Mitropa Cup (1927-1940)

FA Cup winners vs Mitropa Cup winners would have been very interesting. I think the Mitropa Cup winners would be comfortable favorites in most match-ups, but mostly because the best English teams were not winning the FA Cup all the time. If we had top level teams like late 20s Huddersfield/Sheffield and early 30s Arsenal more often it would be pretty even money in my opinion. The Mitropa Cup on the other hand was only taking teams from the top couple spots in their domestic leagues for the most part.

1927

Sparta Prague vs Cardiff City: Cardiff were comfortably mid table during this time period while Sparta was still very strong, not far removed from the undefeated run in the mid 20s. Sparta clear favorites.

1928

Ferencvaros vs Blackburn Rovers: Ferencvaros were a wrecking machine at this time, coming off their third straight Hungarian league and dominating the Mitropa Cup. Blackburn were consistently mid-table. Ferencvaros solid favorites.

1929

Ujpest vs Bolton: Ujpest were a very good team but not quite as good as Sparta or Ferencvaros in previous years in my opinion. Bolton was also a lively, solid but not elite team. Unfortunately they just lost their best player David Jack and were transitioning from a top 10 side to mid table. Ujpest slight favorites.

1930

Rapid Vienna vs Arsenal: Here is a juicy match-up. Although Arsenal were average domestically this season, the FA Cup would spring board them to being the best team in England and possibly the world in the next 8 or so years. They had David Jack, possibly the best player in the league at this point, and had just acquired Alex James and Cliff Bastin. Rapid had a very well rounded team, full of Austrian internationals and Wunderteam members. I would say even money.

1931

First Vienna vs West Bromwich Albion: West Brom was a very strong team at this time, consistently finishing top 10 in the league. In 1931 they sustained a title challenge and finished in second while winning the FA Cup. A huge achievement considering no English team won a domestic double between 1897 and 1961. First Vienna, similar to Rapid were a well rounded team full of Austrian internationals. Even money.

1932

Bologna vs Newcastle: A somewhat weak match-up. Bologna won Mitropa without playing a final and would have been underdogs to either Juventus or Slavia Prague who were both disqualified in the other semi-final. Newcastle were a fairly average team and had recently lost star player Gallacher. Bologna slight favorites.

1933

Austria Vienna vs Everton: A lot of star power in this one with Sindelar and Dixie Dean facing off. Both teams were average domestically but had the type of players who could turn it up in a winner take all situation. Even money.

1934

Bologna vs Manchester City: Bologna had a surprising run to the Mitropa Cup as 4th place finishers from Italy. City were a strong top 10 team at the time. City slight favorites.

1935

Sparta Prague vs Sheffield Wednesday: Sheffield were at the back end of a very dominant period in English football. In the past 7 seasons they finished top 3 six times and won the league twice. Sparta had a star studded team as well led by a prime Raymond Braine. Even money.

1936

Austria Vienna vs Arsenal: Arsenal was in the midst of dominating English football and their team was full of key internationals for England and Scotland. Austria Vienna were a solid team and had Sindelar, but up and down the roster I don't think they had as much quality. Arsenal favorites.

1937

Ferencvaros vs Sunderland

Fer. were excellent at this time led by Sarosi, with many internationals that would represent Hungary as world cup runners up a year later. Sunderland were a very good team as well, having won the Enlish league the year before and were led by their own great inside forward Raich Carter. Even money.

1938

Slavia Prague vs Preston North End: Slavia were led by the prime level goal scoring machine Bican and had easily won Mitorpa. Preston were not a great team of the period but did have a very good season, finishing third in addition to winning the FA Cup. Slavia slight favorites.

1939

Ujpest vs Portsmouth: Ujpest were led by Zsengeller who had one of the greatest club seasons ever, scoring 56 times in 26 games to lead Ujpest to the domestic title over Sarosi's Ferencvaros and then dominated the Mitropa cup scoring 9 times in 6 games. Portsmouth were a low end table team. Ujpest clear favorites.

 

Mitropa Cup 1935

For the second straight year four teams from each country were taken, and countries remained unchanged.

The 1935 Hungarian champions were Ujpest who qualified on the strength of their defense, which only allowed 17 goals in 22 games (half the amount of their closest rivals) in the traditionally high scoring Hungarian league. Qualifying as runners up were Ferencvaros, once again led by their star Sarosi and the leagues top scoring offense. Qualifying in third place were MTK who were led by that seasons top scorer, dribbling dynamo Laszlo Cseh (23 goals). The final qualification spot went to fourth place Szeged, who were a level below the perennial top three Hungarian teams.

The Italian champions were Juventus for the final and fifth consecutive season. They were paced by an excellent defense, and won the league by a very narrow margin, as they no longer had the great attacker Orsi and no longer dominated Serie A by the same margin. Inter qualified in second place only two points behind Juventus and were led by their star Meazza. Fiorentina qualified for Mitropa for the first time as third place finishers. The fourth place qualifiers were Roma who sported the leagues top offense and top scorer Enrique Guaita.

Rapid Vienna qualified as Austrian champions in impressive fashion scoring 95 goals and sporting a +65 goals differential, easily outpacing rivals Admira and First. They were led by an amazing front line that occupied the top four spots on the league scoring charts (with Josef Bican missing for all but 3 games due to injury): Matthias Kaburek (27 goals), Franz Binder (21 goals), Johann Walzhofer (20 goals), and Karl Hochreiter (17 goals). Admira qualified in second place with an impressive goal differential of +47. First Vienna qualified in third, once again led by the leagues top defense that only allowed 25 goals, but their offense was no longer operating at a high standard and they only scored 36 goals. Despite finishing in 8th place domestically, Sindelar and Austria Vienna qualified as the Austrian Cup champions.

Frantisek Svoboda led the Czech league in scoring (27 goals) and led Slavia Prague to the title. Sparta Prague were comfortably second once again, losing out on the title by one point. Qualifying in third and fourth place were SK Zidenice and Vicktoria Plzen respectively.

