The Really Big Victories

Winning by a twenty or more margin in first level league soccer.

Thrashing you opponent 5-0 or 6-0 is not usual. But sometimes it gets much, much better. Here are a number of league matches through history which ended in glorious victories with more than twenty goals scored. All of them at first level. Sometimes at these matches corruption was just around the corner, or at least the result caused suspicion. With so much doubt going on, it’s difficult to make this into a top eight. So I’ll just display these victories chronologically.

Magyar AC Budapest (Hungary), 1908

In the early years of the Hungarian national league, MAC Budapest was one of the big clubs. Unfortunately, they never won the championship in those years. During the 1907-08 MAC did succeed in, just like the year before, scoring most goals. On November 24, 1907 MAC Budapest already won 16-0 against Budapesti AK. Four months later, the team scored 20 goals in an away match to Typográphia SC Budapest, who lost all but one of their 16 matches.

07-03-1908  Typográphia SC Budapest – MAC Budapest 0-20 (halftime 0-10)

Goals scored by: Béla Krempels (6), Béla Kelemen I (6), Gyula Vangel (6), Dr. Gáspár Borbás (1) and Iván Medgyessy (1).

Austria Vienna (Austria), 1941

Walter Rirsch

While Austria was sucked into Big-Germany in those days, soccer was one of the few joyful events in Vienna. The league continued, although it was difficult to get eleven players. And getting them at the stadium. It is known that teams from Vienna walked for hours through the city to play an away game. In this match in 1941, Austria Vienna’s opponent LASK from Linz, had only seven players at the kick off. Coach Georg Braun (34 years old) decided to put his boots back on for once, and after half an hour one spectator also played along. The other LASK-players were travelling by train and arrived ten minutes from time, while LASK was already trailing 0-17. With eleven on the pitch, Austria Vienna scored another four goals to claim the biggest win ever in Austria’s top league. LASK protested, but the result stood.

19-01-1941 Austria Wien – LASK  21-0 (halftime 8-0)

Goals scored by: Walter Rirsch (6), Josef Stroh (6), Müller (3), Franz Riegler II (2), Wilhelm Haag (1) and Johann Mock (1). Two own goals by LASK.

Ottmar Walter

1.FC Kaiserslautern (West Germany), 1947

After the Second World War, German soccer was divided into several districts, all called Oberliga. In the Oberliga South-West 1.FC Kaiserslautern were unstoppable. From 1947 until 1951 the club with brothers Fritz and Ottmar Walter won five league titles in a row. In those years victories with double digits were not uncommon for the club. So there was nothing smelly about this 20-0 defeat of hapless FSV Trier-Kürenz, who were relegated at the end of the season.

See for more on Kaiserslautern: http://worldwidesoccerstories.blogspot.com/2013/05/great-seasons.html

23-03-1947 Kaiserslautern – FSV Trier-Kürenz 20-0

Goals scored by: Ottmar Walter (6), Fritz Walter (4), Hans Christmann (4), Werner Bassler (3), Günther Grewenig (2). One own goal by FSV Trier-Kürenz.

Wisla Krakow (Poland), 1947

Mieczyslaw Gracz

Just like Germany, Poland didn’t have a national league back in 1947. Clubs were divided into three regions, with the winners of each region playing a four match play-off. For Wisla Krakow, the 1947 league was an easy ride. They had won matches 5-0, 16-0, 7-0 (first match against Pogon Siedlce), 7-0, 9-0, and 9-1 before they played at home against Pogon Siedlce. Their top goalscorers Miecyslaw Gracz (34 goals that season) and Józef Kohut (31 goals) again did most of the damage in the 21-0 victory, with old gun Artur Wozniak also scoring five. Wisla Krakow won their group with a five point margin, but later lost the Polish championship to Warta Poznan in the play-off.

24-08-1947 Wisla Krakow – Pogon Siedlce             21-0 (halftime8-0)

Goals scored by: Mieczyslaw Gracz (7), Józef Kohut (6), Artur Wozniak (5), Wladyslaw Giergiel (2), Kazimierz Cisowski (1)

SUBT  (Dutch Antilles), 1954

When SUBT played Jong (in English: Young) Curacao on March 14, 1954, it looked like a normal league match. After ten minutes Bill Canword (later in life a soccer professional at NEC Nijmegen in the Netherlands) scored the first goal from a corner. Gomez soon made it 2-0. It all got wrong when the third goal by Heiliger wasn’t disallowed. Jong Curacao claimed it was offside. Referee Cachi Suarez had his doubts, linesman Van Rosburg was convinced it was a goal. After that, Jong Curacao’s manager Van Utrecht gave orders to stop playing and let SUBT score goal after goal. Referee Suarez knew what was going on, ended the match at 5-0 after 39 minutes, but went back on his decision. SUBT scored one goal after another and ended the match 32-0. Normally one would blame Jong Curacao’s manager Van Utrecht, as he had deliberately thrown the match. But newspapers in those days all focused on the referee. A man with so little self-confidence, simply wasn’t capable to be a referee.

