1904 Copa del Rey

1904 Copa del Rey
2nd Copa del Rey
Country	Spain
Teams	4
Defending champions	Athletic Bilbao (2nd title)
Champions	Athletic Bilbao
Runners-up	Club Español de Madrid
Matches played	3
Goals scored	15 (5 per match)
	← 1903 1905 →

The Copa del Rey 1904 was the second staging of the Copa del Rey, the Spanish football cup competition.

The competition was played in 1904 in Madrid. It was notable for its chaotic development and the fact that Athletic Bilbao won the trophy without playing a game.

Details[]

Originally, three teams were to participate, one for each region. The newly formed Madrid Football Federation, who organized the competition for the first time (the previous tournament was organized by Madrid CF), invited Athletic Bilbao representing Biscay and Espanyol of Barcelona representing Catalonia. Madrid was to be represented by the winner of a preliminary round between Club Español de Madrid and Madrid-Moderno (a merger of Madrid CF and Moderno). The three teams were to contest the cup in a round-robin format.

Before the tournament Espanyol, unhappy with the competition system, announced they would not go to Madrid. Then two more teams from Madrid, Moncloa FC and Iberia Football Club, were admitted in the competition, forcing a change to the schedule.^[1]

The competition started on March 13, 1904, but on March 19 the problems started. The match between Español of Madrid and Madrid-Moderno ended tied at 5–5. The captains of both teams agreed not to play extra time, but failed to reach an agreement on when they should replay the match. Español wanted to play the next day, but Madrid-Moderno refused, saying that under the rules of the tournament a replay could not be played less than 48 hours after the previous game. Next day Español went to play the replay, but Madrid-Moderno did not.^[2] The regional federation, whose president Ceferino Birdalone happened to be president of Español as well, ruled in favor of Español, who were declared winners of the match.

While the Cup final was originally scheduled for March 26, the inclusion of Moncloa and Iberia in the tournament at the last minute necessitated an extra qualifying game and delayed the final. On March 27, Español and Moncloa faced one another. Español were winning 1-0 when by chance their defender Hermúa was injured. He was diagnosed with a broken tibia and fibula. The referee then decided to suspend the match,^[2] at which point Español claimed the victory. During a meeting of the Madrid Association of Football Clubs, the president of the organization proposed to accept the claim, but as he was as Chairman of the claimant club his proposal was rejected.

To resolve the conflict, a lottery was held, which favored Español, and named them as finalists. But this team had not won the regional heats: they had tied one game and had not completed the other, which led Athletic to file a complaint. Faced with this problem and unable to quickly solve the case, coupled with the rush of players from the Basque club to return to their occupations, the Madrid Association decided to award the cup to Athletic as defending champions.^[1]

Madrid Qualifying Tournament[]

Semi-finals[]

March 13, 1904

Moncloa FC	4–0	Iberia Football Club
? ? ? ?

Tiro del Pichón, Madrid

March 19, 1904

Club Español de Madrid	5–5	Madrid-Moderno
? ? ? ? ?		Joaquín Yarza Joaquín Yarza Pedro Parages Federico Revuelto Antonio Alonso ^[3]

Tiro del Pichón, Madrid

Replay not played. Español declared winners.

Final[]

March 27, 1904

Club Español de Madrid	1–0	Moncloa FC
?

Tiro del Pichón, Madrid

Match abandoned at 1-0. Español declared winners.^[2]

Final Copa del Rey[]

March 27, 1904

Athletic Bilbao	not played	Club Español de Madrid

Tiro del Pichón, Madrid

The qualification of Español was disputed. Athletic, who were not required to qualify, were declared winners.^[1]

Copa del Rey 1904 Winners
Athletic Bilbao 2nd Title

Notes[]

^ ^a ^b ^c Copa del Rey Alfonso XIII 1904, linguasport.com (in Spanish)
^ ^a ^b ^c Spain - Cup 1904, RSSSF.com
^ Copa del Rey Alfonso XIII, Corazonblanco.com

[linguasport-1] Copa del Rey Alfonso XIII 1904, linguasport.com (in Spanish)

[rsssf-2] Spain - Cup 1904, RSSSF.com

[3] Copa del Rey Alfonso XIII, Corazonblanco.com

[1]

[2]

[3]

v t Copa del Rey
Seasons	1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1928–29 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1944–45 1946 1947 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1951 1952 1952–53 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1969 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22
Finals	1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 (FEF & UECF) 1911 1912 1913 (FEF & UECF) 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Related	1902 Copa de la Coronación (final) 1937 Copa de la España Libre Regional Championship: ( Asturias Centro Catalonia Gipuzkoa North/Biscay )

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v t 1904–05 in European football
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