Uruguay is determined to host the soccer World Cup in 2030. Should the Uruguayan wish come true, the country would add its fields to those of Argentina, Paraguay and Chile, with which it launched the official candidacy last February. On the other side of the Atlantic, Spain, Portugal and Morocco will also struggle to keep the championship organized. “This is Uruguay’s chance,” Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou said recently. FIFA’s decision will be announced in 2024, 100 years after the legendary Uruguayan team led by José Nasazzi, the Mariscal, won their first World Cup at the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris.
With 3.4 million residents and La Celeste fans, Uruguay believes it has enough sporting and historical credentials to host the tournament’s pivotal matches in 2030. The Uruguayan team has been world champions twice, in 1930 and 1950, for a total of 3.4 million residents and fans of La Celeste, four if you count the football victories at the 1924 (Colombes in Paris) and 1928 (Amsterdam) Olympic Games. Uruguay also won the Copa America 15 times, the first time in 1916 and the last time in 2011. A little later, the sky-blue U-20 team were crowned world champions at the 2023 World Cup, with players set to attempt the feat to repeat in 2030 But as if that weren’t enough to get FIFA’s votes, Uruguay can also boast of owning the founding piece of the world’s most popular sport: the Centenario Stadium, where 1930 began with the celebration the first football World Cup it all began.
Declared a World Football Historic Monument by FIFA, the Centenario Stadium was built in Montevideo in just under six months, between February and July 1930. It was then inaugurated and named in homage to the 100th anniversary of Uruguay’s first constitution. “The Centenario Stadium is a landmark in terms of its physical construction, as a symbol and as the setting for the First World Cup. These three aspects make it the starting point for international professional football,” emphasize Mario Romano and Alberto Magnone in the book El Estadio Centenario, templo del fútbol (Planeta, 2019). For the construction, the authors explain, around 1,100 workers worked in three shifts, including night shifts, in a prosperous Uruguay and with progressive social laws, where the eight-hour law had been in force since 1915. Almost without machines, the thousands of workers, mostly immigrants, fleeing a Europe in crisis, erected the four stands and shaped the great ring of reinforced concrete that would be crowned by the 100-metre-high Tower of Honours.
The jubilee work was designed and directed by Uruguayan architect Juan Antonio Scasso. It was originally intended for 120,000 spectators, but due to lack of time this number was reduced to 72,000. Ricardo Lombardo, President of the Centennial Administrative Commission, told EL PAÍS that the total bill for the stadium at the time was around 600,000 Uruguayan pesos and was mostly funded by the state. Today, Lombardo calculates, construction would not fall below $120 million. “It was a very powerful event for this country, which had a population of almost two million and was a republic lost in the immensity of America,” he says. The organization of the first cup was possible because Uruguay surprised the world with their games in 1924 and 1928, Lombardo continues, but also because the country had a prosperous economy, political democracy and an integrated society.
When the country was chosen to host the FIFA World Congress in Barcelona in May 1929, Uruguay not only promised to build the stadium in record time, but also to cover the costs of the delegations attending. According to the authors of the above work, he took care of all first-class tickets, accommodation and the daily allowance. Several European countries including Spain and Italy decided not to take part in the event as they were unhappy with FIFA’s decision. Eventually, 13 teams played in Montevideo: Belgium, France, Romania, Yugoslavia, the United States, Mexico, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay. On July 30, 1930, the Centenario Stadium hosted the first World Cup final between Uruguay and Argentina, a classic of all classics, in which the hosts won 4-2.
Aerial view of Centenario Stadium. Agency Anadolu (Getty Images)
“Football came to Uruguay in the 19th century with the English playing football between the railroad tracks that would be unrecognizable today,” says Lombardo. This English game was a long pass, a cousin of rugby, more individually than collectively. “At the beginning of the 20th century, the game was played differently here, the long pass became short, Scottish style, and that changed football,” he adds. Lombardo remembers, among others, the legendary Uruguayan soccer player José Piendibene, who created the false nine in 1910, “who came from behind and created plays, short passes and scoring opportunities”, and the genius of José Nasazzi, captain of the 1924, 1928 and 1928 championship teams 1930, which introduced the figure of the libero, or defense with no fixed position. “In the 1920s, Uruguayans surprised the world with their innovative way of playing,” he notes. This “art football”, its tactical revolution and positional innovations have forced a change in the rules of the game and laid the foundation for modern football, says Lombardo, citing the renowned Uruguayan coach Ondino Viera.
A century after that feat, Lombardo takes it for granted that the World Cup will return to its origins in 2030. “The essence of football is here and the 100th anniversary is its story,” he says. In this sense, President Luis Lacalle Pou himself recently described the organization of the championship in 2030 as a matter of “national interest”. “Uruguay is the country that is by far more committed and interested in driving this forward,” Lacalle Pou told radio station Sport890. And he added: “It’s the chance. Unless this is done to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first World Cup, it is very difficult to get on another bus [autobús]“.
Looking ahead to 2030, a Centennial transformation project was presented on August 17th at a meeting organized by Búsqueda magazine. If approved, the reforms would include increasing capacity to 80,000 spectators, reducing the size of the pitch and building a new arena while retaining the original architectural design. “It all started here in Uruguay. We feel the responsibility because we have to represent South American football and honor the memory of the people who had the courage and courage to organize the first World Cup,” said Alejandro Domínguez, President of the South American Football Confederation, on the occasion. His duties included seeking an agreement with Spain, Portugal and Morocco for the championship to be held on South American soil. Where it all began in the 1930s.
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