The cup started in 1927 and was known as the Central European Cup. It was the brainchild of Austrian Hugo Meisl, general secretary of the ÖFB (Austrian Football Federation). It is also known as the Mitropa Cup (from German Mitteleuropa - Central Europe).
The forerunner of this competition was the Challenge Cup which took place for clubs in the Austro-Hungarian Empire which de facto were those from Budapest, Prague and Vienna. It first took place in 1897-98 and continued every year until 1905 and then just sporadically until 1911. The Viennese clubs won every Cup with the exception of the 1908-09 one, which was won by Ferencvaros.
After the first world war and the collapse of the Empire, the idea that a similar competition should continue never left the former nations of the Austro-Hungary Empire. With the introduction of professional leagues, and since these teams were the strongest in Europe at the time, on July 17, 1927 the Mitropa Cup was launched. In the first two editions two teams from Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Yugoslavia participated.
In 1929 Italian teams replaced the Yugoslav ones.
In 1934 the teams from each nation became four, while in 1936 four Swiss clubs were added.
In 1937 the teams were reduced to three to make space for Romanian clubs and a return of Yugoslavian participation.
In 1938 the Austrian clubs dropped out due to the annexation by Germany. The new format was therefore four clubs each from Italy, Hungary and Czechoslovakia.
In 1939 only eight clubs took part and in 1940 the tournament was abandoned before the final due to the worsening of the war situation.
Before the war the tournament had been extremely prestigious. These were its glory days and it could almost be compared to the later European Cup. In fact, the Mitropa Cup and the Latin Cup of the 1950's were basically the precursors of the European Cup. The Hungarians, Czechs, Italians and Austrians had the best clubs and Italy also won the World Cups of 1934 and 1938. The only other really competitive clubs were the British but they still refused to play what they considered inferior opposition.
After the war, there were was an attempt to revamp the competition and it was named Zentropa Cup.
The Zentropa Cup wanted to compete with the other two cups that were being played at club level. The teams that participated were Rapid Wien, champions of Austria, Wacker, second, Dinamo Zagreb, fourth in the Yugoslavian league, and Lazio who had arrived fourth in Serie A.
After the war the cup was restarted in 1955. It was called the Mitropa Cup and it was by invitation only. The nations involved were Austria, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Hungary and Italy. From 1958 Romanian and Bulgarian clubs also played.
In 1966 it took on the European Cups' format and involved teams from mid-table who had not qualified for the three cups: European, Cup Winners and UEFA.
It therefore lost its importance and in 1979 changed format again. It became a tournament between clubs which had won their nation's second tier divisions.
Some big clubs won it, including A.C Milan. In 1989 a one-off Mitropa Supercup was organised between the winners of 1988 (Pisa) and the 1989 (Banik Ostrava).
The last edition was played in 1992.
Lazio in the Mitropa Cup
Lazio participated four times in the Mitropa Cup plus once in the non-official Zentropa Cup.
In 1937 they reached the final where they were beaten by Ferencvaros 9-6 on aggregate. In the 1951 Zentropa Cup they were beaten by both Rapid Wien and Dinamo Zagreb. Lazio reached the quarter finals in 1967, eliminated by Spartak Trnava, but in 1969 they were eliminated by Honvéd in the round of 16.
Year | Winner | Runner-up |
1927 | Sparta Prague | Rapid Wien |
1928 | Ferencváros | Rapid Wien |
1929 | Újpest FC | Slavia Prague |
1930 | Rapid Wien | Sparta Prague |
1931 | First Vienna | Wiener AC |
1932 | Bologna | - |
1933 | Austria Wien | |
1934 | Bologna | Admira Wien |
1935 | Sparta Prague | Ferencváros |
1936 | Austria Wien | Sparta Prague |
1937 | Ferencváros | Lazio |
1938 | Slavia Prague | Ferencváros |
1939 | Újpest FC | Ferencváros |
1940 | Rapid București - Ferencváros (final not played) | |
1951 (as Zentropa Cup) | Rapid Wien | Admira Wien |
1955 | Vörös Lobogó | ÚDA Prague |
1956 | Vasas | Rapid Wien |
1957 | Vasas | Vojvodina |
1958 (Danube Cup) | Red Star Belgrade | Rudá Hvezda Brno |
1959 | Honvéd | MTK |
1960 | Hungary | - |
1961 | Bologna | Slovan Nitra |
1962 | Vasas | Bologna |
1963 | MTK Budapest | Vasas |
1964 | Sparta Prague | Slovan Bratislava |
1965 | Vasas | Fiorentina |
1966 | Fiorentina | Jednota Trenčín |
1966-67 | Spartak Trnava | Újpesti Dózsa |
1967-68 | Red Star Belgrade | Spartak Trnava |
1968-69 | Inter Bratislava | Sklo Union Teplice |
1969-70 | Vasas | Inter Bratislava |
1970-71 | Čelik Zenica | Austria Salzburg |
1971-72 | Čelik Zenica | Fiorentina |
1972-73 | Tatabányai Bányász | Čelik Zenica |
1973-74 | Tatabányai Bányász | ZVL Zilina |
1974-75 | Wacker Innsbruck | Honvéd |
1975-76 | Wacker Innsbruck | Velež Mostar |
1976–77 | Vojvodina | Vasas |
1977–78 | Partizan | Honvéd |
1979–80 | Udinese | Čelik Zenica |
1980–81 | Tatran Prešov | Csepel SC |
1981–82 | Milan | TJ Vítkovice |
1982–83 | Vasas | ZVL Zilina |
1983–84 | SC Eisenstadt | Prishtina |
1984–85 | Iskra Bugojno | Atalanta |
1985–86 | Pisa | Debrecen |
1986–87 | Ascoli | Bohemians Prague |
1987–88 | Pisa | Váci Izzó |
1988–89 | Baník Ostrava | Bologna |
1990 | Bari | Genoa |
1991 | Torino | Pisa |
1992 | Borac Banja Luka | BVSC |
Sources
Comments