Jules Rimet of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (International Federation of Association Football, commonly abbreviated to FIFA) in 1904, and, while the fledgling organisation had plans for a global professional tournament, it instead was involved in running an amateur tournament as part of the 1908 Summer Olympics. The First World War put Rimet's and FIFA's plans on hold. Rimet served in the French Army as an officer and was decorated with a Croix de Guerre. Following the war in 1919, he became President of the French Football Federation, and then President of FIFA on 1 March 1921. He would hold the
Football at the 1928 Summer Olympics Conference: 'Today international football can no longer be held within the confines of the Olympics; and many countries where professionalism is now recognised and organised cannot any longer be represented there by their best players'. The day before the tournament began, on May 26, 1928 (Portugal played Chile; Belgium played Luxembourg in the opening games) the FIFA congress in Amsterdam presided over by Jules Rimet, voted that a new FIFA World Cup tournament be organised in 1930 and be open to all member nations. Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain and Uruguay would all lodge applications to host the event. By