Here are five names to have at your fingertips about the inaugural World Cup won by Uruguay.
- Trivia (true or false?): A U.S. national team player scored the first ever World Cup hat trick.
Estadio Centenario. Uruguay, with a population of just 2 million, was named host of the first World Cup because it won the previous two Olympic soccer tournaments and it offered to pay travel costs of all entrants. It also used the tournament to celebrate its 100th anniversary of independence, and commemorated it by building the Centenary Stadium. Uruguay still made a modest profit on the event.
King Carol. Complaining of the three-week ship journey or angered that they weren’t named host, key European nations refused to enter the tournament. Romania’s team went on orders of King Carol, who also picked the squad.
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