Jules Rimet

Jules Rimet (Theuley, France, October 14, 1873-Suresnes, France, October 15, 1956) was a French lawyer, soccer referee and sports leader, who served as the third president of FIFA, from 1921 to 1954, leading said organization for thirty-three years, thus becoming the longest-lived of the presidents that this entity has had. He was also president of the French Football Federation from 1919 to 1946, as well as a founding member and president of the Red Star Football Club from 1904 to 1910.

Throughout his career, Rimet shaped the current structure of FIFA, creating the Soccer World Cup and defining the ambitious mechanics that such a tournament would implement, which included the rotation of host countries, the creation of a system of playoffs and the periodicity of four years that characterizes it. Likewise, during his administration the FIFA Youth Cup / Blue Stars (1939), the Asian Football Confederation (1954) and UEFA (1954) were created.

Rimet contributed notoriously to the popularization of soccer, by linking the media with FIFA and the tournaments that it and its continental organizations held, a practice that would define the current nature of said entity. Likewise, he defended the equal participation of the teams from the different countries, to the detriment of the traditional resistance of the United Kingdom, which, due to its status as the nation that created football, after the First World War, refused to continue participating in the federation along with its rival nations. It was not until 1946, when the United Kingdom rejoined FIFA, a decision that was celebrated with the Match of the Century dispute between Great Britain and the rest of Europe, on May 10, 1947.

The World Cup was his greatest work, and this was recognized by the leaders of all football associations when, at the 1946 Luxembourg Congress, on the occasion of the celebration of his 25th anniversary as FIFA president, they decided to name him his name to the trophy of this tournament, a name that would remain until 1970.

At 81 years old, Rimet participated in his last ceremonial act: the opening of the 1954 World Cup, in Lausanne, Switzerland. On June 21 of that same year, at the Berne Congress , Jules Rimet ended his term, and he was named FIFA's first honorary president. The following year he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, but the award committee decided to suspend the delivery of the prize in both 1955 and 1956.

Rimet passed away in 1956, at the age of eighty-three. At the time, he had numerous awards to his credit, including the Legion of Honor and the French Croix de Guerre .

Early Years

Educated rigidly at the beginning, he studied law in Paris and, although he liked soccer, he did not practice it, so he dedicated himself more to helping athletes.

Early in his managerial career, which began in March 1897, he met with friends to found the Red Star club, which still exists and which he presided over; then, in 1910, he founded the first French league, from which nine years later he created the French Football Federation (FFF), which he directed from 1919 to 1942.

President of FIFA

Later, he was linked to FIFA as France's representative before it, until in 1921 he was appointed president; there he transferred his experience as a leader and his love for soccer, which prompted him to reorganize FIFA, which at that time was on the verge of dissolving. In this sense, Rimet worked hard to support the international association and promote the practice of soccer as well as the matches between national teams.

Jules Rimet promoted the Olympic soccer tournaments in the 1920s while the international spread of soccer required the presence of this sport in the program of the Summer Olympic Games. Observing the growing interest of several countries in the practice of soccer and its effective massification, Rimet proposed the idea of creating a Soccer World Cup as an international tournament dedicated exclusively to this sport, a project that was his most cherished dream.

Promoting the Soccer World Cup

Despite the discussions between various countries about the organization and financing of this tournament, Rimet managed to establish it in 1928 and thus the first Soccer World Cup was held, in 1930, in Uruguay, a country that had won the Olympic tournaments of soccer of 1924 and 1928 and that champion of the World Cup was proclaimed.

The success of the first Soccer World Cup made Rimet continue with its efforts, getting various national federations to adhere to it. With this push, in 1934 Rimet managed to repeat the world tournament in Italy and then in 1938 it was held in France. World War II interrupted the championship, which was already planned to be held every four years.

After World War II

In 1946, at the FIFA congress in Luxembourg, his name officially called the World Cup until 1970, agreeing that said trophy would be awarded in perpetuity to the first team that won it three times (record achieved by the selection of Brazilian football). After the hiatus forced by the Second World War, Rimet fought for the countries participating in the contest to resume their soccer competitions, convinced that the political differences between nations should not extend to sport, demanding that the Italian and German teams return to the international tournaments, which earned him the rejection of other countries.

With his tenacity, Rimet managed to get the fourth Soccer World Cup to be held in Brazil in 1950, while the countries of Europe did not agree on it. It was in that tournament where Rimet won the satisfaction of England, so that they agreed to participate on an equal footing with other teams in the world. Then in 1954 Rimet was named honorary president of FIFA, after completing his term as president, at the age of 81.

The following year he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize but his candidacy was unsuccessful. Retired from the football leadership, Rimet died in the Swiss city of Bern in 1956.