Football history: Jules Rimet, the man behind the World Cup plan

Jules Rimet's brainchild has come a long way in 96 years. Fourteen teams accepted an invitation to take part in the inaugural tournament in 1930. In 2026, more than half of the 48 squads competing have battled through two years of qualifying games.

Issued on: 08/06/2026 - 16:33

3 min Reading time

Before Rimet's plan, the most prestigious international football team prize was handed out at the Olympic Games which was organised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Rimet, a founding member of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (Fifa) in 1904, wanted his organisation to be the big noise in football.

And after taking up the Fifa presidency in 1921, the 54-year-old Frenchman proposed his World Cup concept at the 17th Fifa congress in Amsterdam in May 1928.

Compatriot Henri Delaunay, who was a Fifa vice-president as well as a top executive with Rimet at the French Football Federation, backed Rimet's resolution "to organise a competition which would be open to the representative teams of all of the affiliated national associations."

Unsurprisingly, the associations in the Americas were up for the cup but their European counterparts were reluctant to send their squads on a three-week voyage across the Atlantic Ocean for a two-week tournament before a three-week trip back home.

Two months before the start of the event, no European teams had registered. Rimet, who had trained as a lawyer, had to twist a few arms in France to persuade his home country to boost the credibility of the competition. The Belgian-born Fifa vice-president Rodolphe Seeldrayers eventually wooed his football association to participate.

Egypt miss World Cup boat

Egypt would have made it 14 teams but their ship from Egypt to Europe was held up by a storm in the Mediterranean and they missed their connecting boat to Uruguay from Marseille.

The 1930 tournament started on 13 July with two games. France took on Mexico at the Estadio Pocitos in Montevideo and a few kilometres to the north, Belgium played the United States at Estadio Parque Central.

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Just over two weeks later Uruguay were the champions after beating Argentina 4-2 in the final at the Estadio Centenario in Montevideo.

Nearly 69,000 fans packed into the arena to see the 1924 and 1928 Olympic champions maintain their international supremacy and vindicate Rimet's decision to create the tournament.

Fittingly, he handed the cup – named Victory – over to the Uruguay skipper José Nasazzi.

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Further proof of the World Cup's popularity came in the 1934 event in Italy.

Thirty two of Fifa's 50 then members wanted to take part in the 16-team competition. To reduce the field, Fifa introduced a qualifying competition that included hosts Italy.

They survived the qualifiers and after winning the competition proper, Rimet was on hand to present the trophy the victorious Italy squad.

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And he gave the Italians the trophy again in 1938 after they beat Hungary 4-2 in the final in Colombes just outside Paris.

But 15 months after the showdown, the world was engulfed in war.

Fifa, having relocated in 1932 from Paris to Zurich, Rimet was able to continue the organisation's operations in neutral Switzerland as nations battled for global domination.

Post-war development

The World Cup re-emerged in 1950 with a cup renamed the Jules Rimet trophy in 1946 to honour his 25 years as Fifa president. There was also an incentive: the first nation to win the cup three times would keep it in their trophy cabinet for ever.

In 1950, Rimet handed his namesake cup to Uruguay and he was at the heart of the award ceremony in June 1954 as West Germany won the competition for the first time.

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Just after the final, Rimet, who was approaching his 81st birthday, stepped down as Fifa boss after 33 years in charge of the organisation he had helped to establish in his early thirties.

He died on 16 October 1956 a few days after his 83rd birthday in Suresnes on the western outskirts of Paris.

When two-time champions Italy faced Brazil in the World Cup final in 1970 at the Estadio Azteca in Mexcio City – the venue for the opening game of the 2026 tournament – they were not only playing for the title but also the right to keep the cup.

Brazil, who had triumphed in 1958 and 1962, claimed the Jules Rimet trophy and eternal bragging rights after thumping Italy 4-1.