Originally the trophy was to be kept by the first team to win it in three consecutive seasons, but in 1903 this rule was changed and the cup made into a permanent 'Wanderpokal', no team being allowed to retain it. It is now in possession of the last winners, Wiener Sport-Club (currently called Wiener Sportklub following a short-lived merger with SV Gerasdorf and two insolvencies in the 1990s).
It can be seen as a fore-runner of both the Austrian (Viennese) cup competition started in 1918 and the renowned Mitropa-Cup started in 1927.
In the same period (the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century), the Tagblatt-Pokal (a first league championship) was played.
Season Winners Runners-Up 1897 Vienna Cricket FC 7-0 FC 98 1898/99 First Vienna FC 4-1 AC Victoria 1899/00 First Vienna FC 2-0 Vienna Cricket FC 1900/01 Wiener AC 1-0 SK Slavia Praha 1901/02 Vienna Cricket FC 2-1 Budapesti TC 1902/03 Wiener AC w/o CAFC Vinohrady (Praha) 1903/04 Wiener AC 7-0 Vienna Cricket FC 1904/05 Wiener SV 2-1 Magyar AC (Budapest) 1905/06 not held 1906/07 not held (instead a "Wiener Cup" was played) 1907/08 not held 1909 Ferencvárosi TC 2-1 Wiener Sport-Club 1909/10 not held 1910/11 Wiener Sport-Club 3-0 Ferencvárosi TC Number of Wins (10) 3 Wiener AC 2 Vienna Cricket FC First Vienna FC Wiener Sport-Club (includes Wiener SV) 1 Ferencvárosi TC
Participants (4):
Cricketer - Vienna Cricket and FC (organisers)
FC 98 - Fußballklub von "98" - the football section of the
Deutsch-Österreichischer Turnverein which had split off
from the original club
Training - Rasenspielclub Training
Vienna - First Vienna FC
Note that the Allgemeine Sportzeitung already used the name
'Fussballklub von 1898' in November 1897!
Semifinals
[Nov 14, 1897; Forstwiese, Prater]
Training 0-5 FC 98
[Sonnenschein (3 or 4), Pollack (2 or 1)]
[Nov 15, 1897; Jesuitenwiese, Prater]
Cricketer 3-2 Vienna
[1-0 Mollisch (og), 2-0 Gandon, 2-1 Gindl, 2-2 Nicholson (also given
as Galler (og)), Nash 3-2; half-time 2-1]
Final [Nov 21, 1897; Forstwiese, Prater, kick-off 15:30]
Cricketer 7-0 FC 98
[1-0 Blakely, 2-0 Blakely (pen), 3-0 Gandon; remaining 4 goals by
Nash, Shire and Blakely (unclear who scored 2 of these 4)]
Participants (5):
Cricketer - Vienna Cricket and FC
FC 98 - Fußballklub von "98"
Vienna - First Vienna FC
Victoria - Athletic-Club Victoria
WAC - Wiener Athleticsport-Club
Note that AC Victoria were later written Viktoria (and merged with
Cricketer in 1911/12.)
First Round [Nov 15, 1898]
Cricketer 2-2 WAC
[1-0 Redfern, 2-0 Shires, 2-1 Starrach, 2-2 Gössing; half-time 2-0]
[Cricket: Reguis, Lowe, Kutscher, Meisl, Windett, Gramlich, Barizot,
Redfern, Gandon, Blyth, Shires;
WAC: Nauss, Leuthe, Schön, Haller, Flavin, Sokol, Dettelmeyer, Gössing,
Starrach, Albrecht, Zimmy.]
First Round Replay [Nov 20, 1898; WAC-Platz]
WAC 2-3 Cricketer
[1-0 Studnicka, 1-1 Redfern; other goal scorers not known; half-time 1-1]
Semifinals
[Nov 27, 1898, Hohe Warte]
Vienna 1-0 Cricketer
[1-0 Lowe (og); half-time 1-0]
[Vienna: Mollisch; Alfred Marek, Nicholson; Niedl, Anlauf, Ochsenhofer;
Eckstein, Trinks, Gindl, Schönpflug, Soldat.]
