The FIFA World Cup is the most important football competition in the world. It has been held 20 times so far. The first world football event was held in 1930 in Uruguay, which then took the world title.
The Egyptian team was the first African and Arab team to participate in the World Cup.
For many years, the Summer Olympic Games also included the world football championship, the world’s premier football event. Beginning in 1930, the football competition split from the Olympics and every four years, the World Cup was held in the sport.
Uruguay was the first country to organise this world championship. However, the first world championship was not as exciting at the time as only 13 teams participated, including seven teams from South America. The best European teams, including the German national football team, did not participate in the first world championship for football, for material, logistical, and political reasons.
The first world football championship was held in South America in the absence of a large number of the most prominent international teams, specifically European ones.
Uruguay won that first world championshionship after winning the final against Argentina with four goals.
Italy shone in world, Egypt first Arab team in World Cup
The second World Cup was held in 1934 on the European continent, in Italy.
Sixteen teams took part, three teams more than the championship in Uruguay. The Egyptian national football team was one of the teams participating in that World Cup, making it the first African and Arab team to reach the World Cup.
Also in that tournament was the title for the host country. In the final, Italy managed to win the second World Cup after beating the Czech Republic 2-1, with the winning goal coming in extra time of the game.
The Czech team had eliminated Germany from the semi-finals of the tournament after winning 3-1.
However, the German team succeeded in winning third place after a difficult victory over Austria, 3-2.
At the third World Cup, hosted in France in 1938, Italy managed to defend its world title to remain the world record holder.
World War II prevented the World Cup from being held for 12 years before Brazil hosted the fourth World Cup in 1950.
The tournament was held without the participation of Germany, which was then excluded from FIFA’s membership due to the events of World War II.
The fourth World Cup title was retaken by the Uruguay team, which made them equal with Italy in the number of international football titles.
