Thomas Balvay Thomas Balvay Thomas Balvay (2 February 1888 – 15 July 1945) was a football referee in the 1920s and 1930s and one of four European referees who participated in the first FIFA World Cup in 1930 in Uruguay. He was the only match official from France at the tournament. He had been an international referee since 1922 and twice refereed the Coupe de France (in 1926 and 1928). He travelled to Uruguay on the SS "Conte Verde", which also took Jules Rimet and the French, Belgian, Romanian and Brazilian teams to the first World Cup; picking up the teams en
Football in Brazil won its third World Cup in 1970, they were awarded the Jules Rimet Trophy permanently. But 365 days before World Cup 2014 began, Brazil's FIFA World Rank dropped to 22nd, an all-time-low position. Brazil has also won an Olympic Gold Medal, at the 2016 Summer Olympics held in Rio de Janeiro. Pelé, statistically the most successful footballer ever, led Brazil to three of those championships. All of the leading players in the national teams are prominent in the football world, including Garrincha, Cafu, Roberto Carlos, Romário, Rivaldo, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Kaká and Neymar in the men's game, and Marta in the