The 1923–24 Prince of Asturias Cup was the sixth tournament of the

Prince of Asturias Cup The Prince of Asturias Cup (, ) was an inter-regional football competition contested by the regional selections of Spain – selections of players from clubs from the region in question, meaning that players did not need to be native to the region ...

, which is an inter-regional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

competition contested by the regional selections of Spain. The pre-favourites to win were the Catalan team because at that time they had great international figures such as the Spanish goalkeeper

Ricardo Zamora Ricardo Zamora Martínez (; 14 February 1901 – 8 September 1978) was a Spanish footballer and manager. He played as a goalkeeper for, among others, RCD Espanyol, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. As an international he played for both the Catala ...

or the Barcelona players

Josep Samitier Josep Samitier Vilalta (; 2 February 1902 – 4 May 1972), also known as José Samitier, was a Spanish Association football, football player, manager and scout who played as a midfielder for FC Barcelona, Real Madrid CF, Real Madrid, OGC Nice, ...

, the Filipino

Paulino Alcántara Paulino Alcántara Riestrá (7 October 1896 – 13 February 1964) was a football player and manager who played as a forward. Born in the Philippines, he spent most of his playing career at Barcelona, and also represented Catalonia, the Philippi ...

and the Argentine

Emili Sagi-Barba Emilio "Emili" Sagi Liñán (born Bolívar, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 15 March 1900; died Barcelona, 25 May 1951), was a Spanish footballer who played as a left-winger for FC Barcelona, the Catalan XI and Spain during the 1920s and 1930s. He was ...

, and they proved the favouritism by prevailing in a dramatic final against a Castile/Madrid XI.

Squads

Eight regional federations participated in the 1923–24 Prince of Asturias Cup:

Asturias Asturias (, ; ast, Asturies ), officially the Principality of Asturias ( es, Principado de Asturias; ast, Principáu d'Asturies; Galician-Asturian: ''Principao d'Asturias''), is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in nor ...

Biscay Biscay (; eu, Bizkaia ; es, Vizcaya ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilbao. B ...

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

Centro Centro may refer to: Places Brazil *Centro, Santa Maria, a neighborhood in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil * Centro, Porto Alegre, a neighborhood of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil *Centro (Duque de Caxias), a neighborhood of Duq ...

Gipuzkoa Gipuzkoa (, , ; es, Guipúzcoa ; french: Guipuscoa) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French depa ...

, Galicia,

South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

and Levante.

Format

The 1923–24 Prince of Asturias Cup was played in a knock-out cup format, with the 8 teams having to play each other in four quarter-finals, two semi-finals and one final.

Summary

The quarter-final ties were the same as the previous year and so were their participants, now being played on opposite fields, except for the duel between Levante and South, which was played on 11 November at the

Mestalla Stadium Mestalla Stadium ( es, Estadio de Mestalla , ca-valencia, Estadi de Mestalla ) is a football stadium in Valencia, Spain. The stadium is the home of Valencia Club de Fútbol and has a capacity of 48,600 seats, making it the 8th-largest stadium i ...

, and just like in the previous tournament, it was the Andalusians who prevailed, taking a 2–0 lead with goals from Brand and Kinké, but the Valencians were determined in taking revenge and fought back, and remarkably, they managed to level the scores at 2–2 with two goals from local hero

Cubells Cubells is a village in the province of Lleida and autonomous community of Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by it ...

, setting the scene for an epic comeback at Valencia, but the South team found a winner thanks to Spencer and advanced to the semi-finals again. A week later at the San Mamés, Biscay and Asturias faced each other again, and unlike Levante, Biscay actually managed to take revenge, eliminating the champions with a 4–2 win, with goals from Carmelo, Laca and Travieso (twice), while Zabala showed why he had been the top goal scorer of the 1922–23 edition with a consolation goal for Asturias. On 25 November, the remaining two quarterfinals were held with Catalonia beating Gipuzkoa again, but this time the match was dominated by the Basques and also by the controversial work of refereeing, with

Olivella Olivella is a municipality in Catalonia, in the province of Barcelona, Spain. It is situated in the comarca of Garraf. History The first known village in the area was founded in 992 around a castle known as ''Castell vell''. The inhabitants li ...

and Pellicer scoring the local goals at the Les Corts while Gipuzkoa scored a consolation goal in the second-half through former

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

player,

René Petit Renato Petit de Ory, better known by its French name, René Petit (8 October 1899 – 14 October 1989) was a Franco-Spanish engineer, known for being a footballer in his youth. He was one of the most popular players in Spanish football in the 19 ...

. At the same time, the Centro Team took revenge on Galicia thanks to a lonely goal from De Miguel, in a totally flooded Madrid Stadium and under infernal weather. The semifinal matches were played on 27 January 1924. Centro and Andalucía met at the El Metropolitano, with the Castilian team triumphing 2–1, thanks to a first half brace from Monjardín. And at Les Corts, Biscay failed to avenge their "Basque cousins" as they lost to Catalonia due to an early goal from

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

player

Cristóbal Martí Cristóbal Martí Batalla (born 22 May 1903 – 28 July 1986) was a Spanish association football, football player and manager. Career Born in Granollers, Catalonia, Martí began playing football with CE Sabadell FC before joining FC Barcelona. He ...

. The final was held on 24 February 1924 at the San Mamés and ended in a dramatic 4–4 draw, courtesy of a last-minute equalizer from Catalonia's

when there were only two minutes left for the end of

extra-time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...

. In the replay two days later, Catalonia beat Centro 3–2 with goals from

Carulla Carulla is a Colombian supermarket chain owned by Grupo Éxito and headquartered in Bogotá, Colombia. It was founded in 1905, and now is one of the largest supermarket companies in the country. Founded in the city of Barranquilla, it soon mo ...

, Samitier and

Piera Piera is a municipality that covers a large portion of the southeastern corner of the comarca of Anoia in Catalonia, Spain, on the left bank of the Anoia river. The agricultural land, mostly non-irrigated, is used for the cultivation of cereals ...

. Monjardín scored Centro's two consolation goals and because of it, he was crowned the top goal scorer of the tournament with 5 goals, two in the semi-finals and three in the finals.

Results

Quarter-finals

Note: In some sources Montes is listed as the goalscorer of Valencia's second goal. ---- Note: In some sources Sesúmaga is listed as the goalscorer of Biscay's opening goal while others claim that Biscay's goals came in the form of two braces scored by Carmelo and Laca. ---- Note: The game was played under infernal weather. ---- Note: In some sources

is listed as the goalscorer of both Catalan goals

Semi-finals

Note: In some sources Fuentes is listed as the goalscorer of South's consolation goal ----

Final

Final Replay

Winner

Statistics

Top Scorers

Aftermath

The sixth edition of this competition did not achieve the success of the previous one and failed to serve as the basis for forming the Spanish Olympic national team for the

1924 Summer Olympics The 1924 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 1924), officially the Games of the VIII Olympiad (french: Jeux de la VIIIe olympiade) and also known as Paris 1924, were an international multi-sport event held in Paris, France. The op ...

and after the Spanish failure in

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 ...

, the Prince of Asturias Cup ended up being definitively abolished by the Spanish FA on 26 June 1924.

Notes

References

External links

Campeonato Interregional 1923/24 RSSSF archives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prince of Asturias Cup Prince of Asturias Cup 1923–24 in Spanish football