Football is the most popular sport in Uruguay. The Uruguay national football team has won two FIFA World Cup titles. The team won the first edition of the tournament in 1930 and won again in 1950.
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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.[1] Henry Castle Ayre was born in Bedminster in March 1852[2] The first Uruguayan club team, Albion FC, was established at Montevideo by an English teacher at the William Leslie Poole School in 1882.[3] Uruguay is a country with a population that currently does not exceed more than 4 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 Nacional, founded in 1899, and Peñarol, which was established in 1891.
The Uruguayan national team have won a number of international tournaments. In the Copa América they are the most successful team, having won 15 titles. Uruguay won the first FIFA World Cup in 1930, defeating fierce rivals Argentina in the final. In 1950 they won their second World Cup, defeating Brazil in the Maracanã in the final game.
Between 1970 and 2010 they failed to reach the semi-finals of the FIFA World Cup,[4] until the 2010 FIFA World Cup, when they finished fourth.
Club football in Uruguay is dominated by the two big Montevideo clubs, Peñarol and Nacional. Penarol have won the Uruguayan Primera División 46 times and Nacional 43 times since it began in 1900. These clubs have also been successful in South American competition, with Nacional having won the Copa Libertadores three times and Peñarol five times, the last one reaching the final as recently as 2011.
Most other clubs in top division are also from Montevideo, in the 2010-11 season, only one club, Tacuarembó came from outside the capital.
Many Uruguayan footballers have been successful in European football, including current players Luis Suárez, Edinson Cavani and Diego Forlán, who has had a successful career at Manchester United and in Spain with Atlético Madrid, where he won both the European Golden Shoe and Pichichi Trophy twice.
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