Countries & Languages

Thirteen countries participated in the first World Cup in 1930. Seven were from South America: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Peru & Uruguay. Mexico & the USA represented Central & North America.

Four countries came from Europe: Belgium, Romania, Yugoslavia and France.

One country, Egypt, entered the competition but missed the boat. Arabic is the official language of Egypt but many of the players also spoke French.

Yugoslavia was a federation of countries which then included Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia and Montenegro. The official language was Serbo-Croatian

English language level: A2-B1