June 13, 1937: MTK Hungaria-Lazio 1-1 , Central European Cup
- Dag Jenkins
- Jun 13
- 8 min read
Lazio draw with Hungarian Champions
The Romans clinch good draw and can look to return leg with optimism
The season so far
The previous season Lazio had finished 7th, first under Czech Walter Alt (1-27) and then Hungarian József Viola. Top scorer was Silvio Piola with 21 goals (19 in Serie A).
This year the Magyar coach Viola was kept on. The main new signings were midfielder Luigi Milano (Alessandria) and forwards Umberto Busani (Alessandria), Giovanni Costa (Vicenza) and Giovanni Riccardi (Alessandria).
Leaving were midfielders Attilio Ferraris IV (Bari), Francesco Gabriotti (retiring), Odoacre Pardini (retiring) and forwards Antonio Bisigato (Ambrosiana Inter), Anfilogino "Filó" Guarisi (Corinthians) and Virgilio Felice Levratto (Savona).
The season had been extremely positive and Lazio had finished 2nd behind Bologna. The Biancocelesti had won 17 (including Milan 3-0, Juventus 1-0, Inter 1-0 at home, Napoli 5-3 away), drawn 5 and lost 8. Top scorer of Serie A was Piola again with 21 league goals.
Now it was time for the Central European Cup. A prestigious tournament which this year saw teams from seven nations take part: Italy, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Switzerland, Yugoslavia and Romania. This season 16 teams were participating including Italian champions Bologna and winners of the Coppa Italia, Genoa.
Today was the away leg against Hungária MTK.
Magyar Testgyakorlók Köre Hungária, known as Hungária MTK, were Hungarian Champions. They had won the league ahead of Ferencváros. This was the club from Budapest's 15th Nemzeti Bajnokság I title. The top scorer was László Cseh with 36 league goals.
Today as mentioned was the away leg of the last 16 round. A difficult game today for Lazio against quality opposition.
The match: Sunday, June 13, 1937, Mtk-pálya, Budapest
A mild and sunny day in the Hungarian capital brought just under 10,000 spectators to the small stadium for a 6 p.m. kick-off.
Lazio fielded their best XI apart from midfielder Bruno Camolese.
Lazio's hope was to limit the damage and at least keep the tie open for the return game in Rome. Lazio's wingers played low and the attack sacrifices itself with more defensive tasks.
Lazio played against the sun in the first half. Hungaria attacked but in the 15th minute Lazio had a chance from a home defensive clearance following a corner but Umberto Busani was wasteful.
The locals then upped the tempo and Giacomo Blason had to dive low to parry a shot by Karl Muller. The keeper from Friuli was then kept busy on efforts by László Cseh and Kardos.
Lazio weathered the storm and in the 25th minute Giovanni Costa, finely set up by Giuseppe Viani, tested the hosts' keeper with a powerful effort which was saved behind for a corner. Lazio then had strikes by Silvio Piola, just wide, and Libero Marchini, blocked by defenders.
In the 28th minute Cseh caused havoc in the Lazio defence but Alfredo Monza relieved the danger by conceding a corner.
For the rest of the half the Magyars attacked but Lazio managed to contain them reasonably well, 0-0 at halftime.
The second half started with Piola going past four opponents and squaring to Busani but his header was saved well by Antal Szabó.
Lazio were now more confident and had a powerful Costa shot hit the side netting and then a favourable opportunity for Busani but his shot was too weak to threaten Szabó.
In the 59th minute Lazio took the lead. Marchini fed Costa who put a good ball into the area where Piola got between the two full-backs and toed the ball in, 0-1.
The Budapesters now went for all-out attack. They stacked up several corners but Lazio looked calm under pressure.
In the 66th minute Sebes went close with a freekick.
Two minutes later the referee awarded Hungaria another freekick for a Luigi Milano handball. This time Muller floated the ball into a crowded area and Cseh headed past Blason who only saw the ball at the last second, 1-1.
Hungaria then pushed forward looking for a winner but it was Lazio who went closer when in the 82nd minute Busani hit the crossbar. Final score: 1-1.
A valiant performance by Lazio who were applauded off the field by the local fans. The spectators were not so generous with their own side who walked off accompanied by whistles of disapproval.
A good result for Lazio against the Hungarian champions. The Biancocelesti had defended for long periods but with great discipline and order and then been dangerous themselves when possible.
