| Founded | 1927 |
|---|---|
| Abolished | 1960; 65 years ago (1960) |
| Region | Central Europe &South Europe (UEFA) |
| Teams | 5 (1927–1953) 6 (1955–1960) |
| Last champions |  Czechoslovakia (1st title) |
| Most championships |  Italy (2 titles) |
TheEuropean International Cup of Nations was an international football competition held by certain national teams fromCentral Europe &South Europe between 1927 and 1960.[1] 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 theEuropean Football Championship started. Winners of the competition included theAustrianWunderteam of the early 1930s, theItaly team that also won twoWorld Cups in the 1930s, theGolden Team ofHungary and theCzechoslovakia team that later finished asWorld Cup runners up in 1962.
The trophy of the early competitions was namedŠvehla Cup afterAntonín Švehla, the prime minister ofCzechoslovakia, who donated it. After the Second World War the new trophy was known as theDr. Gerö Cup in honour ofJosef Gerö, a director of theAustrian Football Association and former match referee.
The competition was conceived by theAustrian football pioneerHugo Meisl, regarded by some as one of the fathers of European football. Meisl was also behind the launch of theMitropa Cup, a knockout competition for club teams from the same countries which also began in 1927. He also managedAustria during theWunderteam 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 anItaly team inspired byGiuseppe Meazza. Meazza and Italy also won the 1933-35 competition. This time the team was coached byVittorio Pozzo and either side of winning this competition they also won two World Cups in1934 and1938. The fourth tournament which began in 1936 was eventually abandoned due to theAnschluss Crisis and because of theSecond World War, while a fifth tournament was not held until 1948. This tournament marked the advent of theGolden Team ofHungary, coached byGusztáv Sebes and featuringFerenc Puskás,Zoltán Czibor,Sándor Kocsis,Nándor Hidegkuti,József Bozsik andGyula Grosics. They claimed the trophy after a 3–0 win over Italy inRome in 1953.
| 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) |
| 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 theAnschluss | |||||
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| Years | Top Scorers | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goals | Striker | National team | Ref. | |||
| 1927–1930 | 6 goals | Julio Libonatti Gino Rossetti Ferenc Hirzer | Italy Italy Hungary | [2] | ||
| 1931–1932 | 8 goals | István Avar André Abegglen | Hungary Switzerland | [3] | ||
| 1933–1935 | 7 goals | Leopold Kielholz György Sárosi | Switzerland Hungary | [4] | ||
| 1936–1938 | 10 goals | György Sárosi | Hungary | [5] | ||
| 1948–1953 | 10 goals | Ferenc Puskás | Hungary | [6] | ||
| 1955–1960 | 7 goals | Lajos Tichy |  Hungary | [7] | ||
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| 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) |
Giuseppe MeazzaEraldo MonzeglioRaimundo OrsiRaffaele CostantinoAlfredo PittoUmberto CaligarisLuigi AllemandiVirginio RosettaGianpiero CombiWinners in1927–30,1933–35 and runners-up in1931–32.
Since the first official tournament in1927–30, 17 hat-tricks have been scored in over 100 matches of the 6 editions of the tournament. The first hat-trick was scored byGino Rossetti of theItaly, playing againstCzechoslovakia on 3 March1929; and the last was byLajos Tichy ofHungary, playing againstSwitzerland on 25 October1959. The record number of hat-tricks in a single World Cup tournament is five, during the1931–32. The only player to have scored two hat-tricks isIstván Avar, both in1931.György Sárosi holds the record for most goals scored in a single Central European Cup match when he scored 7 forHungary in an 8–3 win overCzechoslovakia (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).