Football in Uruguay

Football is the most popular sport in Uruguay. The Uruguay national football team has won two FIFA World Cup titles and reached three additional semifinals. The national team won the first edition of the tournament in 1930, and won it again in 1950.

Also, the Uruguayan national football team won the football olympics games twice, in 1924 and 1928, the Copa América in 15 times and the Copa de Oro de Campeones Mundiales in 1980-1981.

The sport was first introduced by British immigrants and expatriates in the 19th century. Some references say that the game had been introduced in 1880, at the English High School by Henry Castle Ayre. Henry Castle Ayre was born in Bedminster in March 1852. The first Uruguayan club team (Albion FC) was established at Montevideo, by an English teacher at the William Leslie Poole School in 1882.

Uruguay is a country with a population that currently (2016) does not exceed more than three and a half million, and features a large concentration of professional football teams in the city of Montevideo. The two biggest club teams in the country's Primera División are Peñarol, which was established in 1891 (as Central Uruguay Railway Cricket Club -CURCC-, until 1913, when changed to the present name), and Nacional, founded in 1899.

The Uruguay national team have won more international tournaments than any other country. In the Copa América, they are the most successful team, having won 15 titles. Uruguay won the first FIFA World Cup in 1930, defeating fierce rivals Argentina in the final. In 1950, they won their second World Cup, defeating Brazil in the Maracanã in the final. They have also won two Olympic gold medals in 1924 and 1928. Finally, they also won the 1980 Mundialito, a competition in Montevideo for all of the countries that had ever won the World Cup.