Where Nations Dream: 95 Years Since the 1st World Cup

The most important title in world football is the one held in Qatar two and a half years ago and set to take place next year across the Americas, the World Cup. Today, just over 95 years ago, the first-ever World Cup final was played. Join me in exploring the history of the golden trophy, where it all began.

Sixty years before the first World Cup, on November 30, 1872, two teams from the birthplace of football met in the first international match between national teams. England and Scotland played out a goalless draw. Eleven years later, still within the British Isles, the first international tournament was established, the British Home Championship. The tournament endured for many years and only came to an end a century later, in 1983.

The next leap forward occurred on May 21, 1904. The world football governing body, FIFA, was founded—twenty years before the top football leagues of Italy and Spain were established. The organization, founded in France, brought together the football associations of France, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, and Spain, the latter represented by Real Madrid, as the Spanish football association had not yet been formed. A year later, the football associations of Germany, Italy, Austria, and Hungary joined.

**Twice France**

In 1908, the tournament expanded beyond Europe when South Africa joined the organization. The British, who saw themselves as the cradle of football, initially refused, in their characteristic fashion, to join the new organization. A few months later, seeing that many countries had joined and they were missing out, they relented. Two years later, the English took control when an English president was appointed to FIFA, replacing his French predecessor.

The first international tournament for national teams not under the British flag was, of course, held in… Britain: the football tournament at the 1908 London Olympics. The tournament was organized in collaboration with FIFA.

The Bohemia national team was forced to withdraw as it was not a FIFA member, but officially, the English Football Association happily took responsibility for organizing the Olympic tournament. The somewhat chaotic tournament included six teams after Hungary withdrew due to the Bosnia crisis, during which the Austro-Hungarian Empire invaded Bosnia.

France sent two teams, both of which ended the tournament in humiliation against Denmark. France B lost 9-0 to Denmark in the quarterfinals, while France A suffered a 17-1 defeat in the semifinals. These massive scorelines didn’t help Denmark, who lost 2-0 to Great Britain in the final.

Four years later, at the Stockholm Olympics in Sweden, England again defeated Denmark, this time 4-2, to claim their second consecutive title. At the 1920 Antwerp Olympics, FIFA took full responsibility for the organization for the first time. This time, England was knocked out in the first round after a 3-1 loss to Norway. Belgium won the gold after Czechoslovakia withdrew mid-final in protest of the referee, with Belgium leading 2-0.

The English have never returned to an Olympic final since, and in many Olympics, they didn’t participate at all. Initially, they abstained due to FIFA’s ban on professional players, which gave an advantage to teams from the Communist bloc, leading to British losses in qualifiers.

After the tournament became restricted to under-23 teams, Great Britain stopped sending teams, partly due to internal disputes among the British nations. Incidentally, at the 2012 London Olympics, Great Britain fielded a rare unified team.

In any case, let’s move on from the British and return to the tournament itself. In the 1924 and 1928 Olympics, Uruguay—a small South American nation with fewer than 3.5 million people—won the title. Uruguay’s victories are still celebrated today in the national team’s emblem, alongside their World Cup triumphs.

Israel participated in the tournament three times, in 1968, 1976, and last year at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Uruguay’s two victories, combined with celebrations of the centenary of their constitution, prompted FIFA to finally establish an independent tournament and declare Uruguay as its first host.

European teams were reluctant to make the long journey, but after pressure from FIFA president Jules Rimet—after whom the trophy was later named—four European teams agreed to participate in the tournament.

The British teams refused to participate until 1950, when FIFA recognized the British Home Championship as a qualifying group, a decision reversed in 1958. The 13 teams that participated in the tournament all came from the Americas and Europe, divided into four groups, with the group winners advancing to the semifinals.

In the first match, France defeated Mexico 4-1, with the first goal in World Cup history scored in the 11th minute by Lucien Laurent, a player for AC Paris at the time. The four teams that reached the semifinals were Uruguay, the United States, Yugoslavia, and Argentina. Both semifinals ended 6-1, with Argentina and Uruguay advancing to the final.

In the World Cup final itself, held 95 years ago today, Uruguay took the lead in the 12th minute with a goal from Pablo Dorado. Argentina turned the game around with goals from Carlos Peucelle in the 20th minute and Guillermo Stábile in the 37th minute, going into halftime with the lead. In the second half, a different Uruguay emerged, overturning the score with goals from Pedro Cea in the 57th minute and Santos Iriarte in the 68th minute.

In the 89th minute, Héctor Castro sealed the result, setting the score at 4-2 for Uruguay, who won the first-ever World Cup. Castro was nicknamed “the one-armed man” because he lost his right arm in a work accident at age 13.

Since then, the tournament’s popularity has skyrocketed, quickly surpassing the Olympic tournament, which was canceled at the following Olympics. Although it later returned, its significance was no longer substantial. In the 1934 World Cup, many South American teams refused to attend in retaliation for the Europeans’ absence in the previous tournament.

Today, Brazil leads the World Cup winners’ table with five titles, followed by Italy and Germany with four, Argentina with three, Uruguay and France with two, and Spain and England with one each. The last World Cup final, in which Argentina defeated France, was watched by one and a half billion people worldwide.

The political stories over the years are deeply intertwined with the history of the golden trophy. The next World Cup, in the summer of 2026, will take place in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. Who will be the fortunate winner? Will the United States and Mexico resolve their relations by then? And what other intriguing political stories will unfold?