The 1894 USFSA Football Championship was the 1st staging of the

USFSA Football Championship U.S. Figure Skating is the national Sport governing body, governing body for the sport of figure skating in the United States. It is recognized as such by the United States Olympic Committee, United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee "USOPC" u ...

. This was the very first recognized football championship to be played in France. The tournament was held on the road between 15 April and 6 May 1894. The first competition featured just four Paris teams and was organized on a knockout basis with Standard Athletic Club becoming the French champions after beating

The White Rovers The White Rovers, also known as White Rovers Paris, was a French amateur football club based in Paris which existed between 1891 and 1899. The club was founded in 1891 by Englishman Jack Wood, who had formerly played football in his home country. ...

2–2 and 2–0 in the replay of the final.

Participants

The first national championship in team sports in France was the high schools

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

football championship in 1891. Its success prompted the Parisian clubs to start a championship for football as well. So, in 1894, it was decided to hold a "championship" among the volunteering football clubs of the U.S.F.S.A. The tournament gathered six teams, of which 4 were clubs from

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, thus making it seem more of a championship of Paris rather than a French championship.

Format

The competition was played under a knockout cup system. Four clubs, Standard AC, International AC, White Rovers and CA Neuilly took part in a preliminary round, while

Club Français Club Français was a French association football club based in Paris which was founded in 1890. Club Français won the 1896 USFSA Football Championship and Coupe de France Final 1931. In 1900 the USFSA elected players from Club Français to ...

and

Cercle Pédestre d'Asnières Cercle is French for ''circle''. It can refer to: * circle (country subdivision) * Cercle (French colonial), an administrative unit of the French Overseas Empire * Cercle (Mali), the Malian administrative unit ** The specific Cercles of Mali * ...

received a bye to the semi-finals. All the matches took place on the Racing Club de France grounds in Levallois. The donater of the trophy was a wealthy sports-loving American businessman, James Gordon Bennett.

Bracket

Results

First round

Bye (2): : CP Asnières :

Note: At the last moment, the International AC withdrew, without the reason being known. ----

Semi-finals

Note: Rovers were "not expecting so much resistance", but end up scoring fifteen minutes from the end of the match by

Mac Bain Mac or MAC most commonly refers to: * Mac (computer), a family of personal computers made by Apple Inc. * Mackintosh, a raincoat made of rubberized cloth * A variant of the word macaroni, mostly used in the name of the dish mac and cheese * M ...

, on a

corner kick A corner kick is the method of restarting play in a game of association football when the ball goes out of play over the goal line, without a goal being scored and having last been touched by a member of the defending team. The kick is taken ...

taken by J. Wood, slightly helped by the wind. ----

Final

Replay

Winner

References

{{reflist

External link

RSSSF
USFSA Football Championship 1

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...