We all know about competitions like the Premier League, La Liga, and the Bundesliga among many others, but football has a much richer history than the current big competitions, with many now-extinct cups and trophies being contested for decades. It’s easy to forget about them. After all, we still have plenty of football being played basically every day of the year, but the reality is that a lot them were based and/or built on the foundations of those extinct competitions.
I should start by saying that there are too many competitions to mention in one article, but I will make an effort to be as diverse as possible with my mentions.
Words: Jonee Nuno // @Jonee13
Blyth Spartans with the short-lived Debenhams Cup in 1978.
Photo Credit: Chronicle Live
Let’s start with the Football World Championship, played between 1876 and 1904, involving English and Scottish clubs. The method for qualification for this competition were through the FA Cup and the Scottish Cup. Amongst its winners are clubs still successful nowadays like Rangers, Everton or Aston Villa, but also clubs who have been far removed from glory like Hearts, Queen’s Park, Sunderland, Sheffield United and Bury. The last final was played between Bury and Rangers in 1904.
We now travel to Rio de Janeiro to remember the Copa Rio, which had the honour of being the first football tournament involving European and South American clubs. It was played only for 2 years, 1951 and 1952, but was praised by the likes of Jules Rimet and Stanley Rous, two historical names connected to FIFA and the World Cup. There were 2 finals only, both won by Brazilian teams; Palmeiras in 1951 in a game against Juventus, and in 1952 it was won by Fluminense against Corinthians. Although both editions were played in Brazil, the representation from European clubs was quite impressive, with clubs like Juventus, Nice, Red Star, Sporting, Austria Wien, Saarbrucken, and Grasshoppers playing in the competition.
In 1952 a competition called the Small World Cup was created in Venezuela, which ran until 1975. It had a turbulent existence, suffering with the creation of other competitions like the Europeans Champions Clubs’ Cup (which became the UEFA Champions League) and the Intercontinental Cup (now the FIFA Club World Cup), but still managed to attract an impressive collection of clubs, like Real Madrid, Botafogo, River Plate, Rapid Wien, Corinthians, Barcelona, Roma, Benfica, Valencia, Sao Paulo, FC Porto, Vasco da Gama, Sevilla, Nacional, Athletic Bilbao, East Germany, and Boavista, among others. An interesting side note about the 1963 edition; when the legendary Alfredo Di Stéfano was kidnapped by a Venezuelan revolutionary group, who kept him for 3 days, amazingly Di Stefano played the day after being released!
The last final was in 1975 with the extremely curious and unique facet of being played between Boavista and the East Germany National Team. Random games like these add so much interest to the history of football.
The Palmeiras team who became champions of the first edition of the Copa Rio in 1951.
Photo Credit: Brazilian National Archives
We are now going to jump to the USA and remember the International Soccer League, played between 1960 and 1965. This competition was created as an attempt to create a Club World Cup, but with the officially-backed Intercontinental Cup being launched in the same year, this competition was always destined to disappear. Although never an official recognised competition, it attracted some of the biggest clubs, with teams from nations like Germany, Portugal, France, Brazil, Northern Ireland, Scotland, England, Serbia, Sweden, Austria, Italy, Canada, USA, Turkey, Romania, Czech Republic, Monaco, Ireland, Israel, Mexico, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, and Poland playing in this cup. Amazingly, the Polish teams are the most successful in this competition with 2 trophies. In an international competition where clubs like Bayern Munich, Monaco, Red Star, Sporting, and West Ham played, we have winners like Dukla Prague, Zagłębie Sosnowiec and Polonia Bytom. This is superb!
Our journey through history now takes us to the Nordic Football Championship, a competition contested by Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and in later stages, Faroe Islands and Iceland. This competition was played between 1924 and 2001. Sweden is the most successful team in this cup, with 9 trophies. Boldklubben Ferm legend, Pauli Jorgensen, is the all-time top scorer with 30 goals across multiple editions. The last edition, contested in 2000/01, was won by Finland, their only win in this competition.
Grab your passports, because we will now travel to the Balkans, and discuss the Balkan Cup, contested between 1929 and 1980. This cup saw throughout the years the national teams of Romania, Yugoslavia, Greece, Bulgaria, Turkey, Albania, Hungary, Czech Republic, and Poland play for the win in this much disputed competition. Regional rivalries, cultural aspects and political interests were always present, which added extra edge to the games. This competition is filled with curious facts, from counting amongst its winning managers a legend like Stefan Kovacs, winner of 2 European Cup with Ajax, or the Olympic bronze medallist Stoyan Ormandzhiev, as well as the Serie A winner Ljubisa Brocic. Iuliu Bodola, who represented both Romania and Hungary, is the all-time top scorer in a list that includes the legendary Ferenc Puskas and Romania great Anghel Iordanescu. Romania is the most successful team, with 4 wins.
