Organizing the first World Cup championship was granted to Uruguay to honour its achievements in sports (two Olympic gold medals in football) and a centennial of this country's constitution, falling in 1930. Only 13 national teams declared a will to participate in the tournament (top European teams such as England, Scotland, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, Spain, Germany, Austria, Hungary didn't enter the competition), so there was no qualifiers.

The tournament was organized in two rounds: group games and play-offs. The participating teams were divided into 4 groups by geographical region. 5 teams were seeded: Uruguay (Olympic champion), Argentina (silver medallist), Brazil, USA and Bolivia. During the group games Yugoslavia did very well; so did USA and favourites from Uruguay and Argentina and these 4 teams made the semi-final. Just as expected, the favourite teams crushed their opponents (both games 6:1) and met in the final. For the players from Argentina this was supposed to be a kind of rematch for their loss with Uruguay in the Olympic final of 1928, but once again they were defeated. The first World Cup champion was the team from Uruguay. There was no 3. place game, since it was not in the regulations.

Top players of the tournament: Ferreyra, Monti, Stábile (Argentina), Thépot (France), Andrade, Cea, Nasazzi, Scarone (Uruguay).