Stars over the crest of national teams in Soccer means World Cup’s won, that is why Brazil have 5, Germany 4, Italy 4, and Spain 1. But there is one national team that breaks the mold and presents 4 stars over their crest and that is Uruguay.
When it comes to the FIFA World Cup, Uruguay won two championships, the very first World Cup in 1930 and the 1950 World Cup where Uruguay defeated Brazil 2-1 in the historic Maracanazo. Uruguay would not lose a World Cup match until the 1954 World Cup.
But by that count Uruguay has only 2 World Cup’s, which are officially listed, where do the other 2 stars come from? Find out why Uruguay has 4 stars on their crest.
Uruguay has officially 4 World titles
Yes, Uruguay won 2 World Cups in 1930 and 1950, but they have two extra World titles and those took place in 1924 and 1928 in the summer Olympics of those years respectively. The reality is that in the 1924 and 1928 editions of the summer Olympics professional players of any age were allowed to play for their countries. After the 1928 Olympic games, the Summer Olympic soccer tournament was reserved for players below the age of 23.
FIFA recognized those two tournaments as world champion competitions, before the creation of its own World Cup and therefore recognizes said champions as World Champions of their time. So, while Uruguay has 2 FIFA World Cup titles, they have a total of 4 World titles recognized by FIFA.
Recently a member of FIFA tried to have the Uruguayan soccer federation remove 2 of the stars but the federation presented the proper documentation that confirms their World title status and Uruguay has been allowed to keep their 4-star crest.