The first world Cup took place in 1930 and was hosted by Uruguay, the iconic country of football at the time. Quite different from the current models of the World Cup, which has 32 participants, only participated in this first tournament 13 selections: Argentina, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, United States, France, Yugoslavia, Mexico, Paraguay, Uruguay, Peru and Romania.
Interestingly, when the International Football Federation – FIFA – Established Uruguay as the venue for the competition and set the deadline for registration of the teams, there had only been entries from the American continent. Only four European countries decided to participate and, even so, registering after the defined period and with FIFA taking responsibility for funding the European teams. I repeat curiously because the World Cup has become the competition that all teams around the world aspire to participate in. And, for that, there is currently a very rigorous selection process for choosing the countries that will be represented.
Another comparative curiosity: while the Africa Cup in 2010, used 10 stadiums to make the championship viable, the first Uruguayan edition responded to expectations with only 3 stadiums, all in Montevideo, capital of Uruguay.
The 13 teams were divided into four groups, so that the first group contained four teams and the other three groups had three participating selections. Below is the description of the groups:
- Group 1: Argentina, Chile, France and Mexico;
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- Group 2: Brazil, Bolivia and Yugoslavia;
- Group 3: Uruguay, Peru and Romania;
- Group 4: United States, Paraguay and Belgium.
The teams: Argentina, Yugoslavia, Uruguay and the United States took first place in their groups in the first phase of the championship.
The semifinal games took place between Argentina and the United States, a game that Argentina won 6-1. The second semifinal match, between Yugoslavia and Uruguay, repeated the same score: 6-1, with victory for Uruguay.
The game of the final faced Uruguay and Argentina. Uruguay beat the opponent with a score of 4-2.
The final result of the tournament can be seen below:
| Selection | Points | victories | Defeats |
| Uruguay | 8 | 4 | 0 |
| Argentina | 8 | 4 | 1 |
| U.S | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| Yugoslavia | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| Chile | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| Brazil | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| France | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Romania | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Paraguay | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Peru | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Belgium | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Bolivia | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Mexico | 0 | 0 | 3 |
By Paula Rondinelli
Brazil School Collaborator
Graduated in Physical Education from the São Paulo State University “Júlio de Mesquita Filho” – UNESP
Master in Motricity Sciences from the São Paulo State University “Júlio de Mesquita Filho” – UNESP
Doctoral Student in Integration of Latin America at the University of São Paulo - USP
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
RONDINELLI, Paula. "The first World Cup"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/educacao-fisica/primeira-copa-mundo.htm. Accessed on June 28, 2021.
