FOOTBALL ON THIS DAY 18th May 1960 was the date of the first final of the European Cup (later the Champions' League) to be played in Britain, at Hampden Park, Glasgow. The participants in what was the fifth European Cup final were Real Madrid, who had won the first four European Cup competitions, and Eintracht Frankfurt. Eintracht were the first German side to play in the final but had made a name for themselves in Glasgow a couple a weeks earlier, when they won 6-3 at Ibrox to complete an amazing 12-4 aggregate victory over Scottish champions Rangers in the semi-final of the competition. Eintracht were one up in the final after 18 minutes but a hat-trick from Alfredo Di Stéfano and four from Ferenc Puskás saw the Spaniards finish comfortable 7-3 winners. Despite the one-side nature of the scoreline the match is still considered one of the classic European finals while the attendance - 127,621 - is a European final attendance which surely will never be bettered.
Prior to that, other "championships" took place, however, those were between Scottish and English Cup winners, as the respective leagues were not yet established.
Club competitions between teams from European countries trace their origins back as far as 1897, when the Challenge Cup was founded as a competition between clubs of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, that under normal circumstances would not meet in competition. This competition ran until 1911, with its last winners, Wiener Sportsclub, retaining the trophy.
Simultaneously, English and Scottish clubs competed in the Football World Championship, known as The Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy, was played for in 1909 and 1911 in Turin, Italy, involving clubs from Italy, Germany, Switzerland and England. The FA refused to be associated with it and declined the offer to send a team. Not wishing to have England unrepresented in the competition, Thomas Lipton invited amateur club, West Auckland, a side from County Durham, mostly made up of coal miners, to take part. Some verbal tradition in West Auckland was that the FA intended to send Woolwich Arsenal but West Auckland were invited instead as they shared the same initials.
West Auckland won the tournament and returned to Italy in 1911 to defend their title. In this second competition, West Auckland beat the then amateur team Juventus 6–1 in the final, and were awarded the trophy outright.
In January 1994 the original trophy, which was being held in West Auckland Working Men's Club, was stolen. An exact replica of the original trophy was commissioned and is now held by West Auckland FC. I visited the club a couple of years ago and kindly local associated with the club let me in to see the Trophy.
The Challenge Cup is considered to be the forerunner of the first true pan-European club competition, the Mitropa Cup, which came about following the demise of the Austro-Hungarian Empire after World War I. At that time, the various nations of central Europe were introducing professional leagues. The introduction of an international club tournament was intended to assist the new professional clubs financially. The Mitropa Cup was first played for in 1927.
An early attempt to create a cup for national champion clubs of Europe was made by Swiss club Servette, in 1930. The tournament called "Coupe des Nations" was a great success and the champions of the ten major European football nations of the time were invited. The cup was won by Hungarian club Ujpest. Despite the great success, the tournament was never organised again, due to financial issues.
Following World War II, the reduced standing of the Mitropa Cup led to the foundation of a new competition, the Latin Cup, for teams from France, Italy, Spain and Portugal. This competition was played as a mini-tournament at the end of each season by the league champions from each country.
The summer of 1953 saw Wolverhampton Wanderers play a friendly match against a South African XI to begin a remarkable run of victories over the next months. Wolves played a series of friendlies against foreign opposition, such as Racing Club of Argentina, Spartak Moscow of the Soviet Union, among others, before meeting Honved of Hungary in a game televised live on the BBC. Wolves won 3-2 which led their manager, Stan Cullis and the British press to proclaim them as "Champions of the World".
The UEFA Congress of March 1955 saw the proposal for a European competition raised, with approval given in April of that year, and the kick-off of the first European Cup the following season.
The English league winners, Chelsea, were denied entry by Football League secretary Alan Hardaker who believed it was in the best interests of English football and football in general for them not to enter! Forward looking!!
TONIGHT:https://news.stv.tv/west-central/family-turns-celtic-pub-into-rangers-bar-for-europa-league-final
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