[Dec 4, 1898; Forstwiese, Prater]
Victoria 3-1 FC 98
[1-0 Sauer, 2-0 Sohr II, 3-0 Sohr II, 3-1 Prager II]
[Victoria: W.Zander, Sauer, Albert, Grünbaum, Gross, Albala, Sohr II,
E.Zander, Engel, Sohr I, Seipelt;
FC 98: R.Stör, R.Max, Rolland, Monkey, Roller I, Korany, W.Berger,
Flamm, Polack, Prager II, Roller II.]
Final [Mar 5, 1899; Jesuitenwiese, Prater; kick-off 15:00]
Vienna 4-1 Victoria
[1-0 Soldat; half-time 2-1; other scorers not known]
[Vienna: Mollisch, Alfred, Nicholson, O’Hofer, Anlauf, Niedl, Retzbach,
Schönpflug, Eckstein, Hans, Soldat;
Victoria: W.Zander, Grossmann, Sauer, Würth, Gross, Albala, Siems,
Sohr II, Sohr I, E.Zander, Geiringer.]
Participants (7): Baden - Badener SC Cricketer - Vienna Cricket and FC FC 98 - Fußballklub von "98" Rapid - SK Rapid Victoria - Athletic-Club Victoria Vienna - First Vienna FC WAC - Wiener Athleticsport-Club First Round [Nov 12, 1899] Vienna w/o Baden [Baden dns] FC 98 3-0 Victoria [Nov 26, 1899] Cricketer 11-0 Rapid [half-time 5-0] Semifinals [Dec 8, 1899] Cricketer 2-1 WAC [1-0 ? (pen), 1-1 Gössing, 2-1 Redfern] [Dec 10, 1899; Hohe Warte] Vienna 3-1 FC 98 Final [Mar 11, 1900] Vienna 2-0 Cricketer [1-0 Eipel, 2-0 Albert; half-time 2-0] [Vienna were missing Links and Gindl; Cricket were missing Windett.]
Participants (6): Wien Cricketer - Vienna Cricket and FC FC 98 - Fußballklub von "98" Vienna - First Vienna FC WAC - Wiener Athleticsport-Club Praha CAFC - Ceský AFC Vinohrady (founded 1899 as CAFC Královské Vinohrady) Slavia - SK Slavia Praha Quarterfinals (Austrian semifinals) [Dec 2, 1900] Vienna 1-2 Cricketer [0-1 Redfern, 1-1 Harry, 1-2 Falke (90'); half-time 0-1] [Dec 30, 1900] WAC 4-2 FC 98 [half-time 2-1] Semifinals [Oct 21, 1900; Bohemian final] Slavia 13-1 CAFC [Mar 10, 1901; WAC-Platz; Austrian final] WAC 5-3 Cricketer [half-time 4-1] Final [Apr 21, 1901; WAC-Platz] WAC 1-0 Slavia [Taurer, 1st half]
Participants (10):
Wien
Cricketer - Vienna Cricket and FC
Neubauer - Neubauer SC
The other Viennese clubs were excluded due to a playing interdiction
against Cricketer, organisers of the Challenge Cup.
