<P> The 1930 FIFA World Cup was the inaugural FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national association football teams . It took place in Uruguay from 13 to 30 July 1930 . FIFA, football's international governing body, selected Uruguay as host nation, as the country would be celebrating the centenary of its first constitution, and the Uruguay national football team had successfully retained their football title at the 1928 Summer Olympics . All matches were played in the Uruguayan capital, Montevideo, the majority at the Estadio Centenario, which was built for the tournament . </P> <P> Thirteen teams (seven from South America, four from Europe and two from North America) entered the tournament . Only a few European teams chose to participate because of the difficulty of travelling to South America . The teams were divided into four groups, with the winner of each group progressing to the semi-finals . The first two World Cup matches took place simultaneously, and were won by France and the United States, who defeated Mexico 4--1 and Belgium 3--0, respectively . Lucien Laurent of France scored the first goal in World Cup history, while US goalkeeper Jimmy Douglas posted the first official "clean sheet" in the tournament . </P> <P> Argentina, Uruguay, the United States and Yugoslavia each won their respective groups to qualify for the semi-finals . In the final, hosts and pre-tournament favourites Uruguay defeated Argentina 4--2 in front of a crowd of 68,346 people, and became the first nation to win the World Cup . </P> <P> Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain, Hungary and Uruguay all lodged applications to host the event . Uruguay's bid became the clear selection after all the other countries withdrew their bids . </P>

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