The tie, as Lazio had hoped, was still completely open. The return game would be in Rome on June 27.
Who played for Hungaria
Szabo, Kiss, Biro, Sebes, Turay, Dudas, Sas, Muller, Cseh, Kardos, Titkos
Manager: Braun
Who played for Lazio
Manager: Viola
Referee: Krist (Czechoslovakia)
Goals: 59' Piola, 68' Cseh
What happened next
In the return leg in Rome, Lazio won 3-2 (after being 3-0 up) with two goals by Piola and one by Costa.
Lazio then played Swiss club Grasshoppers from Zurich in the quarter finals. The game in Rome saw Lazio dominate and win 6-1 with a Piola hat-trick while the return game was narrowly won 3-2 by the Hoppers.
Lazio were through to the semi-finals but had no opposition. Their potential rivals, Genoa and Admira Wacker had both been banned from the tournament. The first leg in Vienna had seen anti-Italian political demonstrations and the Italian Home Minister refused to let the return leg go ahead. At this point the organisers of the tournament kicked both teams out and promoted Lazio directly to the final.
The other finalists were Hungarian Ferencváros. They too were from Budapest and had won 13 league titles and seven Hungarian Cups. The Magyars had eliminated Slavia Prague 5-3 on aggregate, First Vienna FC in a playoff 2-1 (after 2-2 on aggregate) and FK Austria 7-5 on aggregate. Their manager was Emil Rauuchmaul.
In the first leg in Budapest, on September 12, the home side won 4-2 in front of 30,000 spectators with a György Sárosi hat-trick while Lazio responded with Busani and Piola.
In Rome, on October 24, the Hungarians won again 5-4. Lazio were winning 4-2 but the Magyars proved too good and came back to win. The top scorer of the tournament was Sárosi with 12 goals while Piola got 10.
As for MTK Hungária, they would disband in 1941 as they had strong Jewish connections. They returned in 1946 as MTK Budapest and have since won another eight Hungarian league titles (most recent in 2007-08), five Hungarian Cups and two Super Cups.
They won the Mitropa Cup in 1955 and 1963.
Their goalkeeper Szabó would play for Hungary in the 1938 World Cup final lost 2-4 against Italy. Following alleged death threats by Benito Mussolini to the Italian players in the case of defeat, the Hungarian keeper stated, "I conceded four goals but at least I saved the Italians' lives".
On a curious note, today's ground, the MTK-Palya would many years later in 1981 be used to shoot the famous film "Escape to Victory" (released as Victory in some markets) featuring Pelé, Michael Caine, Sylvester Stallone, Bobby Moore and Max Von Sydow amongst others.
Let's talk about the Mitropa Cup
The cup started in 1927 and was known as the Central European Cup. It was the brainchild of Austrian Hugo Meisl, general secretary of the ÖFB (Austrian Football Federation). It is also known as the Mitropa Cup (from German Mitteleuropa - Central Europe).
The forerunner of this competition was the Challenge Cup which took place for clubs in the Austro-Hungarian Empire which de facto were those from Budapest, Prague and Vienna. It first took place in 1897-98 and continued every year until 1905 and then just sporadically until 1911. The Viennese clubs won every Cup with the exception of the 1908-09 one, which was won by Ferencvaros.
After the first world war and the collapse of the Empire, the idea that a similar competition should continue never left the former nations of the Austro-Hungary Empire. With the introduction of professional leagues, and since these teams were the strongest in Europe at the time, on July 17, 1927 the Mitropa Cup was launched. In the first two editions two teams from Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Yugoslavia participated.
In 1929 Italian teams replaced the Yugoslav ones.
In 1934 the teams from each nation became four, while in 1936 four Swiss clubs were added.
In 1937 the teams were reduced to three to make space for Romanian clubs and a return of Yugoslavian participation.
In 1938 the Austrian clubs dropped out due to the annexation by Germany. The new format was therefore four clubs each from Italy, Hungary and Czechoslovakia.
In 1939 only eight clubs took part and in 1940 the tournament was abandoned before the final due to the worsening of the war situation.
Before the war the tournament had been extremely prestigious. These were its glory days and it could almost be compared to the later European Cup. In fact, the Mitropa Cup and the Latin Cup of the 1950's were basically the precursors of the European Cup. The Hungarians, Czechs, Italians and Austrians had the best clubs and Italy also won the World Cups of 1934 and 1938. The only other really competitive clubs were the British but they still refused to play what they considered inferior opposition.
