Where was the first football World Cup held?

The first World Cup took place in 1930 in Uruguay after the country won two titles at the Olympics in 1924 and 1928.

Owing to their footballing superiority, Uruguay were also the first world champions.

The tournament included just 13 teams: seven from South America, four from Europe and two from North America.

At the time, it was difficult to travel to South America, which explains the low number of participants.

The teams were split into four groups (three groups of three and one of four teams) with the top side from each group advancing directly to the semi-finals.

The final was played between Uruguay and Argentina, a repeat of the final of the 1928 Olympic Games, and took place at the Centenario Stadium on 30 July.

The Uruguayans opened with an early goal, but the Argentines then scored twice and were ahead 2-1 before half-time. In the second half, the home team showed why it had won the previous titles and won 4-2.

The victory left a lasting impact on Uruguay.

The Uruguayan writer, Eduardo Galeano, who was born in 1940 and died in 2015, wrote about the first World Cup in his book ‘Football in Sun and Shadow’.

In the book, Galeano recalls: "In 1930, the country only had eyes and ears for the first Football World Cup. Uruguay’s victories in the two last Olympic Games, held in Europe, made the country the inevitable host of the first tournament.

"Twelve nations arrived at the port of Montevideo. All of Europe was invited, but only four European teams crossed the ocean to these southern beaches.

"The final of the World Cup 1930 didn’t garner more than a twenty-line column in the Italian newspaper, La Gazzetta dello Sport.

"In the end, the history of the 1928 Amsterdam Olympic Games repeated itself: the two countries of the Da Prata River upset Europe by showing where the best football in the world was.

"Not a single game ended in a draw. Argentina’s Guillermo Stábile topped the list of top scorers with eight goals, followed by Uruguay’s Pedro Cea, with five goals. France’s Louis Laurent scored the first goal in the history of the World Cup, while playing against Mexico."