Round 1

Admira Vienna 4 - 9 MTK (3-2, 1-7)
Viktoria Plzen 4 - 8 Juventus (3-3, 1-5)
First Vienna 4 - 6 Sparta Prague (1-1, 3-5)
Ujpest 3 - 6 Fiorentina (0-2, 3-4)
Rapid Vienna 4 - 5 SK Zidenice (2-2, 2-3)
Roma 3 - 9 Ferencvaros (3-1, 0-8)
Szeged 2 - 4 Slavia Prague (1-4, 1-0)
Inter 3 - 8 Austria Vienna (2-5, 1-3)

Admira started strong at home vs MTK, taking a 2-0 lead at halftime but they failed to increase their lead, hitting the post multiple times. In the second half a determined MTK tied the game behind two goals from Heinrich Muller, an Austrian playing in Hungary. A late winner was scored by Vogl to give Admira a slight leading going to Budapest. The first half of the second leg was a close affair with MTK managing a 1-0 lead against the run of play, as Admira failed to capitalize on many goalscoring opportunities. In the second half MTK exploded, scoring six times led by the great Cseh who scored three of the six goals. This was the first of multiple poor results for the Austrian teams.

Viktoria Plzen achieved an excellent home draw against the favored Juventus in the first leg. The second leg leg saw Juntus easily outpace the fourth place side from Czechoslovakia, winning 5-1 due to the excellent performance of playmaker Giovanni Ferrari who pulled the strings and scored twice himself.

In Vienna, Sparta allowed First Vienna to control possession and chose to defended deep and counter attack. This was an effective tactic as they earned a 1-1 draw with Nejedly scoring the important late equalizer. The game opened up in Prague as Sparta won 5-3 and earned a trip to the next round. Sparta made an interesting tactical decision to play star forward Raymond Braine as center half. This allowed Braine to control the midfield and his replacement at center forward, Olidich Zajiek scored a hat trick. Braine still managed to score, leading off a second half barrage (3 goals in the first two minute of the second half) that sealed the tie after a 1-1 first half.

In one of multiple upsets of the first round, the third place Italian team and Mitropa newcomers Fiorentina knocked out one of the tournament favorite, Hungarian champions Ujpest. Wingers Comini and Gringa both scored in a shocking 2-0 first leg victory in Budapest. The second leg saw Ujpest throw all its players forward, but they were left open to counter attacks and lost in Italy 4-3. Fiorentia's center forward, Cesare Augusto Fasanelli, was clinical with his chances, scoring three times on the counter attack.

In possibly the biggest surprise of the first round, dominating Austrian champions Rapid Vienna were eliminated by the third place Czech side. Zidenice took a 3-0 lead at home thanks to a hit trick from Vaclav Prusa, but Rapid pulled back two in the second half, and had to feel confident going home only down one goal. To their surprise they found themselves down 2-1 at halftime, and failed to turn the tie around in the second half. Austria shockingly had its top three teams eliminated in the first round signaling that the country would no longer dominate the tournament the way it had in the first half of the 30s (3 of the 5 titles and 5 of the 9 finalists from 1930-34).

Roma took control of their tie with Ferencvaros winning 3-1 at home, but they felt they should of achieved a bigger margin. The second leg saw Roma crumble before Ferencvaros' assault 8-0, led by Sarosi who scored four times.

Slavia went to Hungary and won 4-1 over the fourth place side behind a hat trick from their playmaker Kopecky. In the second leg Slavia did the minimum required to advance losing 1-0 at home.

The final first round match was a rematch of the classic final of 1933 with Sindelar and Austria Vienna vs Meazza and Inter. Sindelar would once again give an all time great performance. The first leg was played in Milan were sensational combination play saw Austria take a shocking 4-0 lead. Meazza scored twice in the second half but it was to no avail as Inter suffered a heavy 5-2 home defeat. Sindelar was the master strategist and was involved in all 5 goals, scoring one himself. In the second leg Sindelar gave another virtuoso performance, scoring a hat trick in addition to his great skillful and imaginative all around play.

Round 2

MTK 2 - 4 Juventus (1-3, 1-1)
Sparta Prague 8 - 4 Fiorentina (7-1, 1-3)
Zidenice 5 - 8 Ferencvaros (4-2, 1-6)
Slavia Prague 2 - 2 Austria Vienna (1-0, 1-2) Playoff (2-5)

Juventus won an important victory in Budapest 3-1, despite being down a man after 40 minutes due to injury. The Juventus front line played well and was once again led by Ferrari who scored once and was the creative hub. Ferrari scored in the 15th minute of the home leg to give Juventus a 3 goal aggregate lead. The defense then took over with excellent performances from Foni, Rosetta, Bertolini and especially Monti, who kept Cseh from scoring in either of the two matches.

Sparta dominated Fiorentia in Prague winning 7-1 in the first leg. They were led by Nejedly and Facsinek, who both scored braces, and Braine who scored once and was the creative center. Fiorentina won the return leg 3-1 but were not close to making up the goal differential required.

Although Ferencvaros appeared to clearly be the better technical team, they lost 4-2 at Zidenice, who played a physical aggressive style. Ferencvaros once again won a tie through a dominating home leg, making up the 2 goals deficit by winning 6-1 in the second leg. Toldi and Sarosi both scored twice.

In a game were both teams gave poor performances, Slavia won at home 1-0 over Austria Vienna. Austria played to a higher standard in the second leg, winning 2-1, but a playoff would be necessary. The playoff was dominated by Austria who played splendidly, Slavia attempted to mark Sindelar from the game, but to no avail, as Austria scored 5 times, one from Sindelar.

