First Official World Cup

 

The FIFA World Cup started in 1928, when FIFA president Jules Rimet decided to stage an international football tournament. The first competition, in 1930, consisted of just the final tournament of 13 invited teams. The competition has subsequently expanded to a 2 year qualifying process involving almost 200 teams from all over the world.

Image Compliments of FIFA.com

The first official World Cup

The 1932 Summer Olympics, held in Los Angeles did not plan to include football as part of the programme due to the low popularity of football in the United States. FIFA and the IOC also disagreed over the status of amateur players, and so was dropped from the Games.[4] FIFA president Jules Rimet thus set about organising the inaugural World Cup tournament to be held in Uruguay in 1930. The national associations of selected nations were invited to send a team, but the choice of Uruguay as a venue for the competition meant a long and costly trip across the Atlantic Ocean for European sides. Indeed, no European country pledged to send a team until two months before the start of the competition. citation needed] Rimet eventually persuaded teams from Belgium, France, Romania, and Yugoslavia to make the trip. In total 13 nations took part — seven from South America, four from Europe and two from North America. The first two World Cup matches took place simultaneously, and were won by France and the USA, who beat Mexico 4-1 and Belgium 3-0, respectively. The first goal in World Cup history was scored by Lucien Laurent of France. Four days later, the first World Cup hat-trick was achieved by Bert Patenaude of the USA in the Americans' 3-0 win against Paraguay. In the final, Uruguay defeated Argentina 4-2 in front of a crowd of 93,000 people in Montevideo, and became the first nation to win a World Cup.[5]

The First Official FIFA world Cup Ball