Note: scoring 27 goals in 45 minutes looks like a lot, but on October 31, 2002 Olympique de l'Emyrne from Madagascar scored 149 own goals in 90 minutes, protesting against a late penalty against them in a previous match. This way their rival AS Magenta won 149-0 and was crowned champion. Olympique de l’Emyrne was heavily punished for this behavior.

14-03-1954 SUBT – Jong Curacao 32-0 (halftime 5-0)

Goals scored by Bill Canword (1), Gomez (1) and Heiliger (1). The other 29 goals are unknown.

FC Tevalte Tallinn (Estonia), 1994

Sergei Bragin

On May 27, 1994. FC Tevalte Tallinn played at home against Kolev Sillamäe. FC Tevalte had been a big spender during the winter break, trying to catch up with the two favorites for the title, Norma Tallinn and Flora Tallin. They bought three players from Norma Tallinn, Sergei Bragin, Andrei Borissov and Eduard Vinogradov. Opponent Kolev Sillamäe were at the bottom of the table.

After 8-0 at halftime it all got much worse in the second half: 16 (!) more goals combined to a 24-0 trashing.

The match ended with Kolev’s goalkeeper Konstantin Rubkov in tears and his team withdrawing from the league in embarrassment. Three matches later, FC Tevalte Tallinn was expelled from the league as allegations of bribery were getting louder. On the other hand, none of these allegations were ever backed up with evidence. So it also could be political, trying to make life easier for the biggest club in Estonia, Flora Tallinn.

27-05-1994 FC Tevalte Tallinn – Kolev Sillamäe     24-0 (8-0)

Goals scored by: Anatoli Novozhilov (10), Sergei Bragin (4), Maksim Gruznov (4), Konstantin Kolbasenko (2), Aleksandr Marashov (1), Andrei Borissov (1) and Sergei Serednitski (1). One own goal by Kolev Sillamäe.

SC Villa (Uganda), 2003

Hakim Magumba

On their way to the away against SC Villa, the bus with Akol-players seemed to be stopped by Villa rivals Express. They wanted Akol to forfeit this last-but two league match of the season, giving SC Villa a 2-0 victory. Express was afraid SC Villa would trash Akol and would win the title on goal difference. Express failed. Some Akol-players did jump out of the bus, but nine players didn’t. This way Express’ attempt backfired; SC Villa had an easy afternoon and walloped Akol 22-1.

During the investigation concearning this match, it got uglier by the minute. Express had payed Akol-players not to turn up for the game, SC Villa-defender Dan Obote on the other hand payed Akol-players to play. The Uganda FA decided to give SC Villa a 2-0 victory.

After that, SC Villa won 2-0 against Kinyara in a normal match. This meant Express had to win with four or more goals against Top TV. They were doing just that, leasding already 2-0 before halftime, when Top TV coach Sam Ssimbwa decided to a walkout. So, the match was awarded 2-0 to Express, and SC Villa were champions on goal difference.

Not satisfied, the Uganda authorities started an investigation and summoned some Akol-players. Just minutes before testifying, Akol goalkeeper Peter Agong died. But the investigation went ahead and presented a report to the Uganda FA, the FUFA. As the results were extremely damaging for them, he FUFA decided to put in on a shelf and never look at it again.

27-08-2003 SC Villa – Akol 22-1 (later annulled)

Goals scored by: Hakim Magumba (7), Philip Obwiny (5), other goals unknown.

Some other big victories from  the past

Country	Date	Match	Result	Remarks
Cyprus	20-11-1938	AEL Limassol - Aris	24-1	Aris fielded a youth team
Bonaire (Dutch Antilles)	22-10-1967	Vitesse - Uruguay	23-0	Sjonmi Engelhardt scored nine goals, no irregularities
Ghana	1989	Brong Ahofu United – Man United	20-0	Arranged match. Brong Ahofu feared relegation. Rival Hasaacas did the same and won 19-0.

Recently, big victories with twenty or more goals are not uncommon in smaller soccer countries like American Samoa, Bhutan, Guam, Laos and Tonga. Honouring them, here’s one big victory from Maldives:

VB Sports Club (Maldives), 2009

Ali Ashfaq

Big victories are no surprise in the small league of Maldives. The last double digit victory was on July 30 of this year, when New Radiant beat AYL 10-0. Reaching twenty goals on the other hand is uncommon, as it happened only once. Back in 2009 Kalhaidhoo ZJ had already lost matches 5-0, 7-0 and 8-1 when they met VB Sports Club in Round 13 of the league. It ended 20-0, with Maldives’ best ever player, Ali Ashfaq scoring twelve goals. Ashfaq just turned 28 and has already scored more than 300 league goals, and 36 international goals as well. This year at the South East Asian Championship Asfaq scored six against Sri Lanka (10-0) and four against Bhutan (8-2).

