Central European International Cup

The European International Cup of Nations was an international football competition held by certain national teams from Central Europe & South Europe between 1927 and 1960.[1] There were competitions for professional and amateur teams. Participating nations were: Italy, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Switzerland, Poland, Romania, and (in the final competition) Yugoslavia. Poland and Romania only competed in the amateur competition.

European International Cup of Nations
Founded1927
Abolished1960 (1960)
RegionCentral Europe & South Europe (UEFA)
Number of teams5 (1927–1953)
6 (1955–1960)
Last champions Czechoslovakia (1st title)
Most successful team(s) Italy (2 titles)

Played as a league on a home and away basis, it was contested six times and each single tournament usually took more than two years to complete. The last two tournaments lasted five years. It was discontinued in 1960, when the European Football Championship started. Winners of the competition included the Austrian Wunderteam of the early 1930s, the Italy team that also won two World Cups in the 1930s, the Golden Team of Hungary and the Czechoslovakia team that later finished as World Cup runners up in 1962.

Trophy

The trophy of the early competitions was named Švehla Cup after Antonín Švehla, the prime minister of Czechoslovakia, who donated it. After the Second World War the new trophy was known as the Dr. Gerö Cup in honour of Josef Gerö, a director of the Austrian Football Association and former match referee.

History

The competition was conceived by the Austrian football pioneer Hugo Meisl, regarded by some as one of the fathers of European football. Meisl was also behind the launch of the Mitropa Cup, a knockout competition for club teams from the same countries which also began in 1927. He also managed Austria during the Wunderteam era of the 1930s and led them to victory in the 1931-32 competition.

The first tournament played between 1927 and 1930 had been won by an Italy team inspired by Giuseppe Meazza. Meazza and Italy also won the 1933-35 competition. This time the team was coached by Vittorio Pozzo and either side of winning this competition they also won two World Cups in 1934 and 1938. The fourth tournament which began in 1936 was eventually abandoned due to the Anschluss Crisis and because of the Second World War, while a fifth tournament was not held until 1948. This tournament marked the advent of the Golden Team of Hungary, coached by Gusztáv Sebes and featuring Ferenc Puskás, Zoltán Czibor, Sándor Kocsis, Nándor Hidegkuti, József Bozsik and Gyula Grosics. They claimed the trophy after a 3–0 win over Italy in Rome in 1953.

Most successful teams
Country Winners Runners-up Third place
Italy Italy 2 times (1927–30, 1933–35) 1 (1931–32)
—
Austria Austria 1 times (1931–32) 2 (1927–30, 1933–35) 2 (1948–53, 1955–60)
Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia 1 times (1955–60) 2 (1927–30, 1948–53)
—
Hungary Hungary 1 times (1948–53) 1 (1955–1960) 2 (1931–32, 1933–35)
Switzerland Switzerland
–
—
—

Final placings
Years Classification
Winner Points Runner-up Points Third place Points
1927–1930  Italy 11  Czechoslovakia and  Austria 10
1931–1932  Austria 11  Italy 9  Hungary 8
1933–1935  Italy 11  Austria 9  Hungary 9
1936–1938
Tournament was interrupted due to Anschluss 12 March 1938
1948–1953  Hungary 11  Czechoslovakia 9  Austria 9
1955–1960  Czechoslovakia 16  Hungary 15  Austria 11
Years Classification (Amateur Competition)
Winner Points Runner-up Points Third place Points
1929–1930  Poland 7  Hungary (A) 6  Austria (A) 6
1933–1934  Romania 9  Hungary (A) 6  Czechoslovakia (A) 5

Summary (1927-1930/1955-1960)
RankTeamPartMWDLGFGAGDPoints
1 Hungary649251212139112+2787
2 Czechoslovakia64822131310486+1879
3 Austria64822111510288+1477
4 Italy6462111148477+774
5  Switzerland650483878169-9120
6 Yugoslavia1103342113+812

