Jules Rimet still gleaming

France has had big influence on the World Cup not only by hosting it twice and winning it once but also by providing the individuals who dreamed it up.

At a meeting in Paris on 21 May 1904 a publisher called Jules Rimet along with Robert Guerin, a lawyer and journalist, a printer called Henri Delaunay and a Dutch banker by the name of C.A.W. Hirschman met to organise a football world championship and created what we all know and love as FIFA.

Guerin became the first president of FIFA from 1904-06 and at the same time was manager of the French national team, so no conflict of interest there.

FIFA actually took its lead to start with from the English FA’s International Board which was setting the rules of the game but after the First World War the British associations decided they wouldn’t play Germany or its Allies, this is when Jules Rimet, by then French Football Ferderation President became FIFA President and pushed for the first World Cup to take place.

At the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam after Uruguay beat Argentina 2-1 to win the gold medal, Rimet managed to sweet talk the President of Uruguay into hosting the first tournament which they did in 1930, nine years after Rimet took charge of FIFA. The first trophy was named after him.

Jules Rimet and Raul Jude, head of Uruguan FA 1930

Delaunay also had a lot to do with the running of football, being another head of the French Football Federation and the first of UEFA. He’s credited with starting the European Championships and the trophy is still called the Henri Delaunay Cup.