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FIFA. Now, the organ-
ising country had to be
chosen. Hungary, Italy,
the Netherlands, Spain and
Sweden submitted their can-
didatures. Right from the start,
Uruguay was the favourite and
not simply for its Olympic gold
medal wins in 1924 and 1928 -
the country was celebrating its
100th anniversary of independence
in 1930 at great expense.
Moreover, its national associa-
tion was willing to cover
all the costs, including the travel and
accommodation of the participating
teams. Any possible profit would be
shared, while Uruguay would take
on the deficit. These arguments were
decisive. The FIFA Congress in Bar-
celona in 1929 assigned Uruguay as
first host country of the FIFA World
Cup ™. The other candidates had
withdrawn.
With Europe in the midst of an eco-
nomic 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 prom-
ise to participate and it took much
manoeuvring 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.
The first FIFA World Cup opened at
the brand-new Estadio Centenario in
Montevideo on 18 July 1930. It was