Mitropapokal (soccer)
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 |
Rankings / Records (1927–1940)
|
|
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 |
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Guy Oliver: "The Guinness Record Of World Soccer", p. 164, London 1992, ISBN 0-85112-954-4
- ↑ 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 )