WORLD CUP 2022
Which team won the first World Cup? When and where was it played?
The inaugural World Cup, otherwise known as the world championship of men’s national association football teams, was first played almost a century ago.
The FIFA World Cup often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition competed by the members’ senior men’s national teams under the rules and regulations of the sport’s global governing body.
It is a quadrennial competition that saw its premiere edition in 1930, and it has been ongoing since then, with breaks in 1942 and 1946, due to World War II. The present champions, France, won their second title at the 2018 tournament in Russia.
World Cup news:
The world’s first international football match was a challenge between Scotland and England played in Glasgow in 1872. Due to the success of the Olympic football tournaments, which were only able to gather the best national football teams in one place, FIFA, with the president, Jules Rimet, finally decided to organize their international football tournament. In 1928, at the FIFA Congress in Amsterdam, it was agreed that Uruguay, the reigning back-to-back champion, host the inaugural competition the same year as the country’s centenary of independence celebration.
1930 World Cup in Uruguay
Organizing a competition of that level on a world scale gave them a lot of trouble, especially logistics-wise. From all the invited nations, Rimet only convinced a handful of European countries (Romania, France, Yugoslavia, and Belgium) to come to Uruguay. At that time, the usual boat trip to Montevideo from any of the largest ports in Europe took around three weeks. Finally, 13 nations took part: seven from South America, four from Europe, and two from North America.
The first official matches played simultaneously on 13 July 1930 were won by France and the U.S. against their opponents Mexico and Belgium.
Lucien Laurent of France held the distinguished honor of scoring the first goal in World Cup history.
1930 Final - Uruguay vs. Argentina
After winning their semifinal matches in a convincing style, Uruguay and Argentina met in the final, playing in front of 93,000 people at the legendary Estadio Centenario in Montevideo.
After 12 minutes, Pablo Dorado put the hosts into the lead before Argentina winger Carlos Pucelle equalized 8 minutes later, beating goalkeeper Enrique Ballestrero with a powerful shot. In the 37th minute, tournament top scorer Guillermo Stábile gave Argentina a 2–1 lead going into the break. Uruguay leveled the score 12 minutes into the second half via a goal from Pedro Cea and took the lead back for good with a Santos Iriarte goal in the 68th minute. With a minute remaining, Héctor Castro put Uruguay up 4–2, sealing victory in the inaugural World Cup.
Uruguay was coached by still the youngest coach ever to win the World Cup, Alberto Suppici, who was 31 at the time.
Jules Rimet, president of FIFA and primarily responsible for the tournament to happen, presented Uruguay with the World Cup Trophy, later to be named after him. The following day was declared a national holiday in Uruguay, while in Buenos Aires, a mob stoned the Uruguayan consulate.