Round 3

Sparta Prague 3 - 3 Juventus (2-0, 1-3) Playoff (5-1)
Ferncvaros 6 - 5 Austria Vienna (4-2, 2-3)

The first semi-final was a match-up of storied European powers as Sparta met Juventus. The first leg was played in Prague, where Sparta's back line was excellent and held Juventus in check. Sparta had achieved a 2-0 advantge when Monti was sent off, but Sparta could not capitalize and add to their lead. The second leg was a dramatic affair. Borel gave Juventus and 2-0 lead and evened the tie in the 52th minute, before Nejedly regained the lead for Sparta, scoring a counter attacking goal in the 65th. Juventus earned a penalty in the 85th minute that was dramatically saved by Klenovec, and it looked like Sparta would go through until Borel scored again in the dying seconds to send the tie to a playoff. The playoff was played in Basel and dominated by Sparta 5-1. The outstanding player of the match was Raymond Braine who scored twice and led Sparta to a sensational win.

Ferencvaros looked to continue their home dominance in the first leg vs Austria, but they met stiff resistance. Sindelar gave Austria the early led, before three straight from Ferencvaros (two from Sarosi) put them back in control. Sindelar then scored again on a lightning counter in the 80th minute before Kiss scored the final goal giving Ferencvaros a 4-2 win. Sesta, Zohrer and Nausch all defended admirably in the face of waves of Ferencvaros attacks. The second leg was played at a high technical level, with Sindelar opening the scoring. Adamek converted a penalty in the 58th minute to give Austria the 3-1 lead and even the tie, before the hero for Ferencvaros, Toldi, scored his second of the match to send Ferencvaros to the final.

Final

Ferencvaros 2 - 4 Sparta Prague

Both teams were trying to join Bologna as the only two time winners of the competition. The first leg was played in Budapest and Ferencvaros showed more excellent home form jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the first 30 minutes. Ferencvaros slowed down in the second half as Sarosi had to leave with an injury and Braine scored a crucial away goal, taking only a one goal deficit from Budapest. The second leg was a coronation for Sparta who won 3-0 behind more amazing play from their star Braine who scored twice. The final goal was was a fantastic solo run through five players and the goalkeeper by Braine sending fans into ecstasy as they would storm the field with the final whistle.

Top Scorers

Gyorg Sarosi (Ferencvaros) - 9
Matthais Sindelar (Austria Vienna) - 8
Oldrich Zajicek (Sparta Prague) - 7
Raymond Braine (Sparta Prague) - 7
Felice Borel (Juventus) - 6
Ferdinand Facsenski (Sparta Prague) - 6
Gyula Kiss (Ferencvaros) - 6
Geza Toldi (Ferencvaros) - 6
Giovanni Ferrari (Juventus) - 5
Oldrich Nejedly (Sparta Prague) - 5

Best Players

1. Raymond Brain (Sparta Prague) - Among a standout group he was the best, leading his team to the title, doing a little of everything on the way. In the crucial second leg vs First Vienna he was man of the match while deployed at center half, creating from deeper and scoring a goal himself. He was the man of the match in the decisive playoff win over Juventus scoring twice in the spectacular win. He scored a crucial away goal in the first leg of the final, and then gave a signature display in the clinching home leg, scoring twice. From IFFHS "The Belgian had an amazing technique and many tricks, and was also an outstanding combination player, soloist and goalgetter. He was the Sparta ace, and one of the best European forwards in the 1930s".

2. Matthais Sindelar (Austria Vienna) - The great Austrian center forward and playmaker gave another performance to remember, as he dragged the 8th place Austrian side to the finals and was the tournaments #2 goalscorer. He may have one upped his performance vs Inter in 1933 with this editions opening round encounter, where he had a part in all 5 of the away goals in Milan and then scored a hat trick at home for a dominating 8-3 aggregate victory. About his performance in the tie from IFFHS, "Again it was the genius of Matthias Sindelar who shone with his imaginativeness, passes and superb skills. Undoubtedly, he was the best forward in the world in the 1930s. Even the Italians who were rhapsodic about Meazza admired Sindelar’s performance." He was the best player on the pitch in Austria's decisive second round 5-2 playoff victory over Czech champions Slavia, scoring once. He preformed admirably in the semi-final grabbing two important away goals in Budapest, where Ferencvaros had been unstoppable. He also led off the scoring in the home leg of the semi-final, but Austria fell one goal short of forcing a playoff to reach the final.

3. Gyorgy Sarosi (Ferencvaros) - The tournaments top scorer led his team to the final, where he unfortunately could not make an impact, as he suffered an injury in the first leg and had to leave before halftime and was ineffective in Prague. He led Ferencvaros to a 8-0 home domination of Roma, scoring 4 times. The second round would see a similar home drubbing of opponents Zidenice 6-1, where Sarosi was man of the match and scored twice. Sarosi was also the key player in the semi-final first leg victory vs Austria, were he dueled with Sindelar as both scored two goals.

4. Geza Toldi (Ferencvaros) - Was an important piece to Ferncvaros' frightening offense scoring 6 times. He scored in the home blowout of Roma, twice in the home blowout of Zidenice, and was the hero of the semi final tie with Austria, scoring twice in the away second leg including a late winner to send Ferencvaros to the final. He also opened the scoring in the first leg of the final.

5. Giovanni Ferrari (Juventus) - The key player in Juventus' run to the semi-finals. Scored at Plzen and then in the home leg scored two more goals and was man of the match pulling all the strings in the 5-1 victory. Was man of the match in the decisive 3-1 win over MTK in Budapest, scored in both legs of the tie.

6a-6b-6c. Oldrich Zajicek, Ferdinand Facsenski, and Oldrich Nejedly (Sparta Prague) - All three need to be mentioned as they all preformed in critical moments on their way to victory. Zajicek had the key hat trick replacing Braine at center forward vs First Vienna's dominating defense. Facsenski was consistent throughout, scoring in 6 of the 9 matches, playing as a foil to Braine, and Nejedly scored critical away goal equalizers when the offense could not find its feet at First Vienna and at Juventus.

 

Mitropa Cup 1936

There was a change in format this season with the addition of four teams from Switzerland to the tournament. An additional round of qualifying matches were added, between the 4 Swiss teams and the 4th place qualifiers from the other 4 countries.

