Who Won the First FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup is the premiere international football (soccer) tournament in the world. Over 200 teams (countries) attempt to qualify for the 32 spots in the finals. It has been held every 4 years since the inaugural tournament in 1930, apart from 1942 and 1946 due to WWII. Let’s take a look at who won the very first tournament.
Who won the First FIFA World Cup?
Uruguay was chosen to host the first FIFA World Cup because the country was celebrating a century under their first constitution and because the team had won the football gold medal at the 1928 Summer Olympics. 13 teams competed in the tournament and many European teams passed up the invitation because it was so far to travel. At the conclusion of the group stages four teams were left in the competition; Uruguay, Argentina, Yugoslavia and the United States. In the semi finals Argentina defeated the United States, 6-1 and Uruguay defeated Yugoslavia by the same score.
The host nation Uruguay met Argentina at the Estadio Centenario, Montevideo on July, 20, 1930. 93,000 spectators watched on as the home side defeated Argentina 4-2. Argentina led 2-1 at half time, but Uruguay scored three times in the second half to secure victory.
Did you know?
Uruguay also defeated Argentina to take the gold medal at the 1928 Summer Olympics.
Uruguay did not defend their title at the 1934 World Cup. They won the tournament again in 1950, but have failed to finish better than 4th since this date.
American forward, Bert Patenaude, is credited with scoring the first World Cup hat trick (3 goals in one game) against Paraguay. However, this wasn’t officially announced until 2006 (32 years after Bert’s death) because there was some controversy over who actually scored the goal!
The two countries couldn’t agree on which one would provide the match ball for the final so a different ball was used for each half!
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