Mitropa Cup

Hugo Meisl's visionary idea that international club competitions would be both lucrative and a means of strengthening the standard of central European football were instrumental in elevating the Austrian, Hungarian and Czech game. The Danubian clubs were at the time equal to any in the World. The Mitropa Cup also provided the template for later international club competitions.
Let's look at the first 10 tournament winners and 9 finals:

1927 Sparta Prague

30.10.27	Sparta	6	2	Rapid	Letna, Prague:  25,000
13.11.27	Rapid	2	1	Sparta	Hohe Warte, Vienna: 40,000
Sparta		7	4	Rapid

Káďa

Dual international (football and ice hockey) Karel Pešek-Káďa was the first captain to lift the trophy. He also put Sparta ahead in the first minute of their emphatic victory in the home leg of the final. 

1928 Ferencváros

28.10.28	Ferencváros	7	1	Rapid	Üllői úti ,Budapest:  25,000
11.11.28	Rapid	5	3	Ferencváros	Hohe Warte, Vienna: 20,000
Ferencvaros		10	6	Rapid

Takács

8 goals in each leg! József Takács, the tournament top scorer (10 goals) scored a hat trick in the first leg. 

1929 Újpesti FC

03.11.29	Újpest	5	1	Slavia	Hungária körút,Budapest:  18,000
17.11.29	Slavia	2	2	Újpest	Letna, Prague:  25,000
Újpest		7	3	Slavia

 Auer/Avar

Tournament top scorer was Újpest's Stefan Auer (aka Istavan Avar). He scored in both legs of the final.


1930 Rapid (Vienna)

02.11.30	Sparta	0	2	Rapid	Letna, Prague:  25,000
11.11.30	Rapid	2	3	Sparta	Hohe Warte, Vienna : 40,000
Rapid		4	3	Sparta

A 2nd leg hattrick by Josef  Košťálek was not enough for Sparta.

1931 First Vienna FC

08.11.31	WAC	2	3	First Vienna	Hardturm , Zürich: 20,000
13.11.31	First Vienna	2	1	WAC	Hohe Warte, Vienna : 25,000
First Vienna		5	3	WAC

1932 Bologna

Italian clubs had been participating since 1929 and Bologna were the first Italian winners. There was no final, however. Bologna won their semi final against First Vienna. The second leg of the other semi final, Juventus versus Slavia at Stadio di Corso Marsiglia, was abandoned. Juventus pulled back 2 goals having lost the away leg 4-0. Slavia then engaged time wasting tactics that enraged the crowd. Stones were thrown, Plánička was injured, Slavia walked off, both sides were ejected from the competition.


1933 Austria (Vienna)

03.09.33	Ambrosiana	2	1	Austria	Arena Civica , Milan : 25,000
08.09.33	Austria	3	1	Ambrosiana	Praterstadion, Vienna : 58,000
Austria		4	3	Ambrosiana

Sindelar

Matthias Sindelar scored a hat trick in the second leg to win the trophy for Austria.

Two legends: Sindelar and Meazza

1934 Bologna

05.09.34	Admira	3	2	Bologna	Praterstadion, Vienna : 50,000
09.09.34	Bologna	5	1	Admira	Littoriale, Bologna: 25,000
Bologna		7	4	Admira

Reguzzoni

Carlo Reguzzoni scored a hat trick in Bologna's emphatic home win. He was also the competition's top scorer, with 10 goals. 

1935 Sparta Prague

08.09.35	Ferencvaros	2	1	Sparta	Ulloi Ut, Budapest: 34,000
15.09.35	Sparta	3	0	Ferencvaros	Velký Strahovský Stadion: 56, 000
Sparta		4	2	Ferencvaros

Braine 

Belgium's Ray Braine scored 3 goals in the finals

1936 Austria (Vienna)

06.09.36	Austria	0	0	Sparta	Praterstadion, Vienna : 41,600
13.09.36	Sparta	0	1	Austria	Velký Strahovský Stadion: 58,000
Austria		1	0	Sparta

 Jerusalem

  Low scoring games were a rarity. 0-0 draws almost unheard of. During these 10 seasons Mitropa Cup ties produced an average of 4.2 goals per game. 
Camillo Jerusalem broke the deadlock in the 67th minute of the 2nd leg. 

 Winners by country: 
Austria - 4 

Hungary -2

Czechoslovakia -2

Italy - 2

Yugoslavia - 0

Switzerland - 0

Lo Sport Fascista - February 1933

Mussolini, although not a great football fan, realised the propaganda potential of sport and exploited the success of Italian sportsmen during the Fascist Era for these purposes.
The player featured on this magazine from  February 1933 is Bologna centre forward Angelo Schiavio.
Schiavio spent 16 seasons at Bologna (1922-1938), scoring  109 goals in 179 Serie A appearances and 242 senior goals in a total of 348 appearances. In the 1931–1932 season he was Capocannoniere  with 25 goals. He featured in 4 scudetto winning squads and won the Mitropa Cup twice.
His international record with Italy (1925-1934) was 15 goals in 21 matches, He won Olympic Bronze (1928) and was a World Cup Winner (1934), scoring the winning goal in the final. Schiavo also featured in 2 successful  Coupe Internationale européenne campaigns. 

Sport-Magazin - August 1935

 Ferencváros lost  to Sparta in the Mitropa Cup final the month after this magazine appeared. They were runners up in the Hungarian league in the 1934-35 season, and won the Magyar Kupa.
This was the team, consisting of  11 Hungary internationals, that lined up in the semi final of the Mitropa Cup against Austria Vienna. 
Kronenberger was also known as Lajos Korányi. 
I really like József Háda's goalkeeper's jersey.

Ray Braine

Up until 1930 the way in which Belgian clubs got around the strict amatuer rules was to set their players up as cafe owners. Ray Braine, who had won 4 championships with Beerschot (Antwerp), scoring 141 goals in 142 games in his 8 year spell at the club, followed this route. The Belgian Federation then introduced a  rule that banned players from being cafe proprietors unless their parents had been in the business for 5 years.  
In 1930 Braine decided to try his hand abroad in order to earn money from football without resorting to subterfuge, He was set to join London club Clapton Orient, but the British government operated a very strict control on foreign labour, and would not consider allowing a foreign national to enter the country to work as a professional footballer. 
Braine turned instead to Czechoslovakia, joining Sparta Prague. He was very successful in Prague, winning 2 league championships and a Mitropa Cup. The Czechs offered him a small fortune to adopt Czech citizenship, but he declined, returning to Belgium in 1936.
He made 54 appearances for the national team, scoring 26 goals. 

Evolution of the European game

Some very interesting footage here.

Slavia Prague - Jake Madden

Jake Madden

 Slavia 1910

Celtic's Jake Madden scored 4 goals on his international debut for Scotland. He only managed 2 caps, but ran up 5 goals, an impressive strike rate.
He was coach of Slavia Prague from 1905-1930. He was the first proper manager of Slavia, and introduced the team to the philosophy of Scottish football. 
Under Madden Slavia  had an impressive record: domestic matches played 169 won 134 (79%); international matches (Mitropa Cup, friendlies) played 429 won 304 (70%).