Jules Rimet (1873-1956) was a pioneering football administrator and a key figure in the creation of the men’s World Cup. Born in Theuley in eastern France, Rimet moved with his family to Paris at the age of 11. He trained as a lawyer but retained an interest in sport and was instrumental in founding the Red Star club in 1897.
After serving as an officer in the First World War, for which he was awarded the Croix de Guerre, Rimet became, in 1919, President of the French Football Federation. Two years later, he assumed the role of President of FIFA, the world governing body. He also served as Vice-President of the French Olympic Committee.
One of Rimet’s chief aims as FIFA President was to deliver on the association’s long-held plans for a world competition among member nations. The successful organisation of the 1924 and 1928 Olympic football tournaments showed how it could be done. But disputes over the question of amateurism dogged the relationship between FIFA and the International Olympic Committee.
Fellow Frenchman Henri Delaunay and Austrian coach and administrator Hugo Meisl laid the groundwork for the proposed competition, but it was Rimet’s endorsement that proved crucial. At FIFA’s 1928 Congress in Amsterdam, the plans for a World Cup to include professional players were sanctioned and, two years later, Uruguay hosted the first edition.
By the time the Uruguayans won the solid silver and gold-plated trophy for the second time, in Brazil in 1950, the trophy bore Rimet’s name, reflecting the work he had done both to create the World Cup and guide FIFA over nearly 30 years. During his stewardship (he retired in 1954), FIFA’s membership had grown from 20 to 85 countries and it had staged five World Cups.
A committed Christian, Rimet was an advocate of sport’s potential to bring people and nations together. He considered the ‘world unity of football’ FIFA’s main goal and, as such, was resistant to attempts to decentralise the FIFA ‘family’ by creating continental confederations, like UEFA.
Rimet died in Suresnes, France, in 1956, two days after his 83rd birthday. Posthumously awarded the FIFA Order of Merit in 2004, he is widely celebrated as a pioneer of international football and the World Cup.