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. 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.

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

{| class="wikitable sortable"

! Country

! Winners

! Runners-up

! Third place

| Italy

| 2 times (1927–30, 1933–35)

| 1 (1931–32)

| Austria

| 1 time (1931–32)

| 2 (1927–30, 1933–35)

| 2 (1948–53, 1955–60)

| Czechoslovakia

| 1 time (1955–60)

| 2 (1927–30, 1948–53)

| Hungary

| 1 time (1948–53)

| 1 (1955–1960)

| 2 (1931–32, 1933–35)

Final placings

{| class=wikitable

!rowspan=2 |Years

!colspan=6|Classification

!Winner

! Points

!Runner-up

!Points

!Third place

!Points

|1927–1930

| 11

|colspan=3| and

| 10

|1931–1932

| 11

| 9

| 8

|1933–1935

| 11

| 9

|1936–1938

|colspan=6|

|1948–1953

| 11

| 9

|1955–1960

| 16

| 15

| 11

{| class=wikitable

!rowspan=2 |Years

!colspan=6|Classification (Amateur Competition)

!Winner

! Points

!|Runner-up

! Points

! Third place

! Points

|- align=center

|1929–1930

| 7

| (A)

| 6

| (A)

| 6

|- align=center

|1931–1934

| 9

| (A)

| 6

| (A)

| 5

Summary (1927-1930/1955-1960)

{|class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"

!Rank||width=200|Team||Part||M||W||D||L||GF||GA||GD||Points

|1||align=left|||6||49||25||12||12||139||112||+27||87

|2||align=left|||6||48||22||13||13||104||86||+18||79

|3||align=left|||6||48||22||11||15||102||88||+14||77

|4||align=left|||6||46||21||11||14||84||77||+7||74

|5||align=left|||6||50||4||8||38||78||169||-91||20

|6||align=left|||1||10||3||3||4||21||13||+8||12

Amateur Summary (1929-1930/1931-1934)

{|class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"

!Rank||width=200|Team||Part||M||W||D||L||GF||GA||GD||Points

|1||align=left|||2||12||6||0||6||36||31||+5||18

|2||align=left|||2||12||5||0||7||25||36||-11||15

|3||align=left|||2||12||4||2||6||27||33||-6||14

|4||align=left|||1||6||4||1||1||16||9||+7||13

|5||align=left|||1||6||3||1||2||15||10||+5||10

Topscorers per tournament

{| class=wikitable

!rowspan=2 |Years

!colspan=6| Top Scorers

!Goals

!Striker

!National team

!Ref.

|- align=center

|1927–1930

| 6 goals

| Julio Libonatti Gino Rossetti Ferenc Hirzer

|align=left|

|- align=center

|1931–1932

| 8 goals

| István Avar André Abegglen

|align=left|

|- align=center

| 1933–1935

| 7 goals

| Leopold Kielholz György Sárosi

|align=left|

|- align=center

| 1936–1938

| 10 goals

| György Sárosi

|align=left|

|- align=center

| 1948–1953

| 10 goals

| Ferenc Puskás

|align=left|

|- align=center

| 1955–1960

| 7 goals

| Lajos Tichy

|align=left|

All-time top goalscorers

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

!Rank

!Name

!Team

!Goals

!Tournaments

|align="left"| György Sárosi

|align="left"|Hungary

|17

|1933–35 (7 goals), 1936–38 (10 goals)

|align="left"| Ferenc Puskas

|align="left"|Hungary

|15

|1948–53 (10 goals), 1955–60 (5 goals)

|align="left"| André Abegglen

|align="left"|Switzerland

|12

|1927–30 (2 goals), 1931–32 (8 goals), 1933–35 (2 goals)

|align="left"| František Svoboda

|align="left"|Czechoslovakia

|11

|1927–30 (5 goals), 1931–32 (5 goals), 1936–38 (1 goals)

|rowspan="2"|5

|align="left"| István Avar

|align="left"|Hungary

|rowspan="2"|10

|1931–32 (8 goals), 1933–35 (2 goals)

|align="left"| Géza Toldi

|align="left"|Hungary

|1927–30 (1 goal), 1931–32 (2 goals), 1933–35 (2 goals), 1936–38 (5 goals)

|rowspan="2"|7

|align="left"| Giuseppe Meazza

|align="left"|Italy

|rowspan="2"|8

|1927–30 (3 goals), 1931–32 (2 goals), 1933–35 (2 goals), 1936–38 (1 goal)

|align="left"| Karl Zischek

|align="left"|Austria

|1931–32 (3 goals), 1933–35 (5 goals)

|rowspan="8"|9

|align="left"| Julio Libonatti

|align="left"|Italy

|rowspan="8"|7

|1927–30 (6 goals), 1931–32 (1 goal)

|align="left"| Max Abegglen

|align="left"|Switzerland

|1927–30 (5 goals), 1931–32 (2 goals)

|align="left"| Josef Silný

|align="left"|Czechoslovakia

|1927–30 (4 goals), 1931–32 (3 goals)