Amateur Summary (1929-1930/1931-1934)
RankTeamPartMWDLGFGAGDPoints
1 Hungary2126063631+518
2 Austria2125072536-1115
3 Czechoslovakia2124262733-614
4 Romania16411169+713
5 Poland163121510+510

Topscorers per tournament
Years Top Scorers
Goals Striker National team Ref.
1927–1930 6 goals Julio Libonatti
Gino Rossetti
Ferenc Hirzer		  Italy
 Italy
 Hungary		 [2]
1931–1932 8 goals István Avar
André Abegglen		  Hungary
  Switzerland		 [3]
1933–1935 7 goals Leopold Kielholz
György Sárosi		   Switzerland
 Hungary		 [4]
1936–1938 10 goals György Sárosi  Hungary [5]
1948–1953 10 goals Ferenc Puskás  Hungary [6]
1955–1960 7 goals Lajos Tichy  Hungary [7]

All-time top goalscorers
Rank Name Team Goals Tournaments
1 Hungary György Sárosi Hungary 17 1933–35 (7 goals), 1936–38 (10 goals)
2 Hungary Ferenc Puskas Hungary 15 1948–53 (10 goals), 1955–60 (5 goals)
3 Switzerland André Abegglen Switzerland 12 1927–30 (2 goals), 1931–32 (8 goals), 1933–35 (2 goals)
4 Czechoslovakia František Svoboda Czechoslovakia 11 1927–30 (5 goals), 1931–32 (5 goals), 1936–38 (1 goals)
5 Hungary István Avar Hungary 10 1931–32 (8 goals), 1933–35 (2 goals)
Hungary Géza Toldi Hungary 1927–30 (1 goal), 1931–32 (2 goals), 1933–35 (2 goals), 1936–38 (5 goals)
7 Kingdom of Italy Giuseppe Meazza Italy 8 1927–30 (3 goals), 1931–32 (2 goals), 1933–35 (2 goals), 1936–38 (1 goal)
Austria Karl Zischek Austria 1931–32 (3 goals), 1933–35 (5 goals)
9 Kingdom of Italy Julio Libonatti Italy 7 1927–30 (6 goals), 1931–32 (1 goal)
Switzerland Max Abegglen Switzerland 1927–30 (5 goals), 1931–32 (2 goals)
Czechoslovakia Josef Silný Czechoslovakia 1927–30 (4 goals), 1931–32 (3 goals)
Switzerland Leopold Kielholz Switzerland 1933–35 (7 goals)
Austria Matthias Sindelar Austria 1931–32 (4 goals), 1936–38 (3 goals)
Kingdom of Italy Silvio Piola Italy 1933–35 (2 goals), 1936–38 (5 goals)
Hungary Ferenc Deák Hungary 1948–53 (7 goals)
Hungary Lajos Tichy Hungary 1955–60 (7 goals)
17 Italy Gino Rossetti Italy 6 1927–30 (6 goals)
Hungary Ferenc Hirzer Hungary 1927–30 (6 goals)
Austria Anton Schall Austria 1927–30 (1 goal), 1931–32 (5 goals)
Czechoslovakia Oldřich Nejedlý Czechoslovakia 1931–32 (1 goal), 1933–35(4 goals), 1936–38 (1 goal)
Austria Josef Bican Austria 1933–35 (5 goals), 1936–38 (1 goal)
Czechoslovakia Antonín Puč Czechoslovakia 1927–30 (3 goals), 1931–32 (1 goal), 1933–35 (1 goal), 1936-38 (1 goal)
Hungary Sandor Kocsis Hungary 1948–53 (2 goals), 1955–60 (4 goals)

Most successful players

Winners in 1927–30, 1933–35 and runners-up in 1931–32.

