The first FIFA World Cup Tournament | ||
The first FIFA World Cup Tournament The success of the Olympic Foot- dependence in 1930 at great expense. ball Tournament intensified FIFA's Moreover, its national association was wish for its own world champion- willing to cover all the costs, including the ship. Questionnaires were sent to travel and accommodation of the partici¬the affiliated associations, asking pating teams. Any possible profit would be whether they agreed to the organization of shared, while Uruguay would take on the a tournament and under what conditions. A deficit. These arguments were decisive. special committee examined the question, The FIFA Congress in Barcelona in 1929 with President Jules Rimet the driving force. assigned Uruguay as first host country of He was aided by the untiring Secretary of the FIFA World Cup TM. The other candi¬the French Football Federation, Henri De- dates had withdrawn. Following a remarkable proposal by the crisis, not everything went to plan during the Executive Committee, the FIFA Congress countdown to these first finals. Participation in Amsterdam on 28 May 1928 decided to did not only involve a long sea journey for the stage a world championship organized by Europeans; the clubs would have to renounce FIFA. Now, the organizing country had to their best players for two months. Conse¬be chosen. Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, quently, more and more associations broke Spain and Sweden submitted their candida- their promise to participate and it took much tures. Right from the start, Uruguay was the maneuvering by Rimet to ensure at least four favorite and not simply for its Olympic gold European teams - France, Belgium, Roma¬medal wins in 1924 and 1928 - the country nia and Yugoslavia - joined him on the Conte was celebrating its 100th anniversary of in- Verde liner bound for Buenos Aires. The first FIFA World Cup opened at the brand-new Es-tadio Centenario in Montevideo on 18 July 1930. It was the beginning of a new era in world football and the inaugural event proved a remarkable success, both in a sporting and a financial sense. Of course, the organizers were disap¬pointed that only four European sides had participated. The anger in Montevideo was so intense in fact that four years later, world champions Uruguay became the first and only team to refuse to defend their title. When the Congress convened in Budapest in 1930, it thanked Uruguay for staging the world championship for the first time in difficult conditions. It also noted its regret at seeing only a minimum number of teams participating from Europe. The significance of the new tournament only increased following the setback FIFA suffered in the lead-up to the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. After failing to set¬tle differences of opinion over the amateur status of foot¬bailers with the International Olympic Committee regarding the amateur status of football players, plans to organize the Olympic Football Tournament were abandoned. FIFA chose Italy ahead of rival candidates Sweden to host the second FIFA World Cup and this time it took quali-fying matches to arrive at the 16 finalists. Unlike in 1930 there were no groups and only knockout rounds, mean¬ing Brazil and Argentina went home after playing just one match each. Once again, the home team prevailed, Italy winning the Final against Czechoslovakia in extra time. For the first time, the Final was transmitted on the radio. Four years later, Rimet saw his wish fulfilled when the third FIFA World Cup took place in France, his home country. Again not everything ran according to plan: Austria had disap-peared from the scene and so Sweden did not have an opponent in the first round. Uruguay still did not wish to participate and Argentina withdrew. This is why the national teams from Cuba and the Dutch East Indies came to France. This time, there was no home victory and Italy successfully de-fended their title. The FIFA World Cup should have taken place for the fourth time in 1942 but the outbreak of World War Two meant otherwise. Al-though FIFA maintained its Zurich offices throughout the conflict, it was not until 1 July 1946 in Luxembourg that the Congress met again. Thirty-four associa¬tions were represented and they gave Rimet, who had been President for a quar¬ter of a century already, a special Jubilee gift. From now on, the FIFA World Cup trophy would be called the Jules Rimet Cup. As the only candidate, Brazil was chosen unani-mously to host the next FIFA World Cup, to be staged in 1949 (and postponed to 1950 for time reasons). At the same time, Switzerland was given the option for 1954. With Europe in the midst
of an economic crisis, not everything went to plan during the countdown to these first finals. Participation did not only involve a long sea journey for the Europeans; the clubs would have to renounce their best players for two months. Consequently, more and more associations broke their promise to participate and it took much maneuvering by Rimet to ensure at least four European teams - France, Belgium, Romania and Yugoslavia - joined him on the Conte Verde liner bound for Buenos Aires. Source: fifa.com | ||
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