the first tournament took place in uruguay, in 1930, after much advocating by the fifa president, jules rimet, who supported the idea to host the tournament in uruguay as it was in line with their 100th anniversary of independence - the world cup was a success with thirteen nations taking part - these included nine south american countries and four european countries - for this particular world cup the host nation were the eventual winners. 

the second world cup was hosted across the atlantic ocean, in italy, and once again the host nation prevailed to victory - this time in a closely contested final with czechoslovakia the italians were crowned champions. brazil has always been enthusiastic about the tournament, and was chosen as the host nation in 1950 for the first world cup after world war ii.