Held at the newly built Estadio Centenario before roughly 68,000 fans, the final capped a tournament featuring just 13 nations, most from South America and a handful from Europe who endured a two-week boat journey to compete. Uruguay's victory, coming after Argentina led at halftime, ignited celebrations across Montevideo and established the World Cup as international sport's premier event.
The choice of ball for the final itself required a coin toss compromise: Argentina and Uruguay disputed which country's ball should be used, so officials agreed to play the first half with an Argentine ball and the second with a Uruguayan one, a detail football historians still delight in retelling.
Argentina led 2-1 at the break, but Uruguay stormed back in the second half, scoring three unanswered goals, with Héctor Castro, who had lost part of his right arm in a childhood accident, netting the decisive final goal. The host nation's triumph was so significant that the Uruguayan government declared a national holiday, and reports describe Buenos Aires's Argentine consulate being stoned by furious fans back home.
The tournament's success, despite European federations largely snubbing it that year, convinced FIFA the World Cup could rival, and eventually surpass, the Olympics as the world's most watched sporting spectacle, a trajectory that proved entirely correct over the following decades.
Key people: Héctor Castro