Winners Uruguay
Teams 13
Host Uruguay
Teams in qualifiers N/A
Notable absentees Of the major European countries, only France took part
Surprises USA, who finished third
Golden Boot Guillermo Stábile (Argentina) - 8
Stats A total of 70 goals were scored (3.89 per match); Argentina (18) scored the most
Format One group of four and three groups of three in the qualifying stage, with the top from each group going into the semi-finals
Number of matches 18
Innovations
• This was the first World Cup
• Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil and USA were seeded (USA because they had a professional league)
Controversies
• Eight weeks before the start, there were no European entries and the fact that four finally took part was only down to an offer from FIFA president Jules Rimet to underwrite all their costs
• The group match between Argentina and France ended six minutes early because of an error by the referee, with Argentina leading 1-0. After a half-hour delay, the game resumed but there were no more goals
• Peru's captain, Placido Galindo, became the first player to be sent off after a series of fights in the group match against Romania, one of which had to be broken up by the police.
Trivia
• There were two balls used in the final - one picked by Uruguay in the first half, one by Argentina in the second
• Alex Villaplane, France's captain, was executed in 1944 for collaborating with the Germans
• The USA physio knocked himself out when he ran onto the pitch to treat a player, dropped a bottle of chloroform and inhaled the fumes as he bent over to pick it up. He had to be stretchered off
• Uruguay goalkeeper Antonio Mazzali became the first person to be expelled from a team after he was found to have sneaked out of the hotel to visit his family
• The attendance of 300 in the group match between Peru and Romania remains a World Cup low
• The trophy, originally called 'Victory', was designed by French sculptor Abel Lafleur
Source: FIFA, ESPN, AllSports & Getty