1930. The very first World Cup is to be played in Uruguay, the reigning double-Olympic champions from 1924 and 1928. After the growing success of the beautiful game in multiple Olympic Games, FIFA President Jules Rimet put plans in place, and the hosts were chosen as it was the centenary year of the country’s independence.
Some failed to recognise the tournament (the Home Nations), some didn’t take up the offer to travel the long distances to South America from Europe, and not every team made the tournament in time through missed travel connections!
Initially, there was meant to be 16 competing nations at the first World Cup, with Egypt being the only representative from Africa. There was no qualification process for the tournament (the only time this has happened), so it was down to invitations from FIFA.
The Egyptian FA took up the invite to take part in the tournament, but when it came time to undertake the mammoth journey to South America, but the planning was clearly not up to scratch. The Egyptian team and officials never made it to the shared boat that was taking a few teams to South America due to a storm. They missed it. With no other transport option to get to Uruguay on time, the Egyptian FA withdrew from the tournament.
It wasn’t plain sailing for other countries either…
Japan and Siam both withdrew before making the journey, leaving no representative from Asia, and from Europe only four countries travelled to Uruguay. Egypt should have been on the same ship as some European teams but delays caused by bad weather prevented them from reaching Genoa on time. Travelling by sea, the Romanian team left Genoa on a South American-bound ship on June 20th (the tournament would begin on July 13th) and they picked up France, Belgium, and Brazil along the way!
There had been a row for a few years about the amateur versus professional status of football, with England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland withdrawing from FIFA in 1928 and refusing to acknowledge the World Cup as a legitimate tournament. Germany and Denmark had similar feelings and refused to play, and although Italy, Netherlands, and Spain had offered to host the tournament, they didn’t fancy the travel once hosting status had been awarded to Uruguay. Even France, playing in the tournament, didn’t take it that seriously. Both the France manager and star player didn’t go to the World Cup.
That left the following teams to compete:
- Uruguay
- Argentina
- Bolivia
- Brazil
- Chile
- Paraguay
- Peru
- Mexico
- USA
- Belgium
- France
- Romania
- Yugoslavia
The tournament went on, with a final full of hostility and pettiness from both Uruguay and Argentina. At the time of writing, Uruguay will host a special match at the 2030 World Cup, a nod to the inaugural tournament in 1930. Even if transport connections are a bit better than they were 100 years ago, it will still be a massive undertaking for teams and fans to travel next time with a game in Uruguay, Argentina, and Paraguay, but the bulk of the tournament in Morocco, Spain, and Portugal. That’s right, six countries and three continents host the next World Cup!
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