Baden
SC Baden - Baden Internationaler SC
Praha
CAFC - Ceský AFC Vinohrady (founded 1899 as CAFC Královské Vinohrady)
Slavia - SK Slavia Praha
Union - SK Union Praha
Budapest
33 FC - 33 FC
BSC - Budapesti Sport Club
BTC - Budapesti Torna Club
FTC - Ferencvárosi Torna Club
Round 1 (regional semifinals)
[Nov 24, 1901]
Union 2-4 Slavia
CAFC bye
[Dec 8, 1901]
Neubauer 1-3 SC Baden
Cricketer bye
[Mar 16, 1902]
BSC 1-3 FTC
[Mar 25, 1902]
33 FC 0-2 BTC
Round 2 (regional finals)
[Mar 9, 1902]
Cricketer 17-1 SC Baden
[half-time 3-1]
[Mar 16, 1902]
Slavia 9-1 CAFC
[Apr 27, 1902]
BTC 5-1 FTC
Semifinal [May 8, 1902; Wien]
Cricketer awd Slavia [Slavia walked off]
[the match had finished 3-3 after 90 minutes and 30 minutes of extra time
were to be played (and, should the score still have been even after 120
minutes, sudden-death additional time); Slavia refused to play extra time
claiming one of the 3 Cricketer goals should have been disallowed for hands
and extra time started without Slavia players; upon the referee's whistle,
Cricketer had little difficulty scoring a goal to symbolically win 4-3]
BTC bye
Final [May 18, 1902]
Cricketer 2-1 BTC
[half-time 1-1]
[Cricketer: Singer, Mac John, Relee, Friedl, Redfern, Charley, König,
Hüttl, Schönewolf, Bugno, Erni;
BTC: Badonyi, Harsavy, Lucius, Cservanka, Ordody, Scrobak, Buda, Roca,
Mano, Guttmann, Minden]
Participants (12): Wien (8) Cricketer - Vienna Cricket and FC DJ Währing- Deutsche Jungmannschaft Währing FC 98 - Fußballklub von "98" Graphia - Graphia Rapid - SK Rapid Victoria - Victoria Vienna - First Vienna FC Vorwärts - FC Vorwärts WAC - Wiener Athletiksport-Club Mödling (1) Mödling - FC Mödling Praha (2) CAFC - Ceský AFC Vinohrady (founded 1899 as CAFC Královské Vinohrady) Slavia - SK Slavia Praha Budapest (2) 33 FC - 33 FC FTC - Ferencvárosi Torna Club Austrian Tournament First Round [Nov 16, 1902] DJ Währing w/o Vorwärts [Vorwärts did not show] [Nov 30, 1902] Mödling 7-2 Victoria Second Round [Nov 9, 1902] Vienna abd FC 98 [abandoned at 2-1 in 2nd half] [FC 98 withdrew after a contested goal (making it 2-1) for Vienna was awarded; on Nov 11, the match was annulled because the referee had been a former member of Vienna, contravening the rules of the tournament; on Nov 13, the match was awarded to Vienna, on which FC 98 protested; on Nov 20 the match was annulled again, after which Vienna withdrew from the tournament] [Mar 15, 1903] Cricketer 2-1 Deutscher SV [aet] [half-time 0-0, 1-1 after 90 minutes] WAC 14-0 FC Mödling Graphia 3-0 Rapid [aet] NB: during the winter, DJ Währing and Vorwärts merged into Deutscher SV. Semifinals [Mar 22, 1903] Cricketer 2-0 Graphia [half-time 1-0; 2-0 by Bugno; also counted for Tagblatt Pokal] WAC 5-0 FC 98 Final [Mar 29, 1903] WAC 2-1 Cricketer Bohemian Tournament No matches played as CAFC were the only Bohemian participants (Slavia withdrew). Hungarian Tournament Final [Nov 16, 1902] Ferencváros 1-0 33 FC [goal in 25th minute] Final Tournament Semifinal [May 3, 1903] WAC 5-1 Ferencváros [half-time 1-0] CAFC bye Final [May 24, 1903] WAC w/o CAFC [CAFC dns]
Participants (9):
Wien (4)
Cricketer - Vienna Cricket and FC
Graphia - Graphia
Victoria - Victoria
WAC - Wiener Athletiksport-Club
other Austria (2)
Baden - Baden Internationaler SC
Viehofen - Viehofen
Praha (2)
CAFC - Ceský AFC Vinohrady (founded 1899 as CAFC Královské Vinohrady)
Sparta - Sparta Praha (replaced Union Praha, originally mentioned as entrants)
Budapest (1)
33 FC - 33 FC
Austrian Tournament
First Round
[Nov 15, 1903]
Graphia 10-1 Baden
[Mar 13, 1904]
Viehofen 4-2 Victoria
Semifinals [Apr 3, 1904]
WAC 5-1 Graphia
Viehofen 0-10 Cricketer
Final [Apr 10, 1904]
WAC 7-0 Cricketer
NB: apparently the federation and the WAC agreed before this match
that, should the WAC win, the Cup would remain a permanent
Wanderpokal with no team being allowed to keep it forever.
