Copa del Rey 1904
| Copa del Rey 1904 | |
|---|---|
| Cup winners | Athletic Bilbao (2nd title) |
| venue | Tiro de Pichón , Madrid |
| Beginning | March 13, 1904 |
| The End | March 30, 1904 |
| Teams | 5 |
| Games | 3 |
| Gates | 15 (ø 5 per game) |
| ← Copa del Rey 1903 | |
The Copa del Rey 1904 was the second edition of the Spanish soccer cup competition. The tournament went down in history because of its extraordinary course. With Athletic Bilbao , the trophy was won by a team that had not played a single game at the tournament.
It was planned that a total of three teams from the strongest Spanish regions should take part in the tournament. In a selection round between Club Español de Madrid and Madrid-Moderno FC (merger of Madrid FC and Moderno FC ), the team from the Madrid region should be determined. The newly established Madrid Football Association sent further invitations to Athletic Bilbao from the Basque Country and Club Español de Fútbol from Catalonia . However, the Catalans refused as they disagreed with the tournament mode. For this reason, two more teams from Madrid, Moncloa FC and Iberia FC , had to be invited and the plans changed accordingly.
The competition started on March 13, 1904 and ended on March 30 with the finals. Club Español de Madrid was the only team that appeared for the final and was then declared the winner by the organizer. The tournament was organized by the Madrid Football Association, whose president was also the president of Club Español de Madrid. The other teams appealed against this decision, so that Athletic Bilbao ultimately won this Spanish Cup. The games all took place in the Tiro de Pichón in Madrid.
1 round
In the first round, Moncloa FC beat Iberia FC 4-0. In the second game of this round, at 5-5 between Club Español de Madrid and Madrid-Moderno FC, no winner could be found. After the end of regular time, the captains of both teams decided not to play extra time. Club Español wanted the game to be repeated the next day, but Madrid-Moderno did not agree, as the tournament rules would not allow the game to be repeated so early. Club Español nevertheless played the replay the next day, Madrid-Moderno did not appear as expected. The President of the Football Association of Madrid (also President of Club Español) then declared Club Español the winner.
| date | Result | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 13 Mar 1904 | Moncloa FC | 4-0 | Iberia FC |
| 19 Mar 1904 | Club Español de Madrid | 5: 5 | Madrid-Moderno FC |
| 20 Mar 1904 | Club Español de Madrid | omitted | Madrid-Moderno FC |
Athletic Bilbao reached the semifinals by bye.
Semifinals
The semi-final between Club Español de Madrid and Moncloa FC was abandoned after a serious injury to Hermúa, a Club Español player, at 1-0. The President of the Madrid Football Association set March 30th as the repeat date. Again only Club Español appeared on this date and was declared the winner.
| date | Result | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 27 Mar 1904 | Club Español de Madrid | 1: 0 (dec.) | Moncloa FC |
| 30th Mar 1904 | Club Español de Madrid | omitted | Moncloa FC |
Athletic Bilbao moved into the final again by bye.
Endgame
| Athletic Bilbao | Club Español de Madrid | ||||||||
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Alejandro Acha - Pedro Larrañaga , J. Irízar - Manuel Ansoleaga , George Cockram , Alfred Mills - Alejandro de la Sota , Gildo , William Dyer , José Arana , Davies
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Club Español line-up unknown | ||||||||
 no goals |
no goals |
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| Athletic Bilbao never started | Club Español initially declared the winner | ||||||||
On the originally planned date, March 26, 1904, neither Athletic Bilbao nor Club Español de Madrid appeared for the final, as the semifinals did not take place until March 27 due to changes in schedule. The President of Club Español and the Madrid Football Association had changed the date of the final due to the difficulties in the previous rounds and put it on 30 March - the date of the non-repeated game in the semifinals. Since Athletic Bilbao obviously couldn't find out too quickly that the semi-final date had become the day of the final, Club Español's opponents did not appear on the newly agreed date for the third time in a row. The capitals were again declared the winners. However, the other Madrid clubs protested against this, as Club Español won all of its games in a highly controversial manner (through decisions at the green table ). They decided to declare Athletic Bilbao the winner, as neither of the two teams had competed on the original date. From a purely logical point of view, however, this would not have been possible, as the original date would have taken place before the semi-finals, when Club Español had not yet been finalized. Thus, Athletic was able to defend its title and became the Spanish cup winner for the second time.
| 1. | Athletic Bilbao |
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