Hibernians, Champions of the World.

Hibernians (pre 1892 there was a pluralizing s at the end) were victims of their own success.
 Formed in 1875 as a club for Edinburgh's Irish community by Catholic priest Canon Edward Hannan, Hibernians were the model for a similar venture in Glasgow. When brother Walfrid  formed Celtic in 1888 they initially loaned a number of Hibernians players, many of whom later moved permanently to the Glasgow club. 
Initially the Scottish Football Association refused Hibernians membership because they were Irish, not Scottish. 
After this bit of foolishness had been rectified Hibernians won the Scottish Cup in 1887.
The week before the clash with Preston North End, Hibernians defeated Stoke 2-1. The origin of the World Championship billing is unclear. Preston North End might well have been one of the foremost clubs in England, but they were not, as is often stated, the FA Cup holders when this match took place.  
The Glasgow Herald report of the match makes no reference whatsoever to a world championship billing, stating that the famous professional combination the Preston North End were, as in the previous year, opening their season with a tour of Scotland (see below). The Herald points out that Preston were weakened by absences, but had drafted in Trainer (Bolton Wanderers) Weir (Halliwell) and the newcomers Ferguson and the Goodall brothers.

McGhee put the home side in front in the tenth minute. In the second half McLaren doubled the lead with a swift low shot.After hitting the bar with a sitter, Archie Goodall pulled one back with a header. Hibs had a third goal disallowed for offside.

Hibernians: Tobin,  Lundie*, McLaughlin, Gallagher, McGinn, McLaren*, Clarke, Dunbar*, McGhee*, Groves*, Smith. 
* Scottish Internationals

A Hibernians line up featuring several of the players who faced Preston. A James McGhee,B Peter McGinn,C Phil Clarke,D John Tobin,E James McLaren,F Willie Groves,G James Lundie,

H George Smith. 

 Preston North End 

All four home nations were represented:

Trainer (Wales), Nick Ross (Scotland), Drummond (Scotland), Weir (England),  Ferguson (Scotland) Robertson (Scotland), Archie Goodall ( Ireland ), Dewhurst (England), John Goodall (England), Gordon (Scotland), Jimmy Ross (Scotland).

Preston North End tour 1887
13.8.87 Hibernians 2-1 Preston North End
18.8.87 Dundee Strathmore 2-16 Preston North End 
19.8.87 Arbroath 0-2 Preston North End 
20.8.87 Glasgow Rangers 1-8 Preston North End

The  following week Preston entertained Scottish visitors at Deepdale:
27.8.87 Preston North End 6-1 Third Lanark RV

La Coupe de l'Europe Centrale 1927

International club competitions had been tried before, Early examples were (theoretically at first) TheAustria/Habsburg Monarchy Challenge Cup ,The Torneo Internazionale Stampa Sportiva, The Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy and the Coupe Van der Straeten Ponthoz.
Hugo Meisl believed that football would benefit from international club competitions. By the middle of the 1920s the situation in central Europe was right for putting such a theory into practice. Austria (1924), Hungary (1925) and  Czechoslovakia (1926) had all introduced professionalism into their league football, and they remained the strongest nations in continental football. Nearby Italy was also enjoying a meteoric rise. Public interest was high, games were well attended and international competition would provide a good source of extra revenue for the professionalized clubs.
In the summer of 1927 Meisl and his Hungarian counterpart Dr.Fischer Mór ironed out the arrangements for La Coupe de l'Europe Centrale, more popularly known as the Mitropa Cup.
Meisl invisaged an international league, but this would have added to fixture congestion, so a cup format was settled on. In theory the league champions and runners up (or cup winners) from each country would qualify. Germany and Italy were approached to participate. Italy declined on account of their complex and  protracted domestic arrangements.Germany were concerned by professionalism and the fact that the play offs that they needed to decide their national championships went on into the summer. 
The initial tournament was contested by two teams each from Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia:

Austria
SK Admira Vienna (league champions)
SK Rapid Wien (cup winners-Wiener Cup)

Czechoslovakia
Sparta Prague (league champions)
Slavia Prague (cup winners-Stredoceský Pohár)

Hungary
MTK (Budapest)
 Újpesti  
(Neither of these sides won a league or cup - they finished 3rd and second respectively behind Ferencváros in Nemzeti Bajnokság I)

Yugoslavia
Hajduk Split (league champions)
BSK (Belgrade) (league runners up)

First Round
		1st Leg	2nd Leg	Aggregate
MTK	BSK	4-2	4-0	8-2
Rapid Wien	Hajduk Split	(14.8.27) 8-1	(21.8.27) 1-0	9-1
Sparta Prague	Admira Vienna	5-1	3-5	8-6
Slavia Prague	Újpesti	4-0	2-2	6-2

Semifinals
		1st Leg	2nd Leg	Aggregate
Slavia Prague	Rapid Wien	(28.09.27) 2-2	(02.10.27) 1-2	3-4
MTK	Sparta Prague	2-2	0-0	2-2*

* history tantalizes us here: Sparta were awarded the tie because 'a player of MTK had occupied an irregular position'. I can find no explanation for this ruling.