Bohemian Tournament
Final [Apr 10, 1904]
CAFC 4-4 Sparta
Final Replay [Apr 24, 1904]
CAFC 0-4 Sparta
Hungarian Tournament
No matches played as 33 FC were the only Hungarian participants.
Final Tournament
NB: the intended schedule (as drawn on Nov 1, 1903) was that the Bohemian
and Hungarian winners would play a match for the right to meet the
Austrian winners in the final; however, no tournament took place,
possibly because of the schism within the Austrian football community,
and on Jun 18, Austrian winners WAC were officially awarded the Cup,
but as a permanent Wanderpokal with no team being allowed to keep it
forever.
NB: [Sch 25] states that the tournament 'had rested for two years',
apparently because no proper finals were played in 1903 and 1904.
A tournament for 2nd class teams was organised in parallel, but no
results are known.
Match with unclear status
[Nov 6, 1904, Hohe Warte, att: 5,000]
WAC 4-3 Vienna
NB: [Mar 97] claims this was the 1904 final, but that does not fit
any other source.
Preliminary Rounds
Austrian Round 1
[Dec 11, 1904]
WAC 13-0 Viehofen
[Mar 12, 1905]
Cricketer 5-0 Rapid
[Mar 25, 1905]
Wiener SV 5-3 Graphia
Viktoria bye
Austrian Semifinals
[Apr 2, 1905]
WAC 2-4 Cricketer
[May 21, 1905]
Wiener SV 11-1 Viktoria
Hungarian (Budapest) Final [Apr 11, 1905]
MAC (Budapest) 3-0 Magyar UE
NB: as winners, MAC qualified for a semifinal against Sparta Praha, the
only Bohemian club to have registered for the tournament.
Semifinals [Jun 11, 1905]
Wiener SV 3-2 Cricketer
MAC (Budapest) w/o Sparta Praha [Sparta dns]
Final [Jun 12, 1905; Cricketplatz (Vorgartenstraße)]
Wiener SV 2-1 MAC (Budapest)
NB: Wiener Sportvereinigung merged with Cyclisten-Club
into Wiener Sport-Club (WSC) on February 25, 1907;
Graphia merged with Schwechater SC into Germania.
NB: WAC not allowed to enter due to conflict with other clubs.
Austrian Tournament
Quarterfinals
[Apr 4, 1909]
Rudolfshügel 0-1 FAC
[Apr 12, 1909]
Cricket 1-1 Vienna
[May 9, 1909]
Rapid 0-2 Germania
Sportclub 3-1 Viktoria
Quarterfinal Replay [Apr 18, 1909]
Vienna 0-3 Cricket
Semifinals
[May 16, 1909]
Germania w/o Cricket [Germania dns]
[May 23, 1909]
FAC 0-3 Sportclub
Final [May 30, 1909]
Cricket 0-3 Sportclub [abandoned at 0-3 in 82' when Cricket had only
six players left; result stood]
Bohemian Tournament
NB: only "German" clubs from Bohemia entered, after the Czech clubs, united in the
CSF, had left FIFA and formed the UIAFA.
First Round [Mar 28, 1909]
Teplitzer FK 5-1 Sturm Prag
Semifinals
[Apr 4, 1909]
Teplitzer FK 5-2 D. Sportbrüder Prag
[May 9, 1909]
DSV Troppau 3-0 DFC Brünn [FV Troppau renamed DSV Troppau shortly before]
Final
Teplitzer FK w/o DSV Troppau [Troppau and DFC Brünn excluded from tournament
for using ineligible players in semifinal]
Hungarian Tournament
NB: only the "Neues Wiener Tagblatt" reported Easter Tournament in Budapest as
Hungarian qualification stage for the Challenge Cup
Preliminary Round [Apr 7, 1909]
BTC (Budapest) 3-1 MAC (Budapest)
Main Tournament (Easter)
[Apr 10, 1909]
MTK 1-0 BTC (Budapest)
Ferencváros 4-1 VfB Leipzig
[Apr 11, 1909]
Ferencváros 1-1 BTC (Budapest)
MTK 4-0 VfB Leipzig
[Apr 12, 1909]
BTC (Budapest) 1-2 VfB Leipzig
MTK 1-2 Ferencváros
Final Table:
1.Ferencváros 3 2 1 0 7- 3 5
2.MTK 3 2 0 1 6- 2 4
3.VfB Leipzig 3 1 0 2 3- 9 2
4.BTC (Budapest) 3 0 1 2 2- 4 1
Final Tournament
Intermediate Round (Winners Bohemia vs Grazer AK) [May 30, 1909]
Grazer AK o/w Teplitzer FK [GAK withdrew from tournament]
Semifinal (Winners Wien vs Winners Bohemia) [May 31, 1909]
Sportclub 1-0 Teplitzer FK [abandoned at 1-0 in 55' due to injury
goalkeeper TFK; awarded to Sportclub ]
Final [Jun 13, 1909; Hohe Warte]
Ferencváros 2-1 WSC
NB: final between the winners of tournaments in 'both halves of the Empire'
[Sch 25] explicitly states no Challenge Cup was played; various sources nevertheless list a final: Final [1910] BTC (Budapest) 2-1 WSC but this match is not explicitly detailed anywhere and would appear to be a mix-up with the final of the previous season.
