PreviousDays✦THE WIKI
← All historyTHE ARCHIVE · 3 STORIES

1900–1945

A world transformed, for better and worse.

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MOMENTS FROM THIS ERA

Meet the moments.

3 illustrated stories · growing daily
An imagined 1930 football scene with a stitched leather ball, leather boots and wooden stands.Sport

The first FIFA World Cup begins: July 13, 1930

The inaugural men’s FIFA World Cup began in Montevideo, Uruguay, on July 13, 1930. Its opening day featured two matches: France defeated Mexico 4–1, while the United States beat Belgium 3–0. France’s Lucien Laurent scored the competition’s first goal.

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A swimmer in a period cap and goggles crosses choppy water with a support boat behind her.Sport

Gertrude Ederle swims the English Channel and breaks the record

Gertrude Ederle completed her English Channel crossing on 6 August 1926. Becoming the first woman to finish was only part of the achievement: her time also surpassed those of all five men who had previously succeeded.

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Uruguayan footballers in sky-blue shirts walk together beside the pitch as spectators applaud from period stands.Sport

Uruguay’s 1924 Olympic football victory and the vuelta olímpica

Uruguay defeated Switzerland in the Olympic football final at Colombes on 9 June 1924. The players then acknowledged the spectators with a walk around the stadium, remembered in Uruguay as the founding moment of football’s vuelta olímpica.

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