Mitropapokal (soccer)

Central European Cup - Mitropa Cup

The Mitropa , even Mitropacup (official name: La Coupe de l'Europe Centrale ), was the football the first major international competition in the world for club teams and in the period before the Second World War the most important trophy in the continental club football. He is seen as the predecessor of the European Cup or the Champions League . The name Mitropa is derived from the word with teleu ropa and the sponsorship by the MITROPA off in the railroad cars the teams to away games were on the road regularly.

History of the Mitropa Cup 1927 to 1940

Prehistory and foundation

As the first “cross-border” competition for football clubs, the Challenge Cup was created in 1897 by John Gramlick senior, a co-founder of the Vienna Cricket and Football Club . All Austrian-Hungarian clubs that otherwise did not meet in championship competitions could take part in this cup competition . The Challenge Cup was held until 1911 and is now regarded as the forerunner of the Mitropacup.

The idea of ​​a Europe-wide cup competition came up after the First World War . The center of this idea were the Central European countries, which were then leaders in football. At the beginning of the 1920s they were the first nations in continental Europe to introduce professional leagues. It began with Austria in 1924, followed by Hungary in 1925 and Czechoslovakia in 1926. To the supremacy of these countries to strengthen in European football and to grasp the professional associations in economic terms under the arms, on 17 July 1927 at the Italian was Venice , the introduction of the Mitropacups decided. The initiative came from the Austrian association captain Hugo Meisl . In addition, it was agreed to host a European Cup for national teams (European Championship), with a championship system that should be played over several years.

Beginning and flowering period

Already in the first season of the Mitropa Cup there was a great response from both the clubs and the fans. The first event started on August 14, 1927 with the best teams (mostly champions and runner-ups or cup winners) from Austria, Hungary, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. Since then, the number of participating countries and clubs has increased steadily. In 1929, the best teams in Italy took part for the first time and played in a professional league from the following season. In 1936, 20 different clubs took part, including four Swiss teams for the first time . A year later, the Romanian teams joined them.

The Mitropacup was dominated above all by the Austrian, Hungarian, Czechoslovak and Italian teams, who won all the finals. The number of spectators was sometimes around 100,000 fans, the duels were mainly characterized by their toughness. The writer Friedrich Torberg wrote about it: "What is a real Mitropacup match has to be played to the end at the embassy" . In addition to the international matches, the matches were a highlight of the football season and were often seen as an international match. They lived from the clash of football stars of the time such as Matthias Sindelar and Giuseppe Meazza (1933 final).

World War II and the end

With the rise of National Socialism came the end of the Mitropacup. After Austria was annexed by the German Reich in 1938, the competition lost its first founding country. In 1939 only eight teams played for the cup; In 1940 the competition had to be canceled after the outbreak of World War II, whereby the remaining final games could no longer be played. Games were still played between teams from the East Markets, clubs from the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and from Germany-friendly Hungary, but without a comparable response.

Finals (1927–1940)

year	Final pairing (winner in bold)
		Results
1927	Sparta Prague	6: 2/1: 2	SK Rapid Vienna
1928	Ferencváros Budapest	7: 1/3: 5	SK Rapid Vienna
1929	Újpesti FC	5: 1/2: 2	Slavia Prague
1930	Sparta Prague	0: 2/3: 2	SK Rapid Vienna
1931	Vienna AC	2: 3/1: 2	First Vienna FC
1932	AGC Bologna	2: 0/0: 1 *	First Vienna FC
1933	AS Ambrosiana-Inter Milan	2: 1/1: 3	FK Austria Vienna
1934	SK Admira Vienna	3: 2/1: 5	AGC Bologna
1935	Ferencváros Budapest	2: 1/0: 3	Sparta Prague
1936	FK Austria Vienna	0: 0/1: 0	Sparta Prague
1937	Ferencváros Budapest	4: 2/5: 4	Lazio Rome
1938	Slavia Prague	2: 2/2: 0	Ferencváros Budapest
1939	Ferencváros Budapest	1: 4/2: 2	Újpesti FC
1940	Ferencváros Budapest	not carried out	FC Rapid Bucharest

^* Bologna won the Mitropapokal without a fight after winning the semi-final against First Vienna, as the teams in the second semi-final were disqualified.

Rankings / Records (1927–1940)

by clubs rank club Victories Year (s) 1 Ferencváros Budapest 2 1928 , 1937 Sparta Prague 2 1927 , 1935 Újpesti FC 2 1929 , 1939 FK Austria Vienna 2 1933 , 1936 AGC Bologna 2 1932 , 1934 6th SK Rapid Vienna 1 1930 Slavia Prague 1 1938 First Vienna FC 1 1931

by country rank country Victories 1  Austria 4th  Hungary 4th 3  Czechoslovakia 3 4th  Italy 2

Record player rank player club Games 1 Jaroslav Burgr Sparta Prague 50 2 Josef Čtyřoký Sparta Prague 45 3 Josef Košťálek Sparta Prague 44 Gyula Lazar Ferencváros Budapest 44 5 György Sárosi Ferencváros Budapest 43 6th Oldřich Nejedlý Sparta Prague 42 Jósef Háda Ferencváros Budapest 42 Géza Toldi Ferencváros Budapest 42 9 Raymond Braine Sparta Prague 40 Gyula Polgár Ferencváros Budapest 40 11 Lajos Koranyi Ferencváros Budapest 36 12 Erich Srbek Sparta Prague 35 Jaroslav Bouček Sparta Prague 35 14th Giovanni Ferrari Juventus Turin (24) AS Ambrosiana-Inter Milan (10) 34 Mihai dancers Ferencváros Budapest 34 16 František Plánička Slavia Prague 33 Gyula Kiss Ferencváros Budapest 33 18th Josef Smistik SK Rapid Vienna 32 Mario Varglien Juventus Turin 32 20th Matthias Sindelar FK Austria Vienna 31 21st Leopold Hofmann First Vienna FC 30th

