Challenge Cup (Austro-Hungarian Empire)

The Challenge Cup was created in 1897 by John Gramlick, a co-founder of the Vienna Cricket and Football Club to life, who also donated the trophy. The special thing about this competition was that he was always open to all clubs of the Austro -Hungarian Empire. He thus had a more than three national football associations continuous character, but was politically not international. It was played on the British model in the knock-out system without return. The competition did much to spread the football as a sport in Austria - Hungary, although it has not been played a few times. Only at the beginning of a league championship in Austria (those of Hungary since 1900 there have been ) could not find this cup competition instead. In the first three seasons only Viennese teams participated in this competition. From the season 1900/ 01 the Czechs played the Austrians and Hungary, a year later, first separate zones finals, whose winners then contest the semi-finals. There was a rotational basis in each one of the three teams a bye. Not party to an association were the two zones - finals at the same time as the semi-finals of the competition. With few exceptions, especially the major clubs in the three major metropolitan centers and football Vienna, Prague and Budapest took part in the competition.

Originally, the trophy should remain in the possession of an association, when he succeeded to win the Cup three times in a row. After the Wiener AC but three times won the Vienna daily paper cup for himself and thereafter no one found who donated a new trophy, this regulation was repealed in 1903 and dubbed the Challenge Cup as a trophy. The statutes was precisely held that it was no association allowed to keep the trophy for themselves. Today, the cup is owned by the Wiener Sport - Club, the last winner of the Challenge Cup in 1911.

The Challenge Cup is considered both as a leader of the Austrian Cupbewerbes as well as the 1927 introduced international Mitropa Cup.

Playoffs 1897-1911

It is considered unlikely that it came in the 1909/10 season for the staging of the Challenge Cup, as there are no official records and no searchable newspaper reports about it. However, individual sources speak of the final game Budapesti Torna Club - Wiener Sport-Club (2-1).

Challenge Cup winners

• 3 x Wiener AC: 1901, 1903, 1904
• 2 x Vienna Cricket and Football Club: 1898, 1902
• 2 x First Vienna FC 1894: 1899, 1900
• 1 x Wiener Sport Association: 1905
• 1 x Ferencvárosi TC: 1909
• 1 x Wiener Sport - Club: 1911