Which European country was the first to win the World Cup?

The first edition of the World Cup, in 1930, had been won by Uruguay, a South American team beating another South American team in front of a South American crowd. When the tournament returned four years later, in 1934, it moved across the Atlantic to Europe for the first time. The chosen host was Italy. The change of continent set the stage for football's first European world champion.

The 1934 World Cup was the first tournament with a proper qualifying competition, and the first to be played in Europe. Italy used the occasion to put on a major event, with matches spread across several cities. Football in Italy was already a serious national passion, and the home crowds gave the Italian team a powerful boost on the way through the knockout rounds. The format ran straight as a single-elimination bracket — no group stage — so any defeat was the end of the road.

The 1934 final was played in Rome between Italy and Czechoslovakia. Czechoslovakia took the lead late in the second half, only for Italy to equalise with a few minutes left in normal time. The game went into extra time, and Italy scored again to win 2–1. With that goal Italy lifted the trophy and became the first European country ever to be crowned world champions.

What is sometimes forgotten is what happened next. Italy did not simply win and disappear. Four years later, at the 1938 World Cup in France, they won the tournament again, defeating Hungary in the final. That made Italy the first nation to win two World Cups, and the first to win two in a row. After that, the Second World War interrupted the competition for twelve years, but Italy's early dominance was already a part of the record book.

This article was written using information from Wikipedia.