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.Leo Schidrowitz "Internationaler Cup", Vienna 1954 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.

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 YearsClassificationWinner PointsRunner-upPointsThird placePoints1927–1930 11 and 101931–1932 11 9 81933–1935 11 9 91936–1938 1948–1953 11 9 91955–1960 16 15 11

YearsClassification (Amateur Competition)Winner PointsRunner-up Points Third place Points1929–1930 7 (A) 6 (A) 61931–1934 9 (A) 6 (A) 5

Summary (1927-1930/1955-1960)

RankTeamPartMWDLGFGAGDPoints1649251212139112+2787264822131310486+1879364822111510288+147746462111148477+7745650483878169-912061103342113+812

Amateur Summary (1929-1930/1931-1934)

RankTeamPartMWDLGFGAGDPoints12126063631+51822125072536-111532124262733-614416411169+7135163121510+510

Topscorers per tournament Years Top ScorersGoalsStrikerNational teamRef.1927–1930 6 goals Julio Libonatti Gino Rossetti Ferenc Hirzer 1931–1932 8 goals István Avar André Abegglen 1933–1935 7 goals Leopold Kielholz György Sárosi 1936–1938 10 goals György Sárosi 1948–1953 10 goals Ferenc Puskás 1955–1960 7 goals Lajos Tichy

All-time top goalscorers

RankNameTeamGoalsTournaments1 György SárosiHungary171933–35 (7 goals), 1936–38 (10 goals)2 Ferenc PuskasHungary151948–53 (10 goals), 1955–60 (5 goals)3 André AbegglenSwitzerland121927–30 (2 goals), 1931–32 (8 goals), 1933–35 (2 goals)4 František SvobodaCzechoslovakia111927–30 (5 goals), 1931–32 (5 goals), 1936–38 (1 goals)5 István AvarHungary101931–32 (8 goals), 1933–35 (2 goals) Géza ToldiHungary1927–30 (1 goal), 1931–32 (2 goals), 1933–35 (2 goals), 1936–38 (5 goals)7 Giuseppe MeazzaItaly81927–30 (3 goals), 1931–32 (2 goals), 1933–35 (2 goals), 1936–38 (1 goal) Karl ZischekAustria1931–32 (3 goals), 1933–35 (5 goals)9 Julio LibonattiItaly71927–30 (6 goals), 1931–32 (1 goal) Max AbegglenSwitzerland1927–30 (5 goals), 1931–32 (2 goals) Josef SilnýCzechoslovakia1927–30 (4 goals), 1931–32 (3 goals) Leopold KielholzSwitzerland1933–35 (7 goals) Matthias SindelarAustria1931–32 (4 goals), 1936–38 (3 goals) Silvio PiolaItaly1933–35 (2 goals), 1936–38 (5 goals) Ferenc DeákHungary1948–53 (7 goals) Lajos TichyHungary1955–60 (7 goals)17 Gino RossettiItaly61927–30 (6 goals) Ferenc HirzerHungary1927–30 (6 goals) Anton SchallAustria1927–30 (1 goal), 1931–32 (5 goals) Oldřich NejedlýCzechoslovakia1931–32 (1 goal), 1933–35(4 goals), 1936–38 (1 goal) Josef BicanAustria1933–35 (5 goals), 1936–38 (1 goal) Antonín PučCzechoslovakia1927–30 (3 goals), 1931–32 (1 goal), 1933–35 (1 goal), 1936-38 (1 goal) Sandor KocsisHungary1948–53 (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 Czechoslovakia (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 Time of goals For Result Against Tournament Date FIFAreport .Gino Rossetti 3 ', 61', 80' 4–2 1927–30 Central European International CupReport .Giuseppe Meazza 3 ', 65', 70' 5–0Report .István Avar 3 ', 33', 53' 3–3 1931–32 Central European International CupReport .István Avar 3 ', 71', 87' 6–2Report .Karel Bejbl 3 ', 53', 82' 7–3Report .Anton Schall 3 ', 80', 86' 1–8Report .Francisco Fedullo 3 ', 32', 55' 3–0Report .Karl Zischek 3 ', 23', 55' 2–4 1933–35 Central European International CupReport .Leopold Kielholz 3 ', 35', 57' 6–2Report .Josef Bican 3 ', 11', 58' 4–4Report .Géza Toldi 3 ', 29', 63' 5–3 1936–38 Central European International CupReport .František Kloz 4 ', 30', 79', 82' 5–2Report .Gyula Zsengellér 3 ', 61', 71' 1–5Report .György Sárosi 7 ', 51', 60', 62', 77', 80', 85' 8–3Report .Ferenc Puskás 3 ', 82', 89' 6–11948–53 Central European International CupReport .Jiří Feureisl 4 ', 31', 61', 66' 1–6 1955–60 Central European International CupReport .Lajos Tichy 4 ', 28', 35', 66' 8–0Report

See also Mitropa Cup – the equivalent for club teams.

References

External links Dr. Gerö Cup at RSSSF