China in Europe 1936

China v Great Britain 1936

The China squad for the 1936 Olympics in Berlin consisted of ethnic Chinese players from Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, and Java. Following a couple of trial matches the squad was named in April, and then, following 7 warm -up games in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Nanking, undertook an arduous 27 match tour of Indo China, the Dutch East Indies, Singapore, Burma and India before travelling to Europe.
Their record in these preparation games, played between May 8th and July 8th was:
Played: 34
Won: 28
Drawn: 4
Lost: 2
For: 141
Against: 41

The 1936 Olympic football tournament was a straight knock-out.  China were drawn against Great Britain in the first round. Great Britain won 2-0 through second half goals by John Dodds (Queen's Park) and Lester Finch (Barnet).
So after months of preparation and thousands of kilometers of travelling China's Olympics lasted 90 minutes.

The following week China played the first match of a three week tour of Europe.
The details of the first match on August 13th are unclear- they played a South-West Germany representative team in Frankfurt and lost (some sources give the score as 8-1 and others 8-3)*.
The Chinese then travelled to Vienna where they lost 4-2 to Rapid on August 15th and were thrashed 11-0 by Admira the following day.
On August 20th they defeated Servette 3-2 in Geneva.
Next stop was France and a 2-2 draw with Red Star Olympique in Paris on August 22nd followed by a 6-0 beating at the hands of Le Havre on the 23rd.
Ajax were the next team to entertain the China team, the Dutch winning 5-3 on August 27th.
The tourists then crossed the channel and met two English amateur sides. Their detour to England ended winless- On August 31st Islington Corinthians FC beat them 3-2 and Casuals 5-2 on September 1st.

The record of the European part of the tour (excluding the Olympic match) was:
Played: 9
Won: 1
Drawn: 1
Lost: 7
For: 15 or 17*
Against: 46

The star of the China squad was Lee Wai Tong. He received offers of contracts whilst in Europe, but, approaching his 31st birthday, he had resolved to retire from the game after the tour.

France 1899

France received early exposure to football.
A presumably pre- association variant of the game caused much mirth when it was practiced by Englishmen in the Bois de Boulogne in 1863, and as early as 1872 the Association game was being played by British sailors in Le Havre.
Strange to relate, then, how as late as 1899 that the French game could still be in such a state of infancy that a semi final of its putative championship was reduced to a game of  45 minutes for want of a ball.
The Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques (USFSA) organized a cup competition as early as 1893-94. A league format was introduced for the 1895-96 season. The winners were billed as National champions, although the competitions were not representative of the whole country, drawing exclusively on Paris clubs. 
The winners of these early competitions were:
1893-94 Standard Athletic Club
1894-95 Standard Athletic Club
1895-96 Club Français de Paris
1896-97 Standard Athletic Club
1897-98 Standard Athletic Club
1898-99 Club Français de Paris

Havre Athletic Club - champions under unusual circumstances.

In 1899 the USFSA introduced a national championship. Notionally at least. In reality it was something of a farce.

Six regional champions were invited to compete. Three declined due to the expense of travelling to Paris (where the entire tournament was to be held).
This left Club Français de Paris, Havre Athletic Club and Iris Club Lillois.

Club Français de Paris

Club Français de Paris was founded in 1890. The club was dissolved in 1935.

Le Havre Athletic Club was founded (by Englishmen) as a Rugby club in 1872. They began to play Association rules in 1894.

Iris Club Lillois was founded in 1898 as a multi- sport club that later favoured Rugby. 

Havre and Lillois were to play a 'semi-final' to decide who played  Club Français  in the final.
They met at Paris on February 28th 1899. But there was no ball. It took some time to procure one. 45 minutes was played, Havre were winning 1-0. The pitch was booked for a hockey match, so the game had to be abandoned. A replay, to take place in Amiens, was scheduled, but Lillois did not turn up.
The USFSA awarded the match to Havre.
Club Français then refused to play Havre in the final, questioning their opponents' right to play for the championship.
The  USFSA then awarded the championship to Havre.