MTK comfortably won the Hungarian league with an undefeated record in 1936, 22-4-0. They had the best defense in the league, only allowing 21 goals, and were led by their offensive star Cseh. Placing a distant second were Ujpest, closely followed by Ferencvaros who had the league top offense (103 goals scored) and top scorer Sarosi (36 goals). Placing fourth was Phobus.

Admira dominated the Austrian league in 1936, scoring 20 more goals than the next best offense and finishing the season with a 5 point gap. Wilhelm Hehnemann was now their offensive star and was the league's top scorer with 23 goals. First Vienna placed second that season and were paced by their league best defense (25 goals allowed). The third qualifying position was decided by a playoff between the 3rd (Rapid Vienna), 4th (FC Wien), and 5th (Wacker) place teams, all of which were considerably behind the top two that season. Rapid won both of the games in the round robin to qualify. The fourth qualifying team was Austria Vienna, who placed 7th in the league but won the Austrian Cup for the second straight season.

Sparta Prague won the Czech league after three straight seasons as runners up. They finished the season tied on points with Slavia but had a superior goal differential (+73 to +58). Sparta were led by their star forwards Nejedly (26 goals) and Braine (22 goals). Slavia were led by forward Vojtech Bradac, who scored an amazing 42 goals and was the leagues top scorer. Also qualifying in 3rd and 4th respectively were Prostejov and Zidenice.

Serie A saw defense dominate in 1936. Bologna won the league by scoring 39 goals and only allowing 21. Second place Roma were even more defensive, scoring 32 and allowing 20. Torino qualified in the thrid, and Inter, who had the best offense in the league (61 goals scored) and the top scorer (Meazza 25 goals), qualified in fourth.

The top four Swiss teams qualified for the for the new first round in Mitropa: Lausanne 1st, Young Fellows 2nd, Grasshopper 3rd, and Bern fourth.

Round 1

Zidenice 6 - 2 Lausanne (5-0, 1-2)
Young Fellows 2 - 9 Phodus (0-3, 2-6)
Bern 2 - 11 Tornio (1-4, 1-7)
FK Austria 4 - 2 Grasshoppers (3-1, 1-1)

The Swiss teams were clearly not up the level of the other countries. This was made evident when the top two Swiss teams were easily defeated by traditionally the weakest teams in the competition, the 4th place Hungarian and Czech sides. All for Swiss sides would go out in the first round.

Round 2

MTK 1 - 7 First Vienna (0-2, 1-5)
Zidenice 3 - 11 Inter (2-3, 1-8)
Sparta Prague 7 - 6 Phobus (5-2, 2-4)
Rapid Vienna 4 - 6 Roma (3-1, 1-5)
Admira Vienna 3 - 6 Prostejov (0-4, 3-2)
Torino 2 - 5 Ujpest (2-0, 5-0)
Bologna 2 - 5 Austria Vienna (2-1, 0-4)
Ferencvaros 5 - 6 Slavia Prague (5-2, 0-4)

Like last season, the first round would be full of upsets, and it started with the undefeated Hungarian champions being routed by First Vienna, the second place team from Austria. Vienna controlled the first round match in Budapest and allowed almost no scoring chances for the home team, led by an outstanding defensive display from Leopold Hofmann. Franz Erdl was clinical scoring two goals with two chances and Gschweild, along with Hofmann, was the best player of the match. The second leg was more one way traffic, with Gschweild orchestrating the 5-1 victory, scoring one himself and being the primary creator. Gustav Pollak scored a hat trick for First as they moved to the second round in impressive fashion.

The first match between Inter and Zidenice was played in Czechoslovakia, and was a close back and forth affair with Meazza scoring twice, including the late winner to give Inter a good result on the road, winning 3-2. Inter would dominate in Milan paced by Meazza's 5 goal performance.

Sparta played the first competitive tie of the first round, edging Phobus by a one goal margin. Things looked good for Sparta after they won the 1st leg at home 5-2, led by two goals from Nejedly. In the second leg Sparta were outplayed and fell behind 3-1 in the 76th minute. Then Szikar scored his second goal of the match for Phobus in the 87th minute, appearing to send the tie to a playoff. But in the dying seconds Nejedly scored dramatically to secure the win for Sparta.

Rapid won the first leg of their tie with Roma at home 3-1, due in large part to the great performance of Franz Binder who scored twice. The second goal demonstrated his massive shooting power, smashing in a free kick from 35 meters. A change of fortune shifted the second game, as Rapid suffered and early own goal and then an injury their top forward, Binder. Roma went on to dominate the match, winning 5-1 in sweltering heat.

The second major upset of the tournament was run away Austrian champions Admira Wein losing out to the third place Czech team Prostejov. Most shocking of all was the first leg, where the unheralded Czech side defeated Admira 4-0 in Vienna. Drozd was the star for Prostejov scoring a hat trick. The crowd in Vienna was shocked that their star studded forward line of Vogl, Hahnemann, Stoiber, Bican, and Vogl could manage a single goal at home against a provincial Czech side, despite scoring 77 in 22 games in the Austrian league. The second match was hotly contested in Prostjov. Admira were given hope after they jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first 10 minutes with goals from Hahnemann and Bican and a Czech player was sent off. But they could not score again in the first half and Prostejov scored in the 67 minute, then a frustrated Admira side had two players sent off. In the end Admira would have 5 players sent off and would not make up the goal differential after the embarrassing home defeat.

Tornio played well at home vs Ujpest, winning 2-0 and were given an excellent defensive performance by Antonio Janni, their Italian international center half. He was excellent in one on one situations and made the Ujpest forwards irrelevant. The second leg in Budapest saw the tide turn, in large part because of the introduction of the young and highly talented forward Gyula Zsengeller for Ujpest. Ujpest would go one to a sensational 5-0 win paced by their budding star in his first Mitropa Cup appearance.

For most of the match, Bologna's vaunted defense controlled the home leg vs Austria Vienna, but their pedestrian offense was only able to score twice. Then Viertl grabbed a late away goal, allowing Austria to only suffer a one goal deficit going home. The Austrians dominated the first half at home, scoring twice, while center half Johann Mock gave an excellent defensive performance. Needing only one goal to even the tie Bologna came out playing strongly in the second half, but Austria were able to weather the storm until Sindelar took over late. Two sensational solo efforts from Austria's star player saw himself score once and an easy lay off to Jerusalem for a second in the last two minute of the game. Now three of the four first place qualifiers had been eliminated in the first round.

