On 13th July 1930, two years after the decision to hold a new tournament had been made, football gave birth to the World Cup.
Hosts triumph in first World Cup tournament
FIFA president Jules Rimet's dream was realised as it was arranged that 13 teams would lock horns to compete for the prize of being crowned world champions.
The host nation, Uruguay, were the eventual winners, triumphing 4-2 over Argentina - but that only tells a single percentage of what is an intriguing tale.
Five nations had applied for the honour of staging the first World Cup, with Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands and Spain all lodging bids.
But Uruguay were chosen by FIFA to stage the competition in the year of the country's centenary celebration of its independence.
Finding participants proved difficult. The lengthy journey to South America threatened to leave the competition decidedly threadbare.
Eventually, 13 nations agreed to take part, but only four of these were European. Furthermore, no African or Asian team travelled, slightly tarnishing the claim that it was a 'world' tournament.
Nonetheless, the prime number of sides readied themselves for the first World Cup, which was the only finals not to involve qualification.
Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil and the USA were seeded, and were apart in the draw that took place in Montevideo.
France, who made a three-week trip across the Atlantic, were drawn in Group 1, the only one to contain four sides, alongside Chile, Mexico and Argentina.
Les Bleus got off to a winning start and boast the honour of scoring the first goal in World Cup history as Lucien Laurent struck in an opening 4-1 victory over Mexico.
France then met group favourites Argentina. Luis Monti netted for the latter before the referee blew for full-time with six minutes still left to play. The match was eventually resumed, but France could not hit back.
Chile began their campaign with a win over Mexico before defeating France three days later. Argentina, meanwhile, impressed, winning their remaining two outings and scoring nine goals in the process to book their place in the semi-finals.
On the same day as France's first match, the USA were comfortable 3-0 victors against Belgium in Group 4, which also consisted of Paraguay.
Dominate
The USA went on to dominate their group, disposing of Paraguay in a game that saw Bert Patenaude net the first ever World Cup hat-trick. Paraguay went on to beat Belgium in a game that was largely meaningless.
In the other groups' first matches, Yugoslavia surprisingly edged out Brazil in Group 2 while Romania downed Peru 3-1, who had Placido Galindo sent off, in Group 3.
Yugoslavia then made very light work of Bolivia with a 4-0 win to claim top spot, before Brazil also defeated the latter by the same scoreline.
Hosts Uruguay finished at the summit of Group 3 on four points after seeing off Peru and Romania.
The four group winners - Argentina, Yugoslavia, Uruguay, and the USA - moved to the semi-finals, with both fixtures ending in the same emphatic 6-1 scoreline.
Argentina ran riot versus the USA, while Uruguay came from a goal down, with Pedro Cea bagging three, against Yugoslavia to book their place in the showpiece at the Centenario Stadium, in what would be a repeat of the 1928 Olympics final, which Uruguay won.
On 30th July, the first World Cup final was held. With two South American nations involved, one of which was the host nation, supporters eagerly anticipated the clash, with the atmosphere nearing fever pitch and leaning towards hostility.
Prior to kick-off, there was a disagreement over which match ball would be used, forcing FIFA to intervene and decree that the Argentine team would provide the ball for the first half and the Uruguayans would provide their own for the second.
Uruguay scored the opening goal through Pablo Dorado but Carlos Peucelle restored parity and then Guillermo Stabile handed Argentina a 2-1 lead.
The second half, now being played with Uruguay's match ball, saw Pedro Cea net an equaliser before Santos Iriarte and Hector Castro sealed the home nation's glory.
Jules Rimet presented the 35-cm gold trophy, designed by French sculptor Abel Lafleur, to Uruguay captain Jose Nasazzi. The following day (31st July 1930) was dubbed a national holiday for the victors.
Player of the tournament: Jose Nasazzi
Nasazzi captained Uruguay to their success. The right-back's leadership skills were highly regarded and it is suggested his vocal effort at half-time in the final versus Argentina helped his team-mates complete their dramatic 4-2 turnaround.
Game of the tournament
The final will forever be remembered for its action-packed 90 minutes. Played amongst a cauldron of noise made by 80,000 fans at the Centenario Stadium, the first dispute came even before kick-off via the aforementioned disagreement over the match ball. When play got under way, Argentina battled for a 2-1 advantage before the half-time whistle, but they were left stunned by a gutsy turnaround from Uruguay in the second half, cuing incredible scenes from the home support.
Home nations
None of the home nations participated in the first World Cup. England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales were all ineligible, having withdrawn from FIFA because of a dispute over payments to amateur players. It is, however, claimed the Uruguayan Football Association sent a letter of invitation to the English Football Association, but it was rejected by the FA Committee.