Stories from the world of Romanian sports – Rapid, 1940

The first Romanian team to reach the final of a European football competition was Rapid Bucharest, in 1940.

Florin Orban, 12.12.2025, 13:45

In the 1930s, the most important European football competition was the Central European Cup. Between 1927 and 1940, the competition brought together teams from Austria, Hungary, Italy, Yugoslavia, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia and Romania. The first edition in which a Romanian team took part was in 1937, when Venus Bucharest was eliminated in the first round by the Hungarian team Ujpest Budapest, after two defeats. The first victories came in 1938. In the first round, Ripensia Timișoara defeated the Italian team AC Milan 3-0 and 1-3, and Rapid Bucharest won against Ujpest Budapest, after a score 1-4 away from home and 4-0 at home. In the quarter-finals, however, Ripensia was defeated twice by Ferencvaros Budapest, 4-5 and 1-4, and Rapid was defeated by the Italian team Genoa. In Italy, the Genoese players won 3-0, but Rapid won 2-1 in Giulesti. To give a measure of the value of the teams that the Romanian teams faced, it is only necessary to remember that Italy became world champion in 1938, defeating Hungary in the final.

In 1939, only Venus Bucharest participated in the competition, being eliminated in the first round by Bologna, Italy’s champion. But then came the 1940 edition, when Rapid Bucharest obtained success. 8 teams entered the competition – three from Yugoslavia, three from Hungary and the Bucharest teams Venus and Rapid. In the first round, Venus lost both legs to BSK Belgrade: 0-1 away and 0-3 at home. Rapid met the Hungarian team Hungaria Budapesta. The first game took place on Hungarian soil. The hosts scored first, but Rapid turned the tables, scoring twice through Vilmos Sipos, a Yugoslav international player at the time. In Bucharest, at ANEF, at the time the largest stadium in the capital, with over 20,000 seats, the Romanians won 3-0. The Bucharest press headlined: “Rapid eliminated Hungaria Budapesta boringly easily”.

Then followed the semi-final with Grajdanski Zagreb. In the first leg, played in Yugoslavia, the score was tied, 0 to 0. The return leg in Bucharest also ended in a draw. A play-off match was then played in Subotica, Yugoslavia, also ending in a tie, 1-1. The newspaper Universul on July 12 headlined “The third match, the third draw. 120 minutes of tough and passionate play and only two goals: one by Zimmermanncici and another by Bogdan… And Rapid, without stars, and Grajdanski, with the complete <<collection>>, finished in a tie again”. The winner was decided by drawing lots. And so, Rapid was the first Romanian team to reach the final of a European Cup.

The final of the 1940 Central European Cup, featuring Hungarian team Ferencvaros, which was scheduled for August, was cancelled. Political tensions between Bucharest and Budapest were high. Hungary was making territorial claims against Romania, which were later met on August 30, under German pressure, through the Vienna Arbitration. (LS)