Ferencvaros scored what they thought was a decisive win at home beating Slavia Prague 5-2 behind another sensational performance from Sarosi, who scored 4 times. The efforts of Planicka were critical, despite letting in 5 he saved many more against one way traffic. Keeping the deficit to 3 goals would be crucial in the second leg. Slavia gave a magnificent team performance, playing with great energy in the second leg winning 4-0 and turning around the 3 goal deficit to win the tie. Ferencvaros' great forward line was held goalless, and the Hungarians could scarcely believe what had happened.

Round 3

First Vienna 3 - 4 Inter (2-0, 1-4)
Austria Vienna 3 - 1 Slavia Prague (3-0, 0-1)
Sparta Prague 4 - 1 Roma (3-0, 1-1)
Prostejov 0 - 3 Ujpest (0-1, 0-2)

Inter adopted extremely defensive tactics in Vienna, even when they were down 2-0 they refused to attack in hopes of keeping the goal deficit as low as possible and winning in Milan. Outside of their two goal outburst in the 33-37th minutes First Vienna were unable to find their rhythm. In the first half Karl Rainer gave an excellent defensive performance, only allowing one goal to Meazza despite relentless Inter attacks. The first half ended 1-1 with First feeling good about their chances. The second half was dominated by Inter through excellent play from their wingers who scored the necessary three goals to advance.

After the 0-0 first half in Vienna it was unclear which way the match between Austrian and Slavia would go. In the second half Austria's top three players, Sindelar, Sesta and Nausch would take over, giving Vienna a 3-0 victory. In Prague, Austria gave a strong defensive performance, anchored by Sesta and Mock. They only allowed one goal to the Czech top scorer Bradec and advanced to the semi final for the second straight year.

Roma played excellent defense but were were foiled by two first half errors from their 17 year old reserve goalkeeper. Raymond Braine was marked from the match by Fulvio Bernardini and Nejedly took control instead, scoring the 3rd goal and being Sparta's top player. The second match saw a very quick start with Roma scoring in the 1st minute and Sparta equalizing in the 2nd. After their equalizer Sparta pulled back and defended the rest of the match, not allowing Roma to score. The strong defensive performance was led by goalkeeper Bohumil Klenovec and full back Josef Ctyroky.

Ujpest dominated play away from home behind a goal from their rising star Zsengeller. Prostejov could make no headway against Ujpest defense. Ujpest would jump out two a 2-0 lead in the second leg behind excellent play from two young players in their forward line, Zsengeller and Kallai, before resisting a series of Prestejov attacks in the second half to secure the victory.

Round 4

Inter 5 - 8 Sparta Prague (3-5, 2-3)
Ujpest 3 - 7 Austria Vienna (1-2, 2-5)

The first leg of Inter and Sparta's semi final was played in Milan and it was tremendous match. Inter fell behind early 2-0 after a defensive error from Ernesto Mascheroni and losing one of their players to injury. Then a short powerful burst of play saw Inter retake the lead 3-2. But in the end Raymond Braine and Oldrich Nejedly would out dual Meazza, as Sparta scored the final three goals. Inter had no answer for the two famous Sparta forwards, who both scored braces. Inter gave strong resistance in the second leg, but once again Raymond Braine was too good, scoring twice and dominating the flow of play. Sparta would move on to the final where they looked to be the first team to win the Cup 3 times and the first team ever to repeat.

Ujpest took an early lead at home vs Austria, but Austria's excellent defense played well to limit the damage. In the 40th minute violence broke out between players of both teams, as well as fans. Police intervention was needed to restore order. Later in the game Austria took control, they had paced themselves better in the extreme heat and had more energy late in the game, scoring twice to get a critical road win. Ujpest magnificent technician Zsengeller gave his team the lead twice in Vienna 1-0 and 2-1 before they were overwhelmed by a great performance from inside trio of Sindelar (2 goals), Jerusalem (2 goals), and Stroh (1 goal). Austria would try to join Bologna and Sparta as the only two time winners.

Final

Austria Vienna 1 - 0 Sparta Prague (0-0, 1-0)

In an amazing defensive performance Austria Vienna held Sparta Prague goalless over two legs winning 1-0. Sparta sported two of the best forwards in the world (Braine and Nejedly), and Sparta had scored 100 goals in 26 games in the Czech league and 19 goals in previous 6 Mitropa games. The first leg was played in Vienna, and it was Sparta who must have seen themselves as fortunate. Austria hit the crossbar at least three times as Sindelar orchestrated attacks. Josef Kostalek and Joroslav Boucek played excellent in defense for Sparta. The stadium in Prague was overflowing with fans for the final leg, and spirits were high after attaining a draw in Vienna. Austria gave an amazing defensive performance, as Mock blotted out Braine from the game, and Karl Sesta did the same with Nejedly. The Spartan front line was dominated by the Austrian back line. As the game wore on Sindelar slowly started to take control, leading to a Jerusamlen goal in the 67th minute. Austria defended desperately for the last 30 minutes, and did so successfully, winning their second Mitropa Cup.

Top Scorers

Giuseppe Meazza (Inter) - 10
Camillo Jerusalem (Austria Vienna) - 7
Oldrich Nejedly (Sparta Prague) - 6
Gustav Pollak (First Vienna) - 5
Oldrich Zajicek (Sparta Prague) - 5
Josef Stroh (Austria Vienna) - 5
Gyorgy Sarosi (Ferencvarios) - 4
Pietro Buscaglia (Torino) - 4
Rudolf Drozd (Prostejov) - 4
Gabor Szabo (Phobus) - 4
Gyula Zsengeller (Ujpest) - 4
Raymoud Braine (Sparta Prague) - 4
Matthias Sindelar (Austria Vienna) - 4

1a. - 1b. Karl Sesta and Johann Mock (Austria Vienna) - The pair of defenders faced down all comers for Austria Vienna. Although Sindelar was the star of the team, the defense was the reason why they won the cup. They amazingly only allowed 8 goals in 10 games, something unheard off in this high scoring competition. Also consider they played three high power offenses in Slavia, Sparta, and Ujpest. Sesta and Mock were both repeatedly singled out by IFFHS for man of the match honors: Sesta (home Slavia, away Slavia, away Sparta) and Mock (home Bologna, away Slavia, away Sparta).

