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.

European International Cup of Nations

Founded	1927
Abolished	1960 (1960)
Region	Central Europe & South Europe (UEFA)
Number of teams	5 (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	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

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 not completed due to the Anschluss
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
1931–1934	Romania	9	Hungary (A)	6	Czechoslovakia (A)	5

Summary (1927-1930/1955-1960)

Rank	Team	Part	M	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Points
1	Hungary	6	49	25	12	12	139	112	+27	87
2	Czechoslovakia	6	48	22	13	13	104	86	+18	79
3	Austria	6	48	22	11	15	102	88	+14	77
4	Italy	6	46	21	11	14	84	77	+7	74
5	Switzerland	6	50	4	8	38	78	169	-91	20
6	Yugoslavia	1	10	3	3	4	21	13	+8	12

Amateur Summary (1929-1930/1931-1934)

Rank	Team	Part	M	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Points
1	Hungary	2	12	6	0	6	36	31	+5	18
2	Austria	2	12	5	0	7	25	36	-11	15
3	Czechoslovakia	2	12	4	2	6	27	33	-6	14
4	Romania	1	6	4	1	1	16	9	+7	13
5	Poland	1	6	3	1	2	15	10	+5	10

Topscorers per tournament

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

All-time top goalscorers

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

• Mitropa Cup – the equivalent for club teams.

External links

• Dr. Gerö Cup at RSSSF