Austrian Tournament
Round 1
[Mar 12, 1911]
Vienna 1-2 Rapid
[Mar 19, 1911]
FAC 3-7 WSC
Cricketer 0-9 Simmering
Hertha bye
Semifinals [Apr 23, 1911]
Rapid 1-3 WSC [abandoned due to insultation of referee
Simmering 2-2 Hertha by spectators; result stood]
Semifinal Replay [Jun 11, 1911]
Hertha 2-4 Simmering
Final [Jun 29, 1911]
WSC 3-1 Simmering
Hungarian Tournament
NB: five clubs registered and the following fixtures were drawn:
Round 1
Magyar AC - FC 33
Ferencváros - BAK
Nemzeti bye
Round 2
Ferencváros/BAK - Magyar AC/FC 33
Nemzeti bye
Final
winners round 2 - Nemzeti
No record of any of these matches specifically mentioned as counting for the
Challenge Cup has been found, but it is possible that matches for the Hungarian
league championship doubled as such; in that (doubtful) case, the results were:
Round 1 [Oct 23, 1910]
Magyar AC 1-2 FC 33
Ferencváros 4-2 BAK
Nemzeti bye
Round 2 [Mar 5, 1911]
Ferencváros 2-0 FC 33
Nemzeti bye
Final [Mar 26, 1911]
Ferencváros 3-1 Nemzeti
[Ferencváros also defeated Nemzeti 6-0 on Mar 12, but that match was described
as a friendly]
In any case, Ferencváros represented Hungary and thus qualified for the final.
Bohemian Tournament
NB: no clubs registered for the tournament; however, DSV Troppau were invited
to represent the Sudetenländer and play an Eventualmatch against WSC;
should they have beaten WSC (which did not happen) and WSC won the final
of the Austrian tournament (still to be played at the time, but that did
happen), Troppau would have qualified for the overall final.
Eventualmatch [May 21, 1911, Wien]
WSC 14-0 DSV Troppau
Final [Sep 24, 1911; Hohe Warte]
WSC 3-0 Ferencváros
Main source for period pre-1903: Allgemeine Sportzeitung (Wien); other sources: [Fon 62], [Gös 93], [Grü 00], [Hub 00], [Mar 97], [ÖFB 64], [Pil 04], [Sch 25], [Sch 51], [Sch 94], [Sch 99], [Vie 19], http://slavia.webzdarma.cz/seznam9618.html, http://wienersportclub.at/geschichte/ges002.html, http://www.ftc.hu/index.php?action=history§ion=2, http://www.die99er.priv.at/geschichte.htm, http://rapidarchiv.at/
Prepared and maintained by Javier García, Ambrosius Kutschera, Hans Schöggl and Karel Stokkermans for the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
Authors: Javier García, Ambrosius Kutschera, Hans Schöggl and Karel Stokkermans
Last updated: 16 Oct 2025
(C) Copyright Javier García, Ambrosius Kutschera, Hans Schöggl,
Karel Stokkermans and RSSSF 2002/26
You are free to copy this document in whole or part provided that proper
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