The ill-fated Scandinavian Royal League, contested by the four best club sides from Denmark, Norway and Sweden.
Photo Credit: These Football Times
We are going to remain in the Balkans, this time to remember the Balkans Cup, the similarly-named club competition which saw 89 teams play for its trophy. Teams like Olympiakos, Rapid Bucharest, Dinamo Zagreb, Panathinaikos, and Fenerbahce, among others, can be counted as its winners. This competition faced a steep decline after Balkan clubs obtained more representation in the UEFA competitions. The most successful team is Beroe Stara from Bulgaria with 4 trophies. As an interesting fact, Yugoslavia had 4 clubs in the winners list, with 3 of them now a part of different football systems; Dinamo Zagreb and Rijeka for Croatia, and Velez Mostar for Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Next on the list is the Latin Cup, a trophy contested by clubs from Portugal, Spain, Italy and France between 1949 and 1957. A competition disputed by true giants of the game in that period of time. The level of this competition was so high, that if we look at the European Cup finals in the years between 1956 and 1965, we will find 8 wins and another 8 appearances in the final by clubs who played in the Latin Cup. AC Milan, Real Madrid and Barcelona share the honour of being the most successful clubs in this competition with 2 trophies each. The last final was played in 1957 between Real Madrid and Benfica, with the Spanish club winning the game. Legends of the game like Di Stefano, Paco Gento, Raymond Kopa, Mario Coluna, Jose Aguas and Otto Gloria can count themselves as being a part of that final. If I’m allowed the liberty, this was the Monaco of football tournaments.
We will now acknowledge the celebrated Mitropa Cup, contested between 1927 and 1992, with clubs from Hungary, Italy, Czech Republic, Serbia, Austria, Slovakia, Bosnia and Romania playing for its trophy. The competition suffered a few name changes throughout the years, but the Mitropa Cup was the branding for most of its existence and it is fondly remembered as such. The most successful team is Vasas from Hungary with 6 trophies, followed by Bologna and Sparta Prague with 3 trophies each. Interesting fact - Giuseppe Meazza was the top scorer in 3 different editions. Italian clubs won 5 of the last 7 editions, but the final edition was won in 1992 by Bosnian club Borac Banja Luka in a game against Hungarian team BVSC-Zuglo. This competition is a wonderful trip down memory lane for aficionados of lesser known teams, with winners like Tababanyai Banyasz, Celik Zenica, Iskra Bugojno, SC Eisenstadt, Tatran Presov, and Inter Bratislava.
We’ll now travel to the Anglo-Italian Cup, played between 1970 and 1996, and as the name indicates, this trophy was contested between English and Italian clubs. This competition went through different stages, which reflected the level of the teams playing for its trophy. Among its winners are clubs like Roma, Newcastle, Swindon Town, Blackpool, Lecce, Modena, Udinese, Sutton United, Wycombe Wanderers, Pontedera, Monza, Notts County, Brescia and others. Italian teams dominated the competition, with 15 wins vs the 6 gathered by English clubs. The competition saw players like Vincenzo Montella, Mario Bortolazzi, John van ‘t Schip, Steve Guppy, Oliver Bierhoff, Paul Devlin, Jonatan Binotto, Marco Bizzarri and the magnificent Gheorghe Hagi. The last edition was won by Genoa in 1996 in a game against Port Vale.
The 1996 Anglo-Italian Cup Final, played between Genoa and Port Vale at Wembley. Genoa won the final 5-2.
Photo Credit: Planet Football
Like I stated in the beginning of this exercise, there are many other competitions that could be added to this list, but I reckon this selection gives you a feel for what cup competition reality was for a long time in several parts of the world. Like in any other area of life, football builds on top of things that existed already, many times as an improvement, others not so much, and the trial & error system is very much a part of it. The football calendars are as full as ever, with many complaints, especially from the players, which makes it virtually impossible for any of these once treasured competitions to ever be revived
But that shouldn’t mean they are to be forgotten. Is it amazing Real Madrid has won the Champions League so many times? Of course, it’s a true testament to their level and ability to sustain excellence for decades. But knowing a much lesser-known club like Beroe Stara won 4 editions of the Balkans Cup is also amazing and interesting, and I know I’m not alone in terms of feeling this way.
For many clubs, these long-defunct competitions are their biggest moment or claim to fame. Most of them will never win a UEFA competition, so these trophies that existed everywhere for a bit represented a fantastic chance for them to play against clubs from other nations and showcase their quality. Just because it is not organised by an official football organisation, it doesn’t mean it lacks importance or history. And that is why I wanted to go on this trip across continents and decades. Our game is beyond rich and it matters that we try to maintain the memories, lives and heritage of these competitions.
After all, for a Hungarian or Romanian or Bosnian fan (just to name a few), that trophy they won way back when might mean as much to them as a Champions League trophy does to a Liverpool or Juventus fan. Depending on the individual, everything and anything might mean the world.
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