Editing FIFA World Cup (section)

=== World Cups before World War II ===
[[File:Jules Rimet 1933.jpg|thumb|left|upright|FIFA president [[Jules Rimet]] convinced the [[FIFA#Six confederations and 211 national associations|confederations]] to promote an international football tournament]]
Due to the success of the Olympic football tournaments, FIFA, with [[List of Presidents of FIFA|President]] [[Jules Rimet]] as the driving force, again started looking at staging its own international tournament outside of the Olympics. On 28 May 1928, the FIFA Congress in [[Amsterdam]] decided to stage a world championship.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.fifa.com/classicfootball/history/fifa/first-fifa-world-cup.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130329051339/http://www.fifa.com/classicfootball/history/fifa/first-fifa-world-cup.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=29 March 2013 |title=History of FIFA – The first FIFA World Cup |work=FIFA.com |publisher=Fédération Internationale de Football Association |access-date=12 July 2014}}</ref> With Uruguay now two-time official football world champions and to celebrate their [[centenary]] of [[treaty of Montevideo (1828)|independence]] in 1930, FIFA named [[Uruguay]] as the host country of the [[1930 FIFA World Cup|inaugural World Cup tournament]].<ref name="WC origin">{{Cite web |url=https://www.fifa.com/mm/document/fifafacts/mcwc/ip-201_02e_fwc-origin_8816.pdf |title=FIFA World Cup Origin |website=FIFA |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100615195236/http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/fifafacts/mcwc/ip-201_02e_fwc-origin_8816.pdf |archive-date=15 June 2010 |url-status=dead |access-date=1 October 2020}}</ref>

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, especially in the midst of the [[Great Depression]]. As such, no European country pledged to send a team until two months before the start of the competition. Rimet eventually persuaded teams from [[Belgium national football team|Belgium]], [[France national football team|France]], [[Romania national football team|Romania]], and [[Yugoslavia national football team|Yugoslavia]] to make the trip.<ref name="WC origin" /> In total, 13 nations took part: seven from South America, four from Europe, and two from North America.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/uruguay1930/awards/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180516082100/http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/uruguay1930/awards/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=16 May 2018 |title=Final Tournament Standings |publisher=FIFA |work=1930 FIFA World Cup Uruguay |access-date=14 June 2014}}</ref>

[[File:Estadio Centenario (vista aérea).jpg|thumb|[[Centenario Stadium|Estadio Centenario]], the location of the first World Cup final in 1930 in [[Montevideo]], Uruguay]]
The first two World Cup matches took place simultaneously on 13 July 1930, and were won by France and the [[United States men's national soccer team|United States]], who defeated [[Mexico national football team|Mexico]] 4–1 and Belgium 3–0 respectively. The first goal in World Cup history was scored by [[Lucien Laurent]] of France.<ref>{{cite news |first=John F |last=Molinaro |title=The World Cup's 1st goal scorer |publisher=[[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|CBC]] |url=http://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/the-world-cup-s-1st-goal-scorer-1.825335 |access-date=12 July 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402100933/http://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/the-world-cup-s-1st-goal-scorer-1.825335 |archive-date=2 April 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> In the [[1930 FIFA World Cup final|final]], [[Uruguay national football team|Uruguay]] defeated [[Argentina national football team|Argentina]] 4–2 in front of 93,000 spectators in [[Montevideo]], and became the first nation to win the World Cup.<ref name="origin">{{cite web |url=https://www.fifa.com/mm/document/fifafacts/mcwc/ip-201_02e_fwc-origin_8816.pdf |title=FIFA World Cup Origin |work=FIFA.com |publisher=Fédération Internationale de Football Association |access-date=19 November 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100614212717/http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/fifafacts/mcwc/ip-201_02e_fwc-origin_8816.pdf |archive-date=14 June 2010}}</ref> After the creation of the World Cup, FIFA and the [[International Olympic Committee|IOC]] disagreed over the status of amateur players; football was dropped from the [[1932 Summer Olympics]].<ref name="SR">{{cite web |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1936/FTB/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417041849/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1936/FTB/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 April 2020 |title=Football at the 1936 Berlin Summer Games |work=Sports Reference |access-date=7 October 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.fifa.com/tournaments/archive/mensolympic/athens2004/news/newsid=92851/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140715174431/http://www.fifa.com/tournaments/archive/mensolympic/athens2004/news/newsid=92851/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=15 July 2014 |title=The Olympic Odyssey so far&nbsp;... (Part 1: 1908–1964) |work=FIFA.com |publisher=Fédération Internationale de Football Association |date=9 June 2004 |access-date=12 July 2014}}</ref> After the IOC and FIFA worked out their differences, Olympic football returned at the [[Football at the 1936 Summer Olympics|1936 Summer Olympics]], but was now overshadowed by the more prestigious World Cup.<ref name="SR" />

The issues facing the early World Cup tournaments were the difficulties of intercontinental travel and war. Few South American teams were willing to travel to Europe for the [[1934 FIFA World Cup|1934 World Cup]] and all North and South American nations except [[Brazil national football team|Brazil]] and [[Cuba national football team|Cuba]] boycotted the [[1938 FIFA World Cup|1938]] tournament. Brazil was the only South American team to compete in both. The 1942 and 1946 competitions, which [[Nazi Germany|Germany]] and [[Brazil]] sought to host,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cristal.com.pe/articulo/los-datos-mas-curiosos-de-la-fiesta-del-futbol-brasil-1950 |title=Los datos más curiosos de la Fiesta del Fútbol – Brasil 1950 |access-date=17 April 2012 |language=es |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120701133216/http://www.cristal.com.pe/articulo/los-datos-mas-curiosos-de-la-fiesta-del-futbol-brasil-1950 |archive-date=1 July 2012}}</ref> were cancelled due to [[World War II]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Braswell |first=Sean |title=How Brazil Saved The World Cup In The Aftermatch Of World War II |publisher=NPR |date=11 June 2014 |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2014/06/11/320727176/how-brazil-saved-the-world-cup-in-the-aftermath-of-world-war-ii |access-date=6 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150921132543/https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2014/06/11/320727176/how-brazil-saved-the-world-cup-in-the-aftermath-of-world-war-ii |archive-date=21 September 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>