Who won the first-ever FIFA World Cup in 1930?

The first-ever FIFA World Cup, held in 1930, was won by hosts Uruguay as they defeated Argentina 4-2 in the final at the Estadio Centenario in Montevideo, Uruguay. It was an end-to-end affair as La Celeste overturned a 2-1 half-time deficit to lift the trophy.

Uruguay initially took the lead in the final after 12 minutes when Pablo Dorado scored, only for Argentinian winger Carlos Peucelle to equalize just 8 minutes later. With 37 minutes on the clock, Argentina went 2-1 up after tournament top scorer Guillermo Stabile scored his eighth goal of the tournament as La Albiceleste went into the break with a lead.

In the second half, Uruguay took complete control of the game, with a Pedro Cea equalizer in the 57th minute followed by goals from Santos Iriarte in the 68th minute and Hector Castro in the 89th minute to put the game to bed.

Some interesting facts about the 1930 World Cup Final

Uruguay prevailed over Argentina in an entertaining 4-2 game.

The game was interesting for many reasons. The first being that it was a rematch of the 1928 Summer Olympics gold medal match, which was also won by Uruguay. Second, FIFA had to intervene after there was a disagreement over which ball was to be used for the game. A compromise was reached, with Argentina's ball used in the first half and Uruguay's for the second half (coincidentally corresponding with the halves that each team dominated).

It is also interesting to note that Uruguay's manager, Alberto Suppici, was just 31 years old at the time. He still holds the record for the youngest manager to win a FIFA World Cup.

Uruguay remain one of only three teams to win all their games in a World Cup along with Italy in 1938 and Brazil in 1970 and 2002. The win was celebrated with much fanfare in the country, with the government declaring a national holiday the following day. The Uruguayans have since gone on to lift the Jules Rimet trophy once more in 1950.