Hat-tricks

Since the first official tournament in 1927–30, 17 hat-tricks have been scored in over 100 matches of the 6 editions of the tournament. The first hat-trick was scored by Gino Rossetti of the Italy, playing against Czechoslovakia on 3 March 1929; and the last was by Lajos Tichy of Hungary, playing against Switzerland on 25 October 1959. The record number of hat-tricks in a single World Cup tournament is five, during the 1931–32. The only player to have scored two hat-tricks is István Avar, both in 1931. György Sárosi holds the record for most goals scored in a single Central European Cup match when he scored 7 for Hungary in an 8–3 win over Austria (6 of which came in the second-half). Hungary holds the record for most hat-tricks scored with 7 (the next closest are Czechoslovakia and Italy with 3). Switzerland holds the record for most hat-tricks conceded with 7 (the next closest is Austria with 4).

List
Central European International Cup hat-tricks
# Player G Time of goals For Result Against Tournament Date FIFA
report
1. Gino Rossetti 3 26', 61', 80'  Italy 4–2  Czechoslovakia 1927–30 Central European International Cup 3 March 1929 Report
2. Giuseppe Meazza 3 17', 65', 70'  Italy 5–0  Hungary 11 May 1930 Report
3. István Avar 3 11', 33', 53'  Hungary 3–3  Czechoslovakia 1931–32 Central European International Cup 22 March 1931 Report
4. István Avar 3 3', 71', 87'  Hungary 6–2   Switzerland 12 April 1931 Report
5. Karel Bejbl 3 12', 53', 82'  Czechoslovakia 7–3   Switzerland 13 June 1931 Report
6. Anton Schall 3 49', 80', 86'  Austria 1–8   Switzerland 29 November 1931 Report
7. Francisco Fedullo 3 30', 32', 55'  Italy 3–0   Switzerland 14 February 1932 Report
8. Karl Zischek 3 19', 23', 55'  Austria 2–4  Italy 1933–35 Central European International Cup 11 February 1934 Report
9. Leopold Kielholz 3 21', 35', 57'   Switzerland 6–2  Hungary 14 April 1935 Report
10. Josef Bican 3 7', 11', 58'  Austria 4–4  Hungary 22 September 1935 Report
11. Géza Toldi 3 15', 29', 63'  Hungary 5–3  Austria 1936–38 Central European International Cup 27 September 1936 Report
12. František Kloz 4 27', 30', 79', 82'  Czechoslovakia 5–2   Switzerland 18 October 1936 Report
13. Gyula Zsengellér 3 41', 61', 71'  Hungary 1–5   Switzerland 11 April 1937 Report
14. György Sárosi 7 34', 51', 60', 62', 77', 80', 85'  Hungary 8–3  Austria 19 September 1937 Report
15. Ferenc Puskás 3 32', 82', 89'  Hungary 6–1  Austria 1948–53 Central European International Cup 8 May 1949 Report
16. Jiří Feureisl 4 21', 31', 61', 66'  Czechoslovakia 1–6   Switzerland 1955–60 Central European International Cup 10 May 1956 Report
17. Lajos Tichy 4 19', 28', 35', 66'  Hungary 8–0   Switzerland 25 October 1959 Report

See also

References
  1. Leo Schidrowitz "Internationaler Cup", Vienna 1954
  2. "Central European International Cup 1927-1930 goal scorers". eu-football.info. EU-Football. Retrieved July 22, 2020.
  3. "Central European International Cup 1931-1932 goal scorers". eu-football.info. EU-Football. Retrieved July 22, 2020.
  4. "Central European International Cup 1933-1935 goal scorers". eu-football.info. EU-Football. Retrieved July 22, 2020.
  5. "Central European International Cup 1936-1938 goal scorers". eu-football.info. EU-Football. Retrieved July 22, 2020.
  6. "Central European International Cup 1948-1953 goal scorers". eu-football.info. EU-Football. Retrieved July 22, 2020.
  7. "Central European International Cup 1955-1960 goal scorers". eu-football.info. EU-Football. Retrieved July 22, 2020.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.