By William Wertheimer, Year 10
The FIFA World Cup is a subject that is currently very popular amongst football fans. However, very few supporters of the game know about the origins and its first competition. The origins of the cup are very simple. FIFA’s owner in 1930, Jules Rimet, decided that there should be a competition to find out which country was the best at football in the world. He called it the World Cup. FIFA had voted for it and the first competition would take place in 1930.
No teams would have to qualify for the 1930 World Cup in Uruguay, they would just have to accept the invitation. However, like the competition was held in South America, the majority of the teams declined and the competition started with 13 teams. They were then divided into four groups. Group A contained: Argentina, Chile, France and Mexico, Group B contained: Yugoslavia, Brazil and Bolivia, Group C contained: Uruguay, Peru and Romania, and Group D contained: USA, Paraguay and Belgium.
Unlike in modern football, teams in 1930 would receive 2 points instead of 3 for a victory, and therefore the best teams who managed to win twice would only have four points, instead of six. After each team played each other one time per group, the first place would advance to the semi-finals. The first semi final would be played between the USA and Argentina. Argentina’s pacey attack would be too overwhelming for the Americans as they won 6-1. Argentina would be the first finalists in the history of the World Cup. The second semi-final was between Yugoslavia and Uruguay. Just like the first match, the game ended 6-1 for the hosts, Uruguay, who were going to meet Argentina in the first ever final. The final would be an interesting one. Both teams had been dominating the football world and had already faced each other in the final of the Olympics, where the Uruguayans won 2-1. In front of almost 70’000 fans, the match started. In the 12th minute, Uruguay took the lead. However, at half-time, the hosts had found themselves trailing 2-1. Despite the disadvantage, Uruguay found the back of the net three times in the space of half an hour, crowning them the first ever world champions.
The 1930 World cup would be one of the most important factors of the creation of all international football competitions. The cup is still being played every four years with it being on its 22nd edition. The World Cup nowadays can not only be seen as bringing the world’s football fans together, but the different cultures too.
