Even though FIFA was
formed as early as 1904, it took them almost three decades to start a true
international competition. The Olympic tournament had been the only
tournament so far with world wide participation, but that was for amateurs
only. However, more and more nations had adopted professionalism and "shamateurism" was creeping into the amateur game. This was
apparent at the Paris Olympics in 1924, when the very
"professional" Uruguay team became the first South American
nation to win the title.
FIFA and the
International Olympic Committee were at loggerheads over who
should control the Olympic soccer tournament. FIFA announced
they were the highest footballing authority and so should run
a tournament claiming to be the biggest soccer event in the
world. With many top nations withdrawing from the Olympics in
1928, among them Denmark and England, FIFA made a
decision.
They accepted the resolution of Henri Delaunay, secretary of
the French FA since 1919 until his death in 1956, that a World
Cup competition would be organized immediately. The acceptance
of his proposal came two years after he had announced to the
footballing authorities: "International football can no longer
be held within the confines of the Olympics and many countries
where professionalism is now recognized and organized cannot
any longer be represented there by their best players." His
resolution was passed by 25 votes to
5.
FIFA duly announced its
plan to run its own competition, open to all affiliated
countries. They did not immediately give name to the
competition, but the world's press were quick to give it their
own title. "World Cup", "World Soccer Championship" and "La
Coupe de Monde" were favourite descriptions. Another was the
"Jules Rimet Cup". Eventually that was how the World Cup
officially became known, thus honouring the man who had done
so much for FIFA in drumming up support amongst member
nations.
By May 1929, FIFA still
had not finalized plans for the first championship, although
they had announced it would take place in 1930. The host
nation had not been selected and as talks dragged on, it was
apparent that finance was to be the biggest problem in running
such a tournament, particularly if it was to be a true world
championship.
Rodolfe Seeldrayers,
the FIFA vice-president, proposed that the country give the
honour of staging the first tournament should make funds
available for (in the following order of priority) transport
and accommodation expenses for referees, FIFA members and the
teams. This was clearly going to be an expensive proposition
for any national FA to undertake, but there were some willing
takers. Holland, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Sweden and Uruguay had
all put their names forward, but Sweden and Holland soon
withdrew and lent their support to Italy's claim. The South
American nations stood by Uruguay, and the rest of the
European candidates soon withdrew of various
reasons.
So it was all left to Uruguay, the only remaining nominee.
At last the dream was about to be realized, the date was set
and the host country selected. It was a case of "Uruguay,
here we come"