2. Matthius Sindelar (Austria Vienna) - Sindelar played a creative role in this tournament. He and two amazing solo runs late in the home leg vs Bologna setting up a goal for Jerusalem and scoring one himself. He was one of the payers of the match at home vs Slavia, orchestrating a 3-0 win. He was part of the excellent performance by the whole front line in the home leg vs Ujpest, and was singled out for his strong play in both legs of the final, despite the low scoring nature.

3. Oldrich Nejedly (Sparta Prague) - With Raymond Braine marked out of a number of matches and injured in others, Nejedly took control and guided Sparta to the final, with the offense preforming at a very high level scoring 19 goals in 6 games on the way. He was man of the match scoring twice at home vs Phobus and then scored the late winner in the final seconds in Hungary to avoid a playoff. He was the man of the match scoring once at home vs Roma when Braine was rendered ineffective. In the stunning away win at Milan he scored twice and was co man of the match with Braine.

4. Gyula Zsengeller (Ujpest) - He sparked what appeared to be a flat Ujpest team to the semi finals after being inserted into the lineup for the second leg vs Torino, where he scored and led the team to a 5-0 win overturning a two goal deficit. He was man of the match in both legs vs Prostejov, both were victories for Ujpest. In the second leg of the semi final vs Austria he gave Ujpest the lead twice on the road and evened the aggregate score before Austria's forward line took ever in the second half.

5. Giuseppe Meazza (Inter) - Was the tournaments top scorer with 10 goals in only six matches. Most of the production game from 11-3 drubbing of Zidenice over two legs, where he scored 7 times. He scored a critical goal in the second leg vs First Vienna, despite man marking from the great Karl Rainer. He also scored in both legs vs Sparta but was outplayed by the opposing forwards.

6. Camillo Jerusalme (Austria Vienna) - Was the second highest scorer of the tournament with 7 goals. Did an excellent job finishing the chances created for him, many by Sindelar. He also scored the tournament winning away goal in the final vs Sparta.

7. Raymond Braine (Sparta Prague) - Although he was ineffective for portions of the tournament I feel he should be mentioned because his semi final performance was so strong. He dominated both legs vs Inter scoring four times and also dictating play and contributing all over the field, even marking Meazza at times.

 

I would love to be able to find any match descriptions/lineups/top scorers for this tournament. I have not had any luck outside of the final despite a fair amount of effort.

 

I will get around to finishing this up sometime soon hopefully

 

Mitropa Cup 1937

The Mitropa Cup expanded its reach in 1937. This is the closest the tournament would come to being a true European championship as three countries were added (Switzerland, Yugoslavia, and Romania), and in the following seasons some of the long time participates would fall by the way side due to tensions in Europe building towards WWII. The tournament still featured 16 teams, but the four major countries (Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Italy) only sent their top three sides instead of four. The remaining spots were taken by two Swiss side, a Yugoslavian side, and one Romanian side.

Admira Vienna qualified as Austrian champions, finishing the season tied on points with Austria Vienna. They won the title due to their superior goal differential, paced by the leagues best offense that scored 77 times in 22 games despite the injury troubles suffered by star striker Josef Bican. They were led by the scoring trio of Hahnemann (19 goals), Stoiber (18 goals), and Vogl (13 goals). Austria Vienna were agonizingly close to their first title since 1927 but fell short on goal differential. Sindelar led the team with 13 goals scored. Qualifying as cup champions and third place league finishers were First Vienna.

The big three from Hungary all qualified for the tournament, led by league champions MTK and Laszlo Cseh, the leagues top goal scorer (36 goals). He out-dueled Sarosi's Ferencvaros (2nd place) and Zsengeller's Ujpest (3rd place) for the title for the second consecutive year and hoped to find success in Mitropa for the first time.

Slavia Prague reclaimed the Czech title from Sparta in dominating fashion, finishing 7 points ahead of their arch rivals. Qualifying as the third place finisher was Prostejov.

Bologna qualified as Italian champions, led by their stingy defense that only allowed 26 goals. Qualifying in second place was Lazio, led by star striker and that season top scorer Silvio Piola with 21 goals. This was Piola's first chance to test himself in the Mitropa Cup. Genoa was the third team representing Italy in the 1937 edition.

Swiss clubs participated for the second straight season, sending their top two teams, champions Grasshopper and runners up Young Boys.

Newcomers Romania sent their champion Venus Bucureşti, and former member rejoining the competition Yugoslavia sent their champion Gradanski Zagreb.

Round 1

Slavia Prague 3 - 5 Ferencvaros (2-2, 1-3)
First Vienna 2-2 Young Boys (2-1, 0-1) Playoff (2-0)
Bologna 2 - 7 Austria Vienna (1-2, 1-5)
Venus Bucureşti 5 - 10 Ujpest (4-6, 1-4)
Admira Vienna 3 - 3 Sparta Prague (1-1, 2-2) Playoff (2-0)
Genoa 6 - 1 Gradanski (3-1, 3-0)
MTK 2 - 4 Lazio (1-1, 2-3)
Grasshopper 6 - 5 Prostejov (4-3, 2-2)

The first round began with a clash of tournament heavyweights, where Ferencvaros defeated Slavia 5-3. The first leg was played in Prague and the home team opened the game at a furious pace, taking the lead behind a Sobotka goal and nearly doubling it as Kopecky hit the crossbar shortly thereafter. The game then fell into a rhythm of Slavia control and Ferencvaros counter attacks, where Ferencvaros were far more clinical with fewer chances as the game finished at a 2-2 draw, with Slavia needed a late goal to even the score despite having far more chances. Toldi and Sarosi scored for Ferencvaros. The return leg was one way traffic as Ferencvaros dominated. Planicka played excellently in goal to limit the score to three and Slavia's goal came late with the tie already decided. Toldi and Sarosi starred as the Hungarian front line tore the Czechs apart.

