For the first ever world cup there were no qualifying rounds - participation was by invitation only.
Because of recession and the long voyage to Uruguay by ship, lots of european teams declined to take part.
There still seems to be a difference of opinion on a statistical point of footballing interest - While FIFA and a number of other sources give America’s Bertram Patenaude the honour of having scored the first World cup hat trick (17 July, 1930) against Paraguay, others say, it was Guillermo Stabile of Argentina two days later against Mexico.