02-07-2009 VB Sports Club – Kalhaidhoo ZJ 20-0

Goals scored by: Ali Ashfaq (12), Mohamed Hussain (2), Ali Umar (2), Abu Desmond Mansaray (1), Abdulla Haneef (1), Ahmed Niyaz (1) and Ahmed Rilwan (1).

The First Mitropa Cup, 1927

Hugo Meisl

Every soccer fan is familiar with international cup competitions like the Champions League.  Nearly ninety years ago, Austrian Hugo Meisl was the first to come up with this idea. In those days, professional soccer just started in countries like Austria, Czechoslovakia and Hungary. Meisl wanted a knock-out tournament, just like the national cups everybody already knew, with the champions of each participating country.

Hugo Meisl (born 1881) thought home and away matches would be best, this way everybody had equal chances. Of course, he needed eight teams to get a decent set up, with quarter finals, semi finals and a final. And as Germany and Italy did not have a national league yet, he asked the top two teams of the four countries that did compete: Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Yugoslavia. That last choice was a surprise. Yugoslavia didn’t play professional soccer and had no reputation whatsoever on international level. The two clubs Hajduk Split and BSK Belgrade were merely used to get the numbers right.

The cup was called Mitropa Cup, derived from the German words ‘Mittel Europa’, meaning Central Europa. The teams that participated from August 14 until the final on November 13, were as follows:

Club	Country	Achievement in league 1927
Admira Wien	Austria	Champion 1926-1927
Rapid Wien	Austria	Third place 1926-1927
Sparta Prague	Czechoslovakia	Champions 1927
Slavia Prague	Czechoslovakia	Runner-up 1927
Ujpesti TE	Hungary	Runner-up 1926-1927
MTK Hungaria Budapest	Hungary	Third place 1926-1927
NK Hajduk Split	Yugoslavia	Champion 1927
BSK Beograd	Yugoslavia	Runner-up 1927

·        * Missing in this line-up were runner-up Brigittenauer AC (BAC) from Austria and Hungarian champion Ferencvaros, for reasons unknown.

·        * The capitol cities Vienna, Prague and Budapest all provided two clubteams, which was no surprise as those cities were the soccer centre of their countries.

The Quarter Finals

Gyorgyo Orth (MTK Hungaria FC)

On August 14, the Mitropa Cup got on it’s way in Vienna, Prague and Belgrade. With two clubs from Prague, Slavia played its first home match a week later. All return matches were played on August 28. With Rapid Vienna, Slavia Prague and Hungaria FC easily through to the next round, the matches  between Sparta Prague and Admira Wacker were the most memorable in these quarter finals. Both teams played very rough, with injuries and even a fight in the locker room afterwards. Evzen Vesely, normally a substitute player in the Sparta squad, had already scored the first two goals in Sparta’s 5-1 victory in the first match. He was even more vital two weeks later, when Admira had equaled the 5-1 score after an hour. Vesely's 2-5 and 3-5 prevented Sparta from playing an extra match.

The results of the quarter finals (winners in bold):

Rapid Vienna – Hajduk Split	8-1	Johann Hoffmann (3), Ferdinand Wessely (2), Karl Wondrak (1), Johann Horvath (1), Johann Luef (1); Mirko Bonacic (1)
Hajduk Split – Rapid Vienna	0-1	Johann Hoffmann (1)
Sparta Prague – Admira Vienna	5-1	Evzen Vesely (2), Josef Horejs (2), Jan Maloun (1); Franz Runge (1)
Admira Vienna – Sparta Prague	5-3	Anton Schall (2), Ignaz Sigl (1), Franz Runge (1), Karl Stoiber (1), Evzen Vesely (2), Josef Silny (1)
BSK Belgrade – MTK Hungaria FC	2-4	Kuzman Soritovic (1), Nikola Marjanovic (1); Rudolf Jeny (1), Zoltan Opata (1), Janos Kvasz (1), Gyorgy Skvarek (1)
MTK Hungaria FC – BSK Belgrade	4-0	Gyorgy Orth (2), Gyorgy Molnar (1), Geza Balasits (1)
Slavia Prague – Ujpesti TE	4-0	Jindrich Soltys (1), Josef Kratochvil (1), Frantisek Svoboda (1), Karel Bejbl (1)
Ujpesti TE – Slavia Prague	2-2	Jozsef Fogl III (2); Antonin Puc (2)

Frantisek Kolenaty (Sparta Prague)

The Semi Finals

Things were getting closer during the semi finals. Hungaria FC and Sparta first draw 2-2 in Budapest, with Sparta the better team. Back in Prague, Hungaria was able to stop the Sparta attacks: 0-0. As the away goals rule wasn’t invented yet, an extra match was needed. But Sparta Prague successfully claimed Hungaria FC’s Kalman Konrad wasn’t allowed to play in the last game, given his previous American adventure with Brooklyn Wanderers. So Sparta went throught to the final.

