bemoaned the state of the pitch and refereeing decisions, claiming that the second goal was offside.

• The group's second match, played in windy conditions, witnessed the first tournament hat-trick, scored by Bert Patenaude of the United States against Paraguay.

• Until 10 November 2006, the first hat-trick that FIFA acknowledged had been scored by Guillermo Stábile of Argentina, two days after Patenaude; however, in 2006 FIFA announced that Patenaude's claim to being the first hat-trick scorer was valid, as a goal previously assigned to teammate Tom Florie was reattributed to Patenaude.

• With the United States having secured qualification, the final match in the group was a dead rubber.

• Paraguay beat Belgium by a 1-0 margin.

• The semi-finals saw identical scores.

• The first semi-final was played between the United States and Argentina on a rain-drenched pitch.

• The United States team, which featured six British-born players, lost midfielder Raphael Tracy after 10 minutes to a broken leg as the match became violent.

• A Monti goal halfway through the first half gave Argentina a 1-0 half-time lead.

• In the second half, the strength of the United States team was overwhelmed by the pace of the Argentinian attacks, the match finishing 6-1 to Argentina.

• In the second semi-final there were shades of the 1924 Summer Olympics match between Yugoslavia and Uruguay. Here, though, Yugoslavia took a surprise lead through Vujadinović.

• Uruguay then took a 2-1 lead.

• Then shortly before half-time Yugoslavia had a goal disallowed by a controversial offside decision.

• The hosts scored three more in the second half to win 6-1, Pedro Cea completing a hat-trick.

• The now-traditional third place play-off was not established until 1934, so the format of the 1930 World Cup is unique in not distinguishing between the third and fourth placed teams.

• At the end of the championship, the captains of the United States team (Tom Florie) and Yugoslavia (Milutin Ivković) both received bronze medals.