Uruguay won the right to host for good reasons. The little nation was about to celebrate the centenary of its first constitution, and its footballers had just defended their Olympic title at the 1928 Games, making them the unofficial champions of the world. But hosting on the far side of the Atlantic nearly emptied the field. With the Great Depression squeezing budgets and a sea voyage of weeks separating Europe from South America, no European team had even entered by two months before kickoff. FIFA president Jules Rimet had to intervene personally. In the end just four European sides made the journey by ship: France, Belgium, Romania, and Yugoslavia. Romania's squad was hand-picked by the country's newly crowned King Carol II, who personally arranged for the players to keep their jobs while away.

Uruguay built the Estadio Centenario specifically for the tournament and for the centenary of its independence. Designed by architect Juan Scasso with a capacity of 90,000, it was the largest football stadium outside the British Isles. There was just one problem: heavy rains delayed construction, and the stadium was not ready when the World Cup kicked off on July 13. For the first five days, matches were squeezed into two smaller grounds borrowed from Montevideo's club giants, the Pocitos and the Gran Parque Central. The Centenario finally opened on July 18, the constitutional anniversary itself, with Uruguay beating Peru 1–0. From then on it hosted the matches that mattered, including both semi-finals and the final.

Because there were no qualifying rounds, the two opening matches on July 13 were the first World Cup games ever played, kicking off simultaneously. France beat Mexico 4–1 at the Pocitos, and the United States defeated Belgium 3–0 at the Gran Parque Central. In the nineteenth minute of the France match, Lucien Laurent volleyed home the first goal in World Cup history, a moment no one yet understood would be remembered forever. Thirteen teams competed in all, seven of them South American, more than at any World Cup since. The records set that fortnight, the first goal, the first clean sheet, the first hat-trick, became the founding milestones of the sport's greatest competition.

On July 30, hosts and favorites Uruguay met neighbors Argentina in the final, before 68,346 people packed into the new Centenario. Pablo Dorado put Uruguay ahead early, the first goal in any World Cup final, but Argentina struck back to lead 2–1 at the break, the half played with their ball. After the change of ball and ends, Uruguay surged. Pedro Cea equalized, Santos Iriarte gave Uruguay the lead, and Héctor Castro sealed it in the final minute for a 4–2 win. Uruguay became the first nation to lift the World Cup, in the first tournament, on home soil. Francisco Varallo of Argentina, who played that day, would be the last survivor of the whole World Cup, living until 2010 and reaching the age of 100. In 2030, a century on, the Centenario will host the opening match of the World Cup again, where it all began.