Thirteen teams gathered in Uruguay for the first World Cup, a bold experiment born from FIFA president Jules Rimet's ambition for a truly global football championship. France's Lucien Laurent scored the tournament's first goal in a 4–1 win over Mexico, launching a competition that would become the world's most-watched sporting event.
Getting there was half the battle. Several European teams had to endure a two-week transatlantic boat crossing to reach Uruguay, and only four European nations bothered to make the trip at all, leaving the field dominated by teams from the Americas. Uruguay, reigning Olympic champion and celebrating its centennial of independence, built a brand-new stadium, the Estadio Centenario, specifically for the tournament, though it wasn't quite finished in time for the opening matches.
France and Mexico played that first game in Montevideo's smaller Estadio Pocitos, and French midfielder Lucien Laurent scored World Cup history's opening goal in the 19th minute, later describing it modestly as simply being in the right place. France won 4–1.
The tournament had no qualification rounds worth the name—Rimet had personally cajoled nations into attending—and only 13 teams competed in total. Uruguay went on to win the whole thing on home soil a month later, beating Argentina 4–2 in the final in front of a delirious crowd, cementing football's status as a genuine global obsession rather than a European curiosity.