First Vienna would need a playoff to overcome their Swiss opposition. The first leg was played in Vienna and Young Boys adopted rough tactics in an attempt to stifle First Vienna. This led to a surprising early lead for the Swiss side, but a wonderful long range goal from Gschweidl was followed by an excellent goal from winger Josef Molzer who gave a man of the match display showing his excellent dribbling and trickery. First Vienna took a slim one goal lead to Zurich, where Young Boys gave an excellent defensive display, shutting out First after scoring the early goal the equalized the tie and send it to playoff. The playoff took place two days later in Zurich, where Gschweidl took over, scoring the second of the teams two goals and giving a great overall performance, controlling the game with his passing, dribbling, and strength on the ball.

Austria Vienna made a statement of intent to defend their title in the opening round, demolishing the Italian champions Bologna 7-2 over two legs. In the first leg Austria played a defensive strategy, dropping the multi-skilled Walter Nausch in as an extra defender. As they were last season, Karl Sesta and Johann Mock were once again excellent in defense, shutting down Bologna's Uruguayan playmakers. Sindelar keyed Austria's counter attacks and two second half goals, one scored by Sindelar, gave Austria a vital away win. The second leg was started in style by Austria as Sindelar scored a screamer from 30 meters in the third minute. Then Austria's other world class attacked Walter Nausch scored three straight goals leading them to a 5-1 victory.

Ujpest overcame the Romanian champions in a high scoring affair. The first leg was wide opened in Bucharest with the hosts leading twice in the second half, 3-2 and 4-3, but Zsengeller was always there to pull them back, scoring three times in the second half for Ujpest to lead his team to a 6-4 victory. Ujpest were in full control at home winning 4-1, which could have been more if not for an excellent display by the Romanian keeper. Zsengeller scored two more goals in the second leg.

Admira Vienna and Sparta Prague faced off in a tie that would need a playoff to decide it. The first leg was played in a downpour in Vienna, where Admira appeared the better side but failed to capitalize on their opportunities. Stoiber managed to break through the stubborn Sparta defense in the second half but Sparta equalized through a powerful long shot from the 18 year old attacker Karel Senecky, who would go one to be a mainstay for the Czech national team. Sparta's new young forward line continued to try to find form in the second leg at home. Senecky and center forward Josef Zeman were both new to the squad, as star player Raymond Braine had moved back to Belgium and Oldřich Nejedlý had begin to show signs of his age. Senecky opened the scoring in the 8th minute, but Admira took control quickly thereafter, scoring twice through Hahnemann and Vogl to take the lead before a Zeman equalizer sent the tie to playoff. The playoff was won by Admira through a strong defensive display 2-0 with second half goals from Vogl and Franz Schilling.

Genoa gave a dominating display defeating the over matched Yugoslavian champions Gradanski. Genoa committed to attacking football in both legs, and were led by strong performances from their inside forwards Mario Perazzolo and Luigi Scarabello as well as Giuseppe Bigogno, their aggressive center halfback that also joined the attacking moves.

The first leg of the Lazio MTK showdown was played in Budapest. Lazio's defense shined behind performances from Giuseppe Viani and Libero Marchini. Piola scored a vital away goal in the 57th minute, and Cseh salvaged some hope for MTK going into the away leg, equalizing in the 70th minute. The second leg was a more open affair and the two attacking stars Piola and Cseh took center stage. Piola opened the scoring with two acrobatic headed goals, leading Lazio to a 3-0 halftime lead. Cseh led a valiant comeback in the second half, scoring twice by the 70th minute displaying dazzling technical skills. In the end Lazio's 3-2 held and they advanced to the next round.

The final first round match was between the Swiss champions and domestic double winners Grasshopper and the third place Czech side Prostejov. After a back and forth first leg in Zurich a young Alfred Bickel scored the late winner for Grasshopper, giving them a 4-3 home victory. The star of the second leg was Grasshopper's outstanding center half Sirio Vernati, who helped his side get a 2-2 away draw and advance to the second round.

Round 2

Ferencvaros 2 - 2 First Vienna (2-1, 0-1) Playoff (2-1)
Austria Vienna 7 - 5 Ujpest (5-4, 2-1)
Lazio 8 - 4 Grasshopper (6-1, 2-3)
Admira 2 - 2 Genoa (2-2, - )

Ferencvaros and First Vienna would clash in a tie dominated by defense. The first leg in Budapest was decided early. First grabbed a quick lead in the 9th minute, but Ferencvaros came right back equalizing and then taking the lead through Sarosi and Toldi by the 24th minute. After that both defenses hunkered down and no more goals were scored. In the second leg Sarosi moved to center half to bolster the defense, trying to protect their one goal lead in Vienna. After Pollak scored the only goal of the match in the 11th minute, the Hungarian defense held strong and the tie went to a playoff. In the playoff Ferencvaros opted to attack pressing First Vienna back and their robust, powerful forward Toldi scored two more goals, leading Ferencvaros to a 2-1 victory.

In the first leg of Austria Vienna and Ujpest's tie, offense was on full display. Austria came out aggressive at home, following their normal strategy of playing offensive and open in the home leg and defensive in the away leg. But they could not create there normal large margin in the home leg as the technical and explosive forward Zsengeller found the weakness in Austria's defense, their outside halfbacks. He exploited it scoring three times and allowed Ujpest to keep pace with Austria's powerful attack, once again led by Sindelar (1 goal) and Nausch (2 goals). The first leg ended 5-4 in favor of Austria. Austria adopted defensive tactics in the second leg in an attempt to protect their 1 goal aggregate advantage. Nausch moved back to left half back and played superbly in defense, shutting down the right side of Ujpests attack. Johann Mock also returned for Austria after missing the first leg, as both outside halfbacks that were exploited in the first leg were replaced with superior players. Sindelar once again keyed the counter attacks and opened the scoring with a another amazing long range goal from 25 meters. Jerusalem then gave Austria a 2-0 with a free kick and sealed the tie.