|align="left"| Leopold Kielholz

|align="left"|Switzerland

|1933–35 (7 goals)

|align="left"| Matthias Sindelar

|align="left"|Austria

|1931–32 (4 goals), 1936–38 (3 goals)

|align="left"| Silvio Piola

|align="left"|Italy

|1933–35 (2 goals), 1936–38 (5 goals)

|align="left"| Ferenc Deák

|align="left"|Hungary

|1948–53 (7 goals)

|align="left"| Lajos Tichy

|align="left"|Hungary

|1955–60 (7 goals)

|rowspan="7"|17

|align="left"| Gino Rossetti

|align="left"|Italy

|rowspan="7"|6

|1927–30 (6 goals)

|align="left"| Ferenc Hirzer

|align="left"|Hungary

|1927–30 (6 goals)

|align="left"| Anton Schall

|align="left"|Austria

|1927–30 (1 goal), 1931–32 (5 goals)

|align="left"| Oldřich Nejedlý

|align="left"|Czechoslovakia

|1931–32 (1 goal), 1933–35(4 goals), 1936–38 (1 goal)

|align="left"| Josef Bican

|align="left"|Austria

|1933–35 (5 goals), 1936–38 (1 goal)

|align="left"| Antonín Puč

|align="left"|Czechoslovakia

|1927–30 (3 goals), 1931–32 (1 goal), 1933–35 (1 goal), 1936-38 (1 goal)

|align="left"| Sandor Kocsis

|align="left"|Hungary

|1948–53 (2 goals), 1955–60 (4 goals)

Most successful players

Giuseppe Meazza
Eraldo Monzeglio
Raimundo Orsi
Raffaele Costantino
Alfredo Pitto
Umberto Caligaris
Luigi Allemandi
Virginio Rosetta
Gianpiero Combi

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 Czechoslovakia (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

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable"

|+Central European International Cup hat-tricks

!scope=col| #

!scope=col| Player

!scope=col|

!scope=col| Time of goals

!scope=col| For

!scope=col| Result

!scope=col| Against

!scope=col| Tournament

!scope=col| Date

!scope=col class="unsortable"| FIFA report

|align="right"| .

|Gino Rossetti

|align="center"| 3

| ', 61', 80'

|align=center| 4–2

|rowspan=2| 1927–30 Central European International Cup

|Report

|align="right"| .

|Giuseppe Meazza

|align="center"| 3

| ', 65', 70'

|align=center| 5–0

|Report

|align="right"| .

|István Avar

|align="center"| 3

| ', 33', 53'

|align=center| 3–3

|rowspan=5| 1931–32 Central European International Cup

|Report

|align="right"| .

|István Avar

|align="center"| 3

| ', 71', 87'

|align=center| 6–2

|Report

|align="right"| .

|Karel Bejbl

|align="center"| 3

| ', 53', 82'

|align=center| 7–3

|Report

|align="right"| .

|Anton Schall

|align="center"| 3

| ', 80', 86'

|align=center| 1–8

|Report

|align="right"| .

|Francisco Fedullo

|align="center"| 3

| ', 32', 55'

|align=center| 3–0

|Report

|align="right"| .

|Karl Zischek

|align="center"| 3

| ', 23', 55'

|align=center| 2–4

|rowspan=3| 1933–35 Central European International Cup

|Report

|align="right"| .

|Leopold Kielholz

|align="center"| 3

| ', 35', 57'

|align=center| 6–2

|Report

|align="right"| .

|Josef Bican

|align="center"| 3

| ', 11', 58'

|align=center| 4–4

|Report

|align="right"| .

|Géza Toldi

|align="center"| 3

| ', 29', 63'

|align=center| 5–3

|rowspan=4| 1936–38 Central European International Cup

|Report

|align="right"| .

|František Kloz

|align="center"| 4

| ', 30', 79', 82'

|align=center| 5–2

|Report

|align="right"| .

|Gyula Zsengellér

|align="center"| 3

| ', 61', 71'

|align=center| 1–5

|Report

|align="right"| .

|György Sárosi

|align="center"| 7

| ', 51', 60', 62', 77', 80', 85'

|align=center| 8–3

|Report

|align="right"| .

|Ferenc Puskás

|align="center"| 3

| ', 82', 89'

|align=center| 6–1

|1948–53 Central European International Cup

|Report

|align="right"| .

|Jiří Feureisl

|align="center"| 4

| ', 31', 61', 66'

|align=center| 1–6

|rowspan=2| 1955–60 Central European International Cup

|Report

|align="right"| .

|Lajos Tichy

|align="center"| 4

| ', 28', 35', 66'

|align=center| 8–0

|Report

References

External links

Dr. Gerö Cup at RSSSF

Trophy

History

Most successful teams

Final placings

Summary (1927-1930/1955-1960)

Amateur Summary (1929-1930/1931-1934)

Topscorers per tournament

All-time top goalscorers

Most successful players

Hat-tricks

List

See also

References

External links