After the war, there were was an attempt to revamp the competition and it was named Zentropa Cup.
The Zentropa Cup wanted to compete with the other two cups that were being played at club level. The teams that participated were Rapid Wien, champions of Austria, Wacker, second, Dinamo Zagreb, fourth in the Yugoslavian league, and Lazio who had arrived fourth in Serie A.
After the war the cup was restarted in 1955. It was called the Mitropa Cup and it was by invitation only. The nations involved were Austria, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Hungary and Italy. From 1958 Romanian and Bulgarian clubs also played.
In 1966 it took on the European Cups' format and involved teams from mid-table who had not qualified for the three cups: European, Cup Winners and UEFA.
It therefore lost its importance and in 1979 changed format again. It became a tournament between clubs which had won their nation's second tier divisions.
Some big clubs won it, including A.C Milan. In 1989 a one-off Mitropa Supercup was organised between the winners of 1988 (Pisa) and the 1989 (Banik Ostrava).
The last edition was played in 1992.
Lazio in the Mitropa Cup
Lazio participated four times in the Mitropa Cup plus once in the non-official Zentropa Cup.
In 1937 they reached the final where they were beaten by Ferencvaros 9-6 on aggregate. In the 1951 Zentropa Cup they were beaten by both Rapid Wien and Dinamo Zagreb. Lazio reached the quarter finals in 1967, eliminated by Spartak Trnava, but in 1969 they were eliminated by Honvéd in the round of 16.
Year | Winner | Runner-up |
1927 | Sparta Prague | Rapid Wien |
1928 | Ferencváros | Rapid Wien |
1929 | Újpest FC | Slavia Prague |
1930 | Rapid Wien | Sparta Prague |
1931 | First Vienna | Wiener AC |
1932 | Bologna | - |
1933 | Austria Wien | |
1934 | Bologna | Admira Wien |
1935 | Sparta Prague | Ferencváros |
1936 | Austria Wien | Sparta Prague |
1937 | Ferencváros | Lazio |
1938 | Slavia Prague | Ferencváros |
1939 | Újpest FC | Ferencváros |
1940 | Rapid București - Ferencváros (final not played) | |
1951 (as Zentropa Cup) | Rapid Wien | Admira Wien |
1955 | Vörös Lobogó | ÚDA Prague |
1956 | Vasas | Rapid Wien |
1957 | Vasas | Vojvodina |
1958 (Danube Cup) | Red Star Belgrade | Rudá Hvezda Brno |
1959 | Honvéd | MTK |
1960 | Hungary | - |
1961 | Bologna | Slovan Nitra |
1962 | Vasas | Bologna |
1963 | MTK Budapest | Vasas |
1964 | Sparta Prague | Slovan Bratislava |
1965 | Vasas | Fiorentina |
1966 | Fiorentina | Jednota Trenčín |
1966-67 | Spartak Trnava | Újpesti Dózsa |
1967-68 | Red Star Belgrade | Spartak Trnava |
1968-69 | Inter Bratislava | Sklo Union Teplice |
1969-70 | Vasas | Inter Bratislava |
1970-71 | Čelik Zenica | Austria Salzburg |
1971-72 | Čelik Zenica | Fiorentina |
1972-73 | Tatabányai Bányász | Čelik Zenica |
1973-74 | Tatabányai Bányász | ZVL Zilina |
1974-75 | Wacker Innsbruck | Honvéd |
1975-76 | Wacker Innsbruck | Velež Mostar |
1976–77 | Vojvodina | Vasas |
1977–78 | Partizan | Honvéd |
1979–80 | Udinese | Čelik Zenica |
1980–81 | Tatran Prešov | Csepel SC |
1981–82 | Milan | TJ Vítkovice |
1982–83 | Vasas | ZVL Zilina |
1983–84 | SC Eisenstadt | Prishtina |
1984–85 | Iskra Bugojno | Atalanta |
1985–86 | Pisa | Debrecen |
1986–87 | Ascoli | Bohemians Prague |
1987–88 | Pisa | Váci Izzó |
1988–89 | Baník Ostrava | Bologna |
1990 | Bari | Genoa |
1991 | Torino | Pisa |
1992 | Borac Banja Luka | BVSC |
Sources
Comments