Football World Cup 1930

The first Football World Cup was staged in 1930. The games were hosted by the Olympic champions at the time, Uruguay. Uruguay became the inaugural champion, beating Argentina in the final, 4-2.

The first World Cup was the only one without qualification; teams were invited. Due to the long, harsh, and costly trip across the Atlantic, very few European teams chose to participate; two months before the tournament started, no team from that continent entered. FIFA's president, Jules Rimet, intervened, and four teams: Belgium, France, Romania, and Yugoslavia made the trip.

The thirteen teams were drawn into four groups, and the first match of the first ever World Cup saw France beat Mexico 4-1 on July 13th. Lucient Laurent scored the first ever goal. The USA's Bert Patenaude scored the first hat-trick in World Cup history, as his team beat Paraguay 3-0. The group winners, Argentina, Yugoslavia, Uruguay, and USA, moved to the semifinals.

The semifinals saw identical 6-1 scores, as Argentina beat the US and Uruguay took care of Yugoslavia. There was no third place match for the only time in World Cup history.

The first ever World Cup Final was played at the Centenario Stadium , Montevideo, on July 30th. A seemingly innocuous ontroversy overshadowed the build-up to the match as the teams disagreed on who should provide the match ball, forcing FIFA to intervene and decree that the Argentine team would provide the ball for the first half and the Uruguayans would provide their own for the second. The game ended 4-2 to Uruguay (who had trailed 2-1 at half time) who added the title World Cup Winners to the already prestigious mantle of Olympic Champions, as Jules Rimet presented the World Cup Trophy, which was later to be named after the man himself. Only one player from that final, Francisco Varallo - who played as a striker for Argentina - is still alive today.

First Round

Group A

Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA Argentina 6 3 3 0 0 10 4 Chile 4 3 2 0 1 5 3 France 2 3 1 0 2 4 3 Mexico 0 3 0 0 3 4 13

France 4 - 1 Mexico Argentina 1 - 0 France Chile 3 - 0 Mexico Chile 1 - 0 France Argentina 6 - 3 Mexico Argentina 3 - 1 Chile

Group B

Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA Yugoslavia 4 2 2 0 0 6 1 Brazil 2 2 1 0 1 5 2 Bolivia 0 2 0 0 2 0 13

Yugoslavia 2 - 1 Brazil Yugoslavia 4 - 0 Bolivia Brazil 4 - 0 Bolivia

Group C

Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA Uruguay 4 2 2 0 0 5 0 Romania 2 2 1 0 1 3 5 Peru 0 2 0 0 2 1 4

Romania 3 - 1 Peru Uruguay 1 - 0 Peru Uruguay 4 - 0 Romania

Group D

Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA USA 4 2 2 0 0 6 0 Paraguay 2 2 1 0 1 1 3 Belgium 0 2 0 0 2 0 4

USA 3 - 0 Belgium USA 3 - 0 Paraguay Paraguay 1 - 0 Belgium

Semifinals

July 26, 1930	July 27, 1930
Argentina 6 - 1 USA	Uruguay 6 - 1 Yugoslavia

Final

July 30, 1930

Uruguay 4 - 2 Argentina

Top Scorers

8 goals

• Guillermo Stábile (ARG)

5 goals

• José Pédro Cea (URU)

4 goals

• Bert Patenaude (USA)

3 goals

• Juan Pelegrino Anselmo (URU)
• Ivan Beck (JUG)
• Carlos Desiderio Peucelle (ARG)
• João Coelho Neto (Preguinho) (BRA)

2 goals

• Héctor Castro (URU)
• Pablo Dorado (URU)
• Victoriano Santos Iriarte (URU)
• André Maschinot (FRA)
• Bartholomew McGhee (USA)
• Luís Fernando Monti (ARG)
• Moderato Visintainer (BRA)
• Manuel Rosas Sanchez (MEX)
• Constantin Stanciu (ROM)
• Carlos Vidal Lepe (CHI)
• Djordje Vujadinovic (JUG)
• Adolfo Bernabé Zumelzú (ARG)

1 goal

• Guillermo Arellano Moraga (CHI)
• Stefan Barbu (ROM)
• James Brown (USA)
• Delfín Benítez Cáceres (PAR)
• Juan Carreño Sandoval (MEX)
• Roberto Gayón Marquéz (MEX)
• Marino Evaristo (ARG)
• Marcel Langiller (FRA)
• Lucien Laurent (FRA)
• Blagoje Marjanovic (JUG)
• Héctor Pedro Scarone (URU)
• Alejandro Scopelli Casanova (ARG)
• Luís Alfonso Souza Ferreira (PER)
• Guillermo Subiabre Astorga (CHI)
• Aleksander Tirnanic (JUG)
• Francisco Antonio Varallo (ARG)

own goal

• Manuel Rosas Sánchez (MEX) against Chile