Defunct champions of yesteryear

Norman Hubbard is ESPNsoccernet’s resident anorak. If you have any questions on football facts, statistics or trivia, please send them to asknorman@hotmail.com and he’ll try to answer as many as possible.

I was reading an article on the 100 greatest footballers of all time and came across the name of Raymond Kopa, who played for Stade Reims. According to the article at footballpantheon.com, “On Raymond Kopa’s last game for Reims in 1956, he played Real Madrid in the European Cup final. And, on his last game for Real Madrid in 1959, he played Reims in the European Cup final.” I then looked up Stade Reims, who I had never heard of, to learn their sad history of relegation, administration, amateurism, return to professionalism, etc. This begs the question, what other European Cup finalists, or major tournament finalists for that matter, have later been disbanded, defunct, or ameteurised? Todd from Atlanta asked

Reims are alone among European Cup or Champions League finalists in disappearing off the radar to such an extent, but there are others who have disappeared or been marginalised after their glory years. The first Fairs Cup runners-up were a side who were never a club to begin with: Barcelona defeated a London XI comprising of players from Arsenal, Tottenham, Chelsea, West Ham, Fulham, Brentford and Leyton Orient in the final. Players from QPR, Crystal Palace and Charlton also represented them in earlier rounds. Thereafter the Fairs Cup – which became the UEFA Cup and then the Europa League – became very much about club teams, rather than city teams.

Technically Fiorentina, twice champions of Italy and European Cup finalists in 1957, and Napoli, twice Serie A winners, ceased to exist in 2002 and 2004 respectively. Both went bankrupt and were reformed, but the new clubs are generally considered a continuation of the old. The same applies to one of Italian football’s most distinguished names of yesteryear: Pro Vercelli, champions seven times between 1908 and 1922, existed between 1892 and 2010, before a successor club was created after the collapse of the original. But as they have not played in Serie A since 1935, it is understandable if you have never heard of them. Novese, the 1922 champions, now play non-league football.

Some previously successful sides have disappeared partly because of politics. Dominant clubs in East Germany have floundered since unification. Dynamo Berlin, who won ten consecutive titles between 1979 and 1988, now play in the fifth tier of German football and Frankfurter Victoria (the former SV Vorwarts of Leipzig), who won six titles, are in the sixth tier.

The early (and amateur) years of French football are littered with clubs who were the best then, but no longer exist now. Such as Helvetique Marseille, whose existence ended in 1916, despite being champions three times in the previous decade and Roubaix, four times champions between 1902 and 1908, who, after a succession of mergers, were disbanded in 1995 due to financial problems. France’s inaugural champions, Standard Athletic Club, do exist but are a social club offering a variety of sports near Paris.

Go back far enough in the record books and there are FA Cup winners who are amateur teams and, indeed, were never professionals at any stage. They include Royal Engineers (1875 winners), Oxford University (1874), Old Etonians (1879 and 1882) and Old Carthusians (1881). The most successful club of that era, Wanderers, won five FA Cups including the first in 1872, dissolved in 1887 and reformed in 2009. Two FA Cup winners, Clapham Rovers and Blackburn Olympic, dissolved in the 19th century within years of winning the trophy.

North of the border, others have disappeared. Vale of Leven, three-time Scottish FA Cup winners in the 1870s, were disbanded during the Great Depression in 1929. Renton, other early winners, are now defunct. A more recent casualty was Third Lanark, winners of the Scottish league in 1904 and its third-best team in 1961. They went bankrupt six years later, in 1967. An amateur club of the same name has now been formed.

All such may be regarded as ancient history but Unirea Urziceni were champions of Romania in 2009 and faced Rangers, Stuttgart and Liverpool in Europe the following season. But they were relegated and dissolved last year.

Defensive solidity is usually key in a title race. If you can supplement that with goals, then even better. My question is: has there ever been a situation when a team finished a season as the league’s highest scorers and meanest defence, but still failed to win the title? Saurav from Kathmandu asked

In the history of the English top flight, it has only happened once: in 1997-98 when Manchester United scored 73 goals, two more than anyone else, and conceded 26, seven fewer, but lost an 11-point lead and their title to Arsenal. Arsene Wenger’s side scored 68 and conceded 33 but went on to win the Premier League and the FA Cup, their first trophies under the Frenchman. There is the chance of a repeat this year with Manchester City the leading scorers and possessors of the tightest defence, but only three points clear. Equally, if they were to lose their lead, it may be because another side was either scoring far more or conceding considerably fewer goals in the run-in.

Credit: http://soccernet.espn.go.com

Tags: Raymond Kopa, Stade Reims

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