In the other semi final, Slavia’s goalkeeper Frantisek Planicka denied the Rapid Vienna-attackers with great saves. Thanks to his performance, Slavia won their home match 2-1. Back in Vienna, it was a great free kick on 1-1 from Ferdinand Wessely that beat Planicka and made the final a clash between Austrian and Czechoslovakia, or Vienna and Prague.

MTK Hungaria FC – Sparta Prague	2-2	Zoltan Opata (1), Rudolf Jeny (1); Adolf Patek (1), Josef Silny (1)
Sparta Prague – MTK Hungaria FC	0-0
Slavia Prague – Rapid Vienna	2-2	Josef Kratochvil (1), Antonin Puc (1); Johann Horvath (1), Johann Luef (1)
Rapid Vienna – Slavia Praag	2-1	Karl Wondrak (1), Ferdinand Wesely (1); Antonin Puc (1)

Winner Sparta Prague

The Final

Four weeks after the semi finals, Sparta Prague and Rapid Vienna met in Prague for the first match. It was believed the Mitropa Cup had a very strong final. Twentyfive thousand spectators saw a nervous beginning, with Sparta leading 2-0 and 3-1. It was 3-2 at halftime, but after the break Rapid was overrun by Sparta, who scored another three goals. With a 6-2 score, the spectators were convinced it was over and joyously invaded the pitch. 

Finalist Rapid Vienna

Two weeks later, Rapid Vienna tried the impossible, and failed. The Austrians played unfair, especially Franz Weselik should have been red carded. But only Antonin Perner (Sparta) was expelled from the game, after an hour. After a 2-0 lead for Rapid, Josef Silny scored 2-1 eight minutes from time, which ended all hopes for Rapid coach Edi Bauer and his team. Bauer (33) had placed himself in the starting eleven, but the gifted striker failed to make an impression. During the Cup ceremony, Sparta’s captain Karel Pesek was struck by a rock, and some two hundred policemen had to protect the Sparta Prague team from other attacks from the crowd.

Sparta Prague – Rapid Vienna	6-2	Josef Silny (2), Adolf Patek (2), Karel Pesek (1), Josef Sima (1); Franz Weselik (1), Ferdinand Wessely (1)
Rapid Vienna – Sparta Prague	2-1	Franz Weselik (1), Johann Luef (1); Josef Silny (1)

Josef Silny

So, Sparta Prague deservingly was the first winner of the Mitropa Cup. During those six matches they used only fourteen players, no less than eight players were ever-present.

Their attacker Josef Silny became top goalscorer with five goals, Johann Hoffmann and Ferdinand Wessely (both Rapid Vienna), Antonin Puc (Slavia Prague) and Evzen Vesely (Sparta Prague) all scored four.

In total 64 goals were scored in 14 matches, an average of more than four and a half goals per match. Janko Rodin (Hajduk Split), Kuzman Sotirovic (BSK Belgrade) and (as mentioned) Antonin Perner all were sent off. 

The Mitropa Cup got off to a shaky start, as there was too much violence on the playing fields. But the prestige was big from the start. That even got better from 1929 onwards, as the Italian clubs started to participate.

Sparta Prague in Mitropa Cup, 1927

Player	Position	Date of birth	Matches	Goals
Frantisek Hochman	Goalkeeper	02-04-1904	6	0
Karel Steiner	Defender	26-01-1895	4	0
Antonin Perner	Defender	29-01-1899	6	0
Jaroslav Burgr	Defender	07-03-1906	2	0
Frantisek Kolenaty	Midfielder	29-01-1900	6	0
Ferdinand Hajny	Midfielder	03-02-1899	6	0
Karel Pesek	Midfielder	20-09-1895	6	1
Evzen Vesely	Forward	Unknown	4	4
Josef Horejs (Austria)	Forward	Unknown	6	2
Josef Silny	Forward	23-01-1902	6	5
Jan Maloun	Forward	11-02-1905	4	1
Josef Sima	Forward	17-08-1905	2	1
Josef Miclik	Forward	Unknown	2	0
Adolf Patek (Austria)	Forward	04-04-1900	6	3