1904 Copa del Rey

The Copa del Rey 1904 was the second edition of the Copa del Rey. It was played in 1904 in Madrid. Its chaotic development and the fact that Athletic Bilbao won the trophy without playing a game make this edition remarkable.

Originally, three teams were going 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 Club Espanyol de Football de Barcelona representing Catalonia. The team representing Madrid was going to be the winner of a preliminary round between Club Español de Madrid and Madrid-Moderno (a merger of Madrid CF and Moderno). Before the tournament, the Club Espanyol de Football de Barcelona, unhappy with the competition system, announced they would not go to Madrid. Two more teams from Madrid were admitted in the competition: Moncloa FC and Iberia de Madrid. The schedule was modified because of these changes.

The competition started on March 19, 1904 and concluded on March 27, 1903 with the Final, held at the Hipódromo in Madrid, in which Athletic Bilbao lifted the trophy for the second time after there were no teams appeared in the final.

Quarterfinals

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Semifinal

Final

The final was supposed to be played between Club Español de Madrid and Athletic Bilbao. However, the other Madrid teams objected to this declaration: Club Español had settled their two qualifiers against Madrid-Moderno and Moncloa controversially.

Finally, the other clubs in Madrid (Madrid-Moderno, Moncloa, Iberia) decided that, since the final date was 26 March and no one had submitted to play it, the Athletic Club, as champions, was who should retain the title, and proclaimed the club as the winner of the Copa del Rey edition of 1904, although they did not play a single game of that tournament.

Notes

1. ^ The captains of both teams agreed not to play extra time, but failed to reach an agreement on when they should replay the match. The Club Español de Madrid wanted to play at the same time the next day, but the Madrid-Moderno refused, and alleged that in the bases of the tournament was said that no tie could be played in less than 48 hours after the game. Next day the Club Español de Madrid went to play the replay, but the Madrid-Moderno did not. The regional federation, whose president Ceferino Birdalone happened to be president of Club Español de Madrid as well, ruled in favor of Club Español, and were declared winners of the match.
2. ^ This match was abandoned after a serious injury of Hermúa, defender of Club Español. The president of the Madrid Football Federation (also the president of Español de Madrid) fixed March 30 to replay the match. The only team that appeared on the pitch that day was Club Español de Madrid and was declared the winner by the President of the Federation.

References

• RSSSF.com