Coupe des Nations

Coupe des Nations 1930 (English: Cup of Nations) was a football tournament in the summer of 1930 in Geneva, Switzerland, organized by local club Servette FC. Servette had just won the Swiss championship, and organized this event as a counterpoint to the first World Cup held at the same time in Uruguay, to which only few European countries (Belgium, France, Romania and Yugoslavia) sent a team. The tournament also marked the inauguration of the Stade des Charmilles.

Some people regard this competition as a predecessor of UEFA Champions League, since it was the first organized competition for the national champion teams in Europe. The champions of all major European football nations of the pre-war years were invited, except for the British Home Nations, who were withdrawn from FIFA at the time.

The competition was won by Hungarian Újpest FC who scored 16 goals and conceded only 1 in 4 games. After winning the Coupe des Nations trophy, Újpest declared themselves 'Champion of the Champions'.

In later years several attempts were made to create a tournament for the Champions of Europe. North-Italian cities were planning to host the competition in 1931, but it was abandoned due to financial reasons.[1] Finally in 1937, during the Paris Expo a tournament was held as a successor of the Geneva tournament, but only two champion teams accepted the invitation.[2] After the tournament Zürich, as the host of the 1939 Expo and Rome, the 1942 host made attempts to create the tournament, but both city's attempts failed.[3] The next time that the major European champions were called together was after the 1954 creation of UEFA who started the European Cup in 1955.