Final

30.10.27: Sparta Prague  6-2 Rapid Wien 
(Letná Stadium, Pague, attendance: 25,000)
13.11.27: Rapid Wien 2-1 Sparta Prague 
(Hohe Warte Stadium, Vienna, attendance: 40,000)
Sparta won 7-4 on aggregate.

 Rapid Wien

Sparta Prague

Many sources state that John Dick was the manager of Sparta when they won the Mitropa in 1927. However, it would appear that this is incorrect, as Dick was with the Antwerp club Beerschot from 1923 (when he first left Sparta) until his return to Prague in either 1928 or 1929. Václav Špindler was the 'trainer' in 1927.

Coupe des Nations 1930

Újpest 

Europe didn't embrace the first World Cup with any great enthusiasm. Four European teams entered (Belgium, France, Romania and Yugoslavia), but certainly not the continent's strongest.
Meanwhile, Servette, a Geneva based Swiss club and reigning national champions, had a new stadium to unveil- Stade des Charmilles.

Servette FC 

A summer tournament for the leading continental club sides was arranged- England and Scotland were not included as they were not affiliated to FIFA at the time. Portugal's Benfica rejected the invitation, and the FA's of Norway and Greece objected to being overlooked.
Fifteen matches in eight days- a real feast of football. Taking part were:


First Vienna FC (Austria)
Cercle Brugge (Belgium)
SK Slavia Prague (Czechoslovakia)
Sète (France)
SpVgg Fürth (Germany)
Újpest FC (Hungary)
AGC Bologna (Italy)
Go Ahead (Netherlands)
Real Unión Irún (Spain)
Servette FC (Switzerland)

The final, a rematch of the 1929 Mitropa Final, was watched by 22,000. Újpest beat Slavia 3-0 through a János Köves hat trick. the game was refereed by S F Rous- the leading ref of the day.
Újpest scored 16 goals and conceded only 1 in 4 games. 

Coupe Van der Straeten Ponthoz 1900

In 1900 the Belgian count Van der Straeten Ponthoz offered a cup to the winner of an international tournament. At the time national  leagues existed in Belgium, Netherlands and Switzerland , and as the champions of these leagues were all in the tournament, the press dubbed it the continental championship.

RAP (1899)

Belgium: Antwerp FC,Racing(Brussels- entered 2 sides),Léopold FC(Brussels)

Switzerland: Grasshopper Club Zürich  

Netherlands: H.V.V.Den Haag,R.A.P.(Amsterdam) 

First Round
R.A.P.                2-1 Racing
H.V.V.                8-1 Léopold
Racing II             walk over  Antwerp FC
Grasshopper           bye

Semifinals
Grasshopper           2-3 R.A.P.
H.V.V.                3-0 Racing II

Final
R.A.P.                2-1 H.V.V.

Renton FC - Champions of The United Kingdom & The World

Renton FC was formed in 1872. West Dumbartonshire was a nursery of Scottish football, with Renton's neighbours Vale of Leven and Dumbarton also producing strong teams in this era. In 1888 Renton beat Cambuslang 6-1 in the Scottish Cup final. It was their second cup win.

In the 1888 FA Cup final in England underdogs West Bromwich Albion beat Preston North End on  24th March . West Brom. then issued a challenge to Renton. They would come to Scotland and meet Renton on a neutral ground to determine the‘Champions of the United Kingdom’ – and the World.

Renton accepted the offer, and on May 19th the two cup winners met at Cathkin Park, Glasgow.

The match was played in appalling conditions, Renton running out 4-1 winners. Renton's team included 19 year old Neil McCallum, who later that year would score the first ever goal for Celtic.

A sign proclaiming Renton ‘Champions of the World’ appeared above the pavilion in their home ground, Tontine Park. 

 Two weeks later, Renton cemented their claims of world domination by beating Preston North End (away) in an exhibition game.It was this Preston North End team, who, the following season,won the first ‘Double’ in England, and with it the nickname 'The Invincibles'.

The First Milan Derby

 Action from the 1908 Chiasso Cup Final

 Associazione Calcio Milan was formed in 1899 by a group of Englishmen as a football and cricket club. The use of Milan as opposed to Milano in the name reflects these origins. In 1908 (by which time Milan had been Italian champions three times) the club split over a disagreement about the limited opportunities open to foreign players (ironic, given their origins). This led to a breakaway club being formed- Internazionale. Internazionale won the championship within 2 years of their foundation. Milan, on the other hand, went into decline and didn't win the league for another 40 years.
The Derby della Madonnina, as the Milan derby is known, is one of the greatest rivalries in the world. The first meeting of the two clubs on 18th October 1908, eight months after Inter's formation, didn't take place in Milan, but in Switzerland.  The match was the final of the Chiasso Cup (the third edition of this international club tournament, which Milan had won on both previous occasions). It was a game of two 25-minute halves, played in front of 4,000 spectators.
 Milan won 2-1.
Milan lined up: Root; Glaser, Hall, White, Steltzer, Meschia, Lana, Madler, Forlano, Laich, A. Colombo.



















I cannot find a record of the Inter team.