Held in July, shortly after the Wall Street Crash, the first finals in 1930 took place entirely in the Uruguayan capital Montevideo. Because of travel difficulties, just 13 nations accepted an invitation to take part. Only four nations from Europe — France, Belgium, Romania and Yugoslavia — said yes, and all except the Yugoslavs boarded the Italian liner Conte Verde at Villefranche-sur-Mer in France for the long voyage across the Atlantic.

The teams trained on the boat during the two-week trip before joining Yugoslavia and the nine other South American teams. The 13 competitors were split into four groups with the winners contesting the semi-finals.

Yugoslavia did the best of the Europeans nations by reaching the last four when they were beaten 6-1 by Uruguay. In the other semis, Argentina overhwhelmed the US by an identical scoreline.

Uruguay beat the Argentines 4-2 in the final after being 2-1 down at half-time.