1930 – 1939
The decade football became a world sport
The first World Cup was staged in Uruguay in 1930, thirteen teams crossed the Atlantic by ship, and within nine years the tournament had a two-time champion. At club level Herbert Chapman’s WM formation at Arsenal changed how every coach drew a team sheet.
Four defining moments
- 1930Uruguay beat Argentina 4–2 in Montevideo to win the first World Cup.
- 1933Arsenal adopt the WM shape; Chapman’s idea spreads across England.
- 1934Italy win the World Cup at home under Vittorio Pozzo.
- 1938Italy retain the trophy in France — the last World Cup before the war.
Why this decade matters
Two things from this decade still shape the modern game: the World Cup as the sport’s global stage, and the tactical idea that a formation is a system of zones, not just positions. Everything after 1945 builds on those two inventions.