page_title: Football in Uruguay
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Football in Uruguay / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Managers and technical staff of the Central Uruguay Railway (CUR) at Peñarol station.
context_page_description: Football in Uruguay stands as the most popular sport. The Uruguay national football team has won two FIFA World Cup titles in addition to a record 15 Copa América titles, making them one of the most successful teams in South America. The national team won the first edition of the tournament in 1930, and won it again in 1950.
  Also, the Uruguayan national football team won the football Olympic Games twice, in 1924 and 1928 as well as the Copa de Oro de Campeones Mundiales in 1980–1981.
context_section_description: The sport was first introduced by British immigrants and expatriates in the 19th century. Some references say that the game had been introduced in 1880, at the English High School by Henry Castle Ayre, born in Bedminster in March 1852.
  The first recorded football match in Uruguay was played in 1881 between Montevideo Rowing Club (established in 1874) and Montevideo Cricket Club (1861), while Albion F.C. –established in Montevideo in 1891– was the first football club in the country.
  British football clubs tours over South America contributed to the spread and development of football in Uruguay during the first years of the 20th century. The first club to tour was Southampton in 1904, followed by several teams (mainly from England although some Scotland clubs also visited South America) until 1929 with Chelsea being the last team to tour.
  British teams were considered the best in the world by then, and some of them served as inspiration to establish football clubs in Uruguay and Argentina, helped by the immigration of British citizens that had arrived to worked for British companies (mostly in railway construction). CURCC and Albion are some examples of clubs established by British immigrants to South America.
  Uruguay is a country with a population that does not exceed more than three and a half million, and features a large concentration of professional football teams in the city of Montevideo. The two biggest club teams in the country's Primera División are Peñarol, which was established in 1891, and Nacional, founded in 1899.
caption: Managers and technical staff of the Central Uruguay Railway (CUR) at Peñarol station. Railway workers spread the practice of football in Uruguay
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