Mitteleuropa: politische Konzepte – sportliche Praxis

When Austria, Czechoslovakia and Hungary legalized professional football in the mid-1920s, they formed the central European triangle of „Danubian Football“. The most popular event in this context was the Mitropa Cup which was established in 1927. This tournament for the best teams involved clubs from Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia as well as, two years later, Italy. It became very popular, even in countries not involved in the games. From the very beginning the main goal of the Mitropa Cup was to strengthen the economic basis of the clubs, particularly as in 1925 football was regarded as an economic factor. Even the term „Mitropa“ shows the primarily economic impact, as this tournament seems to have been the first visible sponsoring activity in European Football: teams and fans travelled exclusively by „Mitropa“ sleeping-cars to the away games. And the media became an undeniable part of football culture for the first time. National Socialism stopped the further development of this Central European sports culture; and attempts at re-establishing it after 1945 were initiated rather half-heartedly due to the political changes in Eastern Europe. Finally, a new pattern of organising European club football, with France as the new centre, took shape in 1955. Nevertheless the glory of the Mitropa Cup remained vivid and caused several attempts at reviving the tournament up until the late 1990s.