Jules Rome - the man who made football popular

Jules Rome is one of the most important personalities in the history of football. It is this man that the world owes to the fact that in the first half of the century football developed at such an impressive pace and became the leading sport. How did he achieve this? What did Jules Rome do to be named 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 eleven years with his family moved to Paris, where, as a result, he learned to be a lawyer.

At the age of 24, he already founded his sports club called Red Star. It was noteworthy for two reasons: first, unlike most other sports clubs, Red Star did not have a trace of discrimination on the class score, that is, the richest as well as the poorest person could register here, and they Quietly engaged in sports together. Secondly, much attention was paid to the young team sport called football, which was far from popular in those days.

Founding of FIFA

In 1904, at the age of 31, Jules Rome became one of the founders of the International Football Federation FIFA, which eventually became the most influential body in this sport. Even then, Rome was building plans for a full-fledged international professional football tournament, but on the way to the execution of plans there were numerous obstacles. Therefore, in the end, we had to be content with the fact that in 1908, within the framework of the Olympic Games, an amateur football tournament was held. This was already a good achievement, but Rome dreamed of more.

He had to postpone his dreams for an indefinite period because 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 was over, the lawyer and founder of the Red Star sports club became president of the French Football Federation.

The most influential president

In 1919, Rome became president of the French Football Federation, but who could know that this man will not stop there and go even further. And all this is not for their own benefit, but for the sake of football finally received recognition and became a full-fledged professional sport.

That is why in 1921 he became a candidate for the presidential post in FIFA, the founder of which was. As a result, he won the elections and became president - and until now 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 entry into office, FIFA included only twelve countries. By the time Rome left office in 1954, FIFA already consisted of 85 countries.

World Championship

However, the expansion of the composition of countries and the promotion of football on the European continent and beyond were not the only achievements of the president of FIFA. His most important service is the establishment of the most 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 "The Cup of the name of Jules Rome". As already 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 went to its goal and as a result was able to achieve it - in 1930, the first World Cup in Uruguay was held. 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 was unintentionally a symbol of the Italian fascist regime.

As you can see, the history of the World Cup was not simple, but Jules Rome still achieved his goal, so in 1956 he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

And although the trophy, which the winner of the World Cup receives at the end of the tournament, is called since 1970 the "FIFA World Cup", many unofficially continue to call it "The Prize of Jules Rome". 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 will be able to win three times in the tournament, will take this trophy to itself in perpetual possession. And in 1970, the Brazilian team did it, thereby obtaining the Jules Rome Cup, which was replaced by the FIFA World Cup.