1930 fifa world cup uruguay

1930 FIFA World Cup – Uruguay

by
1930 fifa world cup

The first FIFA World Cup took place in Uruguay in 1930. Uruguay was chosen as the country would be celebrating its centenary and the Uruguay national team had won the football title at the 1924 and 1928 Summer Olympics.

Thirteen teams entered the tournament. Seven were from South America, four from Europe and two from North America. Only a few Europeans decided to go due to the difficulty of traveling to South America and, also, because of the Great Depression.

It was the only world cup without a qualification stage. Every country affiliated to FIFA was invited to participate. The initial plan was a 16 team knockout tournament. As less than 16 entered the competition, there was no need for the qualification round.

The teams were then divided in four groups, with the winners of each one advancing to the semi-finals.

Bert Patenaude, from the United States, became the first player ever to score a hat-trick in a world cup match. He scored the 3 goals in the match, when the United States beat Paraguay 3-0.

In the semi-finals, Uruguay beat the United States and Argentina beat Yugoslavia, both games ending with a score of 6-1.

The final was played by the hosts, Uruguay, against Argentina. Uruguay scored first, but Argentina scored twice finishing the first half ahead. But in the second half the Uruguayans were able to score 3 goals, beating Argentina 4-2 becoming the first ever FIFA World Cup Champion.

List of teams: Argentina, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Egypt, France, Japan, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Romania, Siam, United States, Uruguay, Yugoslavia.
Three of these teams did not compete: Japan and Siam withdrew, Egypt missed the ship that would take them to Uruguay.

Champions: Uruguay
2nd place: Argentina
3rd place: United States

Top scorer player: Gillermo Stábile, Argentina – 8 goals
Top scorer team: Argentina – 18 goals

Total of goals: 70 goals
Average per match: 3.89

List of all the tournaments

Leave a Comment