Lazio put their tie with Grasshoppers to bed in the first leg at home, winning 6-1 behind a hat trick from Piola who could not be stopped on the day. Grasshoppers played much better at home winning 3-2 behind an outstanding performance from future Swiss nation team star Alfred Bickel, who scored twice, although Grasshoppers never threatened to make the aggregate score close.

The first leg of Admira and Genoa's tie was marred by foul play and violence. Multiple fights broke out and players from both teams had to be removed with serious injuries, the referee completely lost control of the game, which ended 2-2. The second leg was in doubt as the police president of Genoa could not guarantee the safety of the players. A fight broke out in Genoa between the two teams the day before the second leg with Arrigo Morselli suffering a broken jaw. The Mitropa Cup Committee cancelled the game and disqualified both teams.

Round 3

Austria Vienna 5 - 7 Ferencvaros (4-1, 1-6)
Lazio

Austria Vienna took control of their tie with Ferencvaros, winning the first leg at home 4-1. In a tactical switch Sarosi was moved to play as an extra center half and was assigned with marking Sindelar. This tactic failed as Sindelar eluded Sarosi as the game wore one. The goals scorers for Austria were Jerusalem (x2) Stroh (x1) and Sindelar (x1), but Austria missed chances to score even more and Sarosi scored a valuable away goal from the penalty spot. Austria would rue their missed chances as the Magyars dominated the second leg, showing the form that allowed them to score 102 goals in Hungary that season. The title holders crashed out to a sensational 6-1 defeat, and were humbled by Ferencvaros' outstanding front line.

Lazio did not have a semi-final opponent and automatically advanced to the final.

Final

Ferencvaros 9 - 6 Lazio (4-2, 5-4)

The 1937 final would be remembered for its attacking football and legendary performances of Sarosi and Piola. The first leg started evenly matched, at halftime the score was 1-1 with goals from Toldi and Busani. Sarosi scored a second half hat trick, and Piola added another crucial away goal to limit Lazio's deficit to 2 goals going back to Italy. The second leg was a wild affair. Lazio jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the 4th minute with a goal from Giovanni Costa. Then Sarosi amazingly scored twice before 8 minutes had passed to take a 2-1 lead and a commanding 6-3 aggregate lead. Then Poila scored three straight goals and had Lazio back to level on aggregate 6-6 by the 36 minute! But as soon as Lazio had climbed back into the tie, Toldi scored before halftime to give Ferencvaros a one goal aggregate lead, trailing 4-3 in the match at the half. In the 61st minute Lazio had a chance to once again even the tie but Piola's penalty attempt was saved. Then Sarosi would put the game to bed, setting up Gyula Kiss for a goal with excellent combination play, and then scoring himself in the 80th minute to leave no doubt. He scored a hat trick in both legs of the final and the Mitropa Cup's all time leading scorer had finally won the competition.

Top Scorers

György Sárosi (Ferencvaros) - 12
Silvio Piola (Lazio) - 11
Geza Toldi (Ferencvaros) - 9
Gyula Zsengellér (Ujpest) - 8
Matthias Sindelar (Austria Vienna) - 6
Walter Nausch (Austria Vienna) - 5

Best Players

1. György Sárosi (Ferencvaros) - He gave a legendary performance, scoring 6 times in the final, and a record 12 time for a single tournament. He was the center of Ferencvaros' dominating forward line, and played a crucial role as a defender away vs first Vienna. He played all roles for his team, he was their leading scorer, was often noted for his excellent combination play setting up his strike partner Toldi, and moved to defense if need be.

2. Silvio Piola (Lazio) - The great Italian striker scored 11 goals in only 6 games (three less than Sarosi played). He was unstoppable in the 1937 Mitropa Cup and was only defeated by being outscored by Sarosi in the final. Piola thrived in the more open playing style of the Mitropa Cup compared to the low scoring Serie A, and it is unfortunate his team was only able to qualify for the tournament once.

3. Matthias Sindelar (Austria Vienna) - The Austrian wizard gave another great performance, coordinating Austria's relentless, overwhelming attacks at home, and leading lighting counter attacks on the road. He scored a number of spectacular long range goals and out dueled Sarosi in the first leg of their tie. The matches vs Ujpest and Ferencvaros showed that Austria's defense was not as strong as last season, and Austria failed to defend their title at no fault of Sindelar's.

4. Walter Nausch (Austria Vienna) - Similar to Sarosi, Nausch played all roles for Austria. He was part of their lethal attack, scoring 3 time in the demolition of Italian champions Bologna. He also played the crucial defensive role away vs Ujpest, shutting down the attacks from the wings that had cost then dearly in the first leg.

5. Gyula Zsengellér (Ujpest) - He scored an amazing 8 goals in only 4 games, giving a legendary performance away vs Austria, scoring 3 times. He was instrumental in the demolition of Romanian champions as well.

6. Geza Toldi (Ferencvaros) - The powerful Hungarian striker gave a number of key performances. He was excellent in the return leg vs Slavia, scored a brace in the playoff vs First Vienna, and scored at crucial times in both legs of the final. He was an perfect partner for the skillful Sarosi.

 

Thanks guys, hopefully I will finish up soon. Unfortunately the tournament declines in its last few years. I believe next years addition loses the Austrian sides.

Comme, since I am always interested in your all time rankings has anything here changed some of you thoughts on the top players from this era? It has certainly changed mine (mostly the IFFHS match reports, which is where all the most detailed info comes from). The last post I will probably make in this thread will be an overview of some of the top players from this competition and how I viewed them before and after. For instance it appears the Braine was far more central to Sparta's play and success than Nejedlý, which would not have been my thoughts before starting this process.