Pyrenees Cup

Pyrenees Cup
Founded	1910
Abolished	1914; 110 years ago
Region	Marca Hispanica
Number of teams	6 to 11
Last champions	FC Espanya (1914)
Most successful club(s)	FC Barcelona; (4 titles)

The Pyrenees Cup (Spanish: Copa Pirineos), officially Challenge International du Sud de la France, was an international football competition contested by Spanish and French clubs based in the territories of Pyrénées (Catalonia, the Basque Country, Languedoc, Midi-Pyrénées and Aquitaine). There have been five tournaments for the Pyrenees Cup which were held between 1910 and 1914 with the final of the championship being held in the region's capital, Toulouse. However, the last two finals were held in Barcelona. The competition was played for 5 years, from 1910 to 1914, before disappearing due to the first World War. The tournament stopped due to the beginning of World War I in 1914. It was organized by the Pyrenees Committee (Comitè des Pyrénées), which was one of the regional bodies of the USFSA (the predecessor of the French Football Federation), in charge of the competitions in the south of France.^[1]

The Cup was one of the first international football competitions in Europe together with the Challenge Cup (1897–1911), Coupe Van der Straeten Ponthoz (1900–1907) and the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy (1909–1911).^[2]

The great star of this competition was FC Barcelona, the winner of the first four editions, having at the time what was their first great team. The fifth and last was won by FC Espanya de Barcelona before it had to be suspended due to the outbreak of the war.^[3]

History

The forerunner of the Pyrenees Cup was the Challenge International du Nord, a competition organized since 1898, and in which, initially, clubs from the north of France and Belgium participated. In 1909, given the success that the northern competition had achieved, and despite the fact that the French Championship organized by the USFSA had gradually been extended to all the clubs in the country, an Occitan patron (Monsieur Labat) from the Committee of the Pyrenees of the USFSA had the initiative to carry out a similar competition in the south of France, extended to some Spanish clubs, and thus the Challenge International du Sud de la France was born.^[1] In Spain, however, the competition was commonly known as Copa Pirineos.

1910 Pyrenees Cup

The initial championship in 1910 was held in the road, and was only for teams that were from the USFSA regional committees of Languedoc, Midi-Pyrénées or Aquitaine, and for teams from the FECF (the predecessor of the Spanish Football Federation) regional committees of Catalonia and Basque Country, such as the ones in the cities of Irún, San Sebastián and Barcelona. The hosts, Languedoc, sent two teams Olympique de Cette (now known as FC Sète 34) and Sporting Club de Nîmes. Midi-Pyrénées also sent two teams Stade toulousain and Sporting Club Toulousain, while Catalonia and the Basque Country sent FC Barcelona and the newly formed Sociedad de Futbol, which was renamed as Real Sociedad just a few months later when King Alfonso XIII granted the club the title of Real in February 1910. Despite their eligibility to participate, Irún and Aquitaine sent no teams, thus the first edition was contested by 6 teams from four regions.^[4]

The two teams of Midi-Pyrénées faced each other in the first round just as the Languedoc's teams, with Olympique de Cette and Stade toulousain winning and thus reaching the semi-finals where they were eliminated by the two Spanish clubs. While Sociedad trashed toulousain with a resounding 8–0 win, Barça drew with Olympique at 1, so extra-time was to be played, but Olympique refused to do so claiming tiredness; so Barcelona qualified to the final where they beat Sociedad 2–1 thanks to first-half goals from Ricard Graells and Pepe Rodríguez,^[4]^[5] the latter having just landed in FC Barcelona with barely no time to meet his teammates, but despite that he still managed to score a title-winning goal on his debut.^[6]

Results

Quarter-finals		Semi-finals		Final



FC Barcelona
		24 April 1910 – Sète
bye
		FC Barcelona	1
27 February 1910 – Montpellier
		Olympique de Cette	1 (Withdrew)
Olympique de Cette	3
				1 May 1910 – Toulouse
Sporting Club de Nîmes	0
				FC Barcelona	2

				Real Sociedad	1
Real Sociedad
		17 April 1910 – San Sebastián
bye
		Real Sociedad	8
27 February 1910 – Toulouse
		Stade toulousain	0
Stade toulousain

Sporting Club Toulousain	*Forfeit*

Semi-final

17 April 1910

Stade toulousain	0 – 8	Real Sociedad
	Report1 Report2	Simmons 15' Goitisolo 25', 70' Lacort 30', 50', 55', 80' McGuinness 75'

Ondarreta Stadium, San Sebastián, Basque Country

Referee: Naudy

24 April 1910

Olympique de Cette	1 – 1	FC Barcelona
Allias 1T'	Report1	Graells 2T'

Referee: Monsieur Labat

Final

1 May 1910

Final

FC Barcelona	2 – 1	Real Sociedad de Fútbol
Graells 35' Pepe Rodríguez 42'	Report1 Report2	Prast 30'

Ponts-Jumeaux, Toulouse, Midi-Pyrénées

Referee: Monsieur Labat

Top Scorers

Rank	Player	Team	Goals
1	Mariano Lacort	Real Sociedad	4
2	Nicasio Goitisolo	Real Sociedad	2
2	Ricard Graells	FC Barcelona	2

1911 Pyrenees Cup

In the second edition of the competition the participation expanded to all regional committees in the South of France: Côte d'Argent (Stade Bordelais), Pays basque (Biarritz Stade), Côte d'Azur (no teams) and Littoral (Olympique de Marseille, Etoile Bleue de Marseille, Stade Helvétique de Marseille), meaning that the numbers of participants rose from just 6 to 11 teams. Eight teams had to face each other in the preliminary rounds for the remaining 3 spots in the quarter-finals, which were occupied by Olympique de Marseille, Olympique de Cette and Sporting Club Irún.^[7] The latter were eliminated in the quarter-finals by Stade Bordelais after declining to play extra-time following a 3–3 draw.^[7] In the semi-finals FC Barcelona beat Olympique de Cette again, this time 2–1, courtesy of a brace from Carles Comamala, who also scored once in the final against Stade Bordelais to help his side with a 4–2, with the remaining Barça goals coming from the Wallace brothers, Charles and Percival (2).