Record goal scorers rank player club Gates 1 György Sárosi Ferencváros Budapest 49 2 Giuseppe Meazza AS Ambrosiana-Inter Milan 29 Géza Toldi Ferencváros Budapest 29 4th Gyula Zsengellér Újpesti FC 24 Matthias Sindelar FK Austria Vienna 24 6th Oldřich Nejedlý Sparta Prague 21st 7th Raymond Braine Sparta Prague 19th / Stefan Auer Újpesti FC Rapid Bucharest 19th 9 Franz Weselik SK Rapid Vienna 16 10 Josef Bican SK Rapid Vienna WSC Admira Vienna Slavia Prague 15th Ferdinand Wesely SK Rapid Vienna 15th

Top scorer

season	player	club	Gates
1927	Josef Silný	Sparta Prague	5
1928	József Takács	Ferencváros Budapest	10
1929	Stefan Auer	Újpest Budapest	10
1930	Giuseppe Meazza	AS Ambrosiana-Inter Milan	7th
1931	Heinrich Hiltl	Vienna AC	7th
1932	Renato Cesarini	Juventus Turin	5
1933	Raimundo Orsi	Juventus Turin	5
	František Kloz	Sparta Prague	5
	Giuseppe Meazza	AS Ambrosiana-Inter Milan	5
	Matthias Sindelar	FK Austria Vienna	5
1934	Carlo Reguzzoni	AGC Bologna	10
1935	György Sárosi	Ferencváros Budapest	9
1936	Giuseppe Meazza	AS Ambrosiana-Inter Milan	10
1937	György Sárosi	Ferencváros Budapest	12
1938	/ Josef Bican	Slavia Prague	10
1939	Gyula Zsengellér	Újpest Budapest	9
1940	György Sárosi	Ferencváros Budapest	5
Record mark

Centropapokal 1951

After the end of the Second World War, efforts were made, especially by the Italian and Austrian sides, to revive the Mitropacup. The competition saw its first new edition in 1951 under the title "Zentropacup". Unlike the European Cup for national soccer teams , which was reintroduced in 1948, the Mitropacup was not held regularly until 1955.

season	venue	winner		finalist	Bottom line
1951	Vienna	SK Rapid Vienna	-	SC Wacker Vienna	3: 2

The new Mitropacup and its end (1955 to 1992)

In 1954, UEFA was founded . As part of their first congress in Vienna from March 2-3, 1955, it was decided to reintroduce the Mitropacup. It was agreed that the champions and cup winners of Austria, Italy, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia would take part in this competition, although several countries, especially Romania, asked to be allowed to participate. On May 7, 1955, this new edition of the competition was recognized by FIFA and UEFA was asked to host it. In the same year, however, the European Champions Cup was introduced , which suddenly devalued the competition. Nevertheless, the Mitropacup was still very popular in the participating countries at the beginning; the 1956 final saw 110,000 spectators in the playoff in Budapest.

The enthusiasm only lasted for a short time and the organizers kept innovating. In some cases, the results of the teams were added to a country rating or the competitions were held in a table mode. In the Mitropacup, however, soon only middle-class teams took part, who had no chance of a European Cup starting place. In particular, Italian teams, which have not yet won a title themselves, invited to the Mitropacup tournament at the end of the tournament in order to easily upgrade their non-existent collection of titles. In 1989 only three teams took part. At the last event in 1992 there were four teams at the start. After the hosts US Foggia had already been eliminated in their first game, the final took place in front of just under 900 spectators.

1955 Budapesti Vörös Lobogó 1956 Vasas Budapest 1957 Vasas Budapest 1958 Red Star Belgrade 1 1959 Honvéd Budapest 1960 Hungary 2 1961 FC Bologna 1962 Vasas Budapest 1963 MTK Budapest 1964 Sparta Prague 1965 Vasas Budapest 1966 AC Florence 1967 Spartak Trnava

1968 Red Star Belgrade 1969 FK Inter Bratislava 1970 Vasas Budapest 1971 Čelik Zenica 1972 Čelik Zenica 1973 Bányász Tatabánya 1974 Bányász Tatabánya 1975 Wacker Innsbruck 1976 Wacker Innsbruck 1977 Vojvodina Novi Sad 1978 FK Partizan Belgrade 1979 no competition 1980 Udinese Calcio

1981 TJ Tatran Prešov 1982 AC Milan 1983 Vasas Budapest 1984 SC Eisenstadt 1985 NK Iskra Bugojno 1986 SC Pisa 1987 Ascoli Calcio 1988 SC Pisa 1989 Baník Ostrava 1990 AS Bari 1991 AC Turin 1992 Borac Banja Luka

¹ In 1958 the Mitropacup was held as the Danube Cup, with teams from Romania and Bulgaria also taking part.

² In 1960, the results of the individual teams were added up to a country ranking and no club of their own was chosen as the winner.

See also

• Coupe des Nations 1930

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Guy Oliver: "The Guinness Record Of World Soccer", p. 164, London 1992, ISBN 0-85112-954-4
2. ↑ Hugo Meisl invented the Mitropacup in Josef Huber: "75 years WFV"

Web links

• Information on the Mitropapokal and biography of Hugo Meisl at iffhs.de
• Article about Mitropacup in the Wiener Zeitung (2000) ( Memento from September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive )