Jules Rome is one of the most significant personalities in the history of football. It is to this person that the world owes to the fact that in the first half of the century football developed at such an impressive pace and became a leading sport. How did he achieve this? What did Jules Rimet do to name him after the Cup, which is awarded every four years to the team that won the World Cup?
early years
This may seem surprising, but Jules Rome never played football. He was born in 1873 in France and at the age of eleven moved with his family to Paris, where as a result he became a lawyer.
At 24, he had already founded his sports club called Red Star. It was noteworthy for two reasons - firstly, unlike most other sports clubs, there was no sign of discrimination by class in Red Star, that is, both the richest and the poorest people could sign up here, and they calmly went in for sports together. Secondly, much attention was paid here to a young team sport called football, which was far from being so popular in those days.
FIFA Foundation
In 1904, at the age of 31, Jules Rimet became one of the founders of the FIFA International Football Federation, which eventually became the most influential body in this sport. Already then, Rome made plans to hold a full-fledged international professional football tournament, but numerous obstacles arose on the way to the execution of the plans. Therefore, in the end, I had to be content with the fact that in 1908 an amateur football tournament was held as part of the Olympic Games. This was already a good achievement, but Rome dreamed of more.
Dreams, he had to be postponed indefinitely due to the fact that the First World War began. Rome served as an officer throughout the duration of the military conflict and was awarded the Military Cross. And when the war ended, the lawyer and founder of the Red Star Sports Club became president of the French Football Federation.
The most powerful president
In 1919, Rome became president of the French Football Federation, but who could know that this person would not stop there and go even further. And all this is not for their own benefit, but in order for football to finally gain recognition and become a full-fledged professional sport.
That is why in 1921 he became a candidate for the presidency in FIFA, of which he was the founder. As a result, he won the election and became president - and so far the time of his reign remains the longest and most productive in history. The fact is that he was at the helm of the Federation for 33 years. During this time he managed to achieve a lot. First of all, it is worth noting the fact that at the time of taking office, FIFA included only twelve countries. By the time Rome left its post in 1954, FIFA already consisted of 85 countries.
World Championship
However, the expansion of countries and the popularization of football on the European continent and beyond were not the only achievements of the FIFA president. His most important merit is the establishment of a prestigious international tournament, the World Cup.
That is why his cup was once called (and still unofficially bears this name) Trophée Jules Rimet, which translates as “Jules Rimet Cup”. As mentioned earlier, many were hostile to the idea of organizing this tournament, in particular Pierre de Coubertin, who founded the International Olympic Committee.
However, Rome was moving towards its goal and as a result was able to achieve it - in 1930 the first world championship was held in Uruguay. The choice of location was not the best, and most European nations refused to participate. Rome took note of this and the next championship in 1934 was held in Italy, but this time the problem was that the tournament unintentionally turned out to be a symbol of the Italian fascist regime.
As you can see, the history of the World Cup was not simple, but Jules Rimet nevertheless achieved his goal, thanks to which in 1956 he became a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize.
And although the trophy that the winner of the World Cup receives at the end of the tournament has been called the FIFA World Cup since 1970, many unofficially continue to call it the Jules Rimet Prize. But why did the official name change?
The fact is that not only it has changed, but the trophy itself. Rome in 1930 during the first World Cup stipulated the conditions - the team that can win the tournament three times will take this trophy into its eternal possession. And in 1970, the Brazilian national team did this, thereby gaining the Jules Rome Cup, which was replaced by the FIFA World Cup.