Uruguay was the host and champion of the first major continental basketball championship, the South American Basketball Championship 1930. The event was held in Montevideo and featured four South American national basketball teams. Teams played each of the other three teams twice each; Uruguay won all six of its games. In 1932, Uruguay lost its first game of the South American Basketball Championship series when it was defeated by Chile in one of the two matches it played against the Chileans in the preliminary round. When each team finished at 3–1 (each having defeated Argentina twice), the two countries played a third match to determine the champion, which Uruguay won.