If the Ljubljana native plays in Uruguay, he will become the first Slovenian to play in the World Cup

The beginning of the twentieth century was not eventful for the national football team. It only saw its competitive peak at the Olympics, which the national teams of England and Uruguay won as a bet. But then something changed. The World Cup story was born shyly and with many birth cramps. About the competition All competitions. The ice broke in Uruguay, the year was 1930. At that time, even the Slovenian could compete in the World Cup, but …

The FIFA World Cup Qatar kicks off on November 20 and runs until December 18. At Sportal, we will remind you every day of all the previous world championships in the coming weeks. There were 21 of them, starting with the first one hosted by Uruguay in 1930. The trip will take us to the last one hosted by Russia in 2018. Welcome!

At a time when the national football team did not have much competition in which countries could compete for the world title, a hero was being sought to move the wheels and draw a new chapter on the football map.

The World Cup was born thanks to the French

FIFA’s third president Jules Rimet (left) was most responsible for the massive takeover, football’s biggest competition.
Photo: Gulliverimage / Getty Images

The world saw it in France. Only a stronger commitment for a French football fanatic Jules RymesFinally, to organize an independent meeting of the best teams in the world in a special tournament, which marked the birth of the popular « Mondial ».

Every start is hard, even finding the first host wasn’t easy. Poor South American Uruguayan tried to combine the challenge of celebrating the young nation’s centenary with a massive sporting event, which the newly founded FIFA gave him total freedom. big stadium centenary It was still ready on time, although construction was still in progress during the week that Buckets’ other large facility opened.

Only four representatives from Europe

In the final, Uruguay beat its neighbors Argentina 4: 2 in an exciting match. Because of the defeat and constant provocations, the two football associations cut off contact for two years after this match.
Photo: Gulliverimage / Getty Images

Unfortunately, England, the home of football, boycotted the first world championship, behaving lightly towards the rest of the national teams, as it was not an honor to play against « inferior » and « amateur » teams.

The primacy was taken over by the local eleven, otherwise in those days there was also a big favorite (the South American and Olympic champion), who competed with 13 mediocre teams (only four of them European, all of whom went on a multi-week cruise on a ship across Oceans, with the exception of England, did not play with Hungary, the Czech Republic, Austria, Sweden, Germany and some other national teams that stood out in European football at the time) after a big turn in the final against them. Argentina’s neighbors won the first historic title. local black star Jose Leandro Andrade He became the first great football champion to stand out in the history of the World Cup.

There have been no qualifiers yet, and only 18 matches have been played in the 18 days of the tournament. In contrast, this year football fans in Qatar will watch 64 matches. Only representatives of three different continental confederations participated, and representatives from Africa, Asia and Oceania were missing.

Highlights of the final match between Uruguay and Argentina:

It was also the only World Cup to be held in one city. Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, has hosted the forefront of world football with its three stadiums.

Slovene applied to appear in WC, but…

The history of the World Cup began in 1930 in Uruguay. Victory remained at home.
Photo: Gulliverimage

After the boycott of the Croatian footballers, the Serbs defended the colors of only Yugoslavia, who eventually won a very strong fourth place. Thus, there was no possibility that Slovenia would make its World Cup debut, as the goalkeeper was previously on the national team squad. Max Mihelčič, who played with great success for FC Zagreb Građanski and was considered the best goalkeeper in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. In 1928, he participated in the Olympic Games.

If the Ljubljana native had played in Uruguay, he would have been the first Slovenian to play in the World Cup, and thus this honorable role took place. Branko Oblakwho wore the Yugoslav jersey at WC 1974 at ZRN and was so good that he was named the best eleven in the competition.

Before the 1930 FIFA World Cup in Uruguay, the clubs of Sarajevo, Split, Subotica and Zagreb did not agree that their players would be absent for a long time during the national championship, so a rebellion ensued. This did not bother Belgrade clubs.

The biggest matches took place at the magnificent Centenario stadium, which was also hosted by the Slovenian national team in 2014 and lost (0:2) in a friendly match against Uruguay.
Photo: Gulliverimage / Getty Images

In the Yugoslav Football Federation, which at that time moved from Zagreb to Belgrade, they decided that only football players from Belgrade clubs travel across the big pond. They were joined by three Serbs, who played in France, and the motion in the chosen line was later captured in the film by the Serbian film Montevideo, Bog TJ Videl.

How did the 1930 World Cup go in Uruguay?

And Serbian footballers, who defended the colors of Yugoslavia, beat Brazil 2: 1 in the opening match. Interestingly, with the five-time world champions being the only ones to feature in all the world championships, Serbia, as an independent country, will compete again this year in Qatar.