EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP
— Hugo Meisl | February 1922 —

It is neither understandable nor fair that some German sports newspapers present the matches between Sparta Prague and the German champion: IFC Nürnberg as the finals of the continental football championship without being aware of the high level of soccer in Spain, the Netherlands, Austria, Hungary and Denmark. The articles published in the German sports newspapers also confirm the crazy situation prevailing on the entire continent, which is mostly explained by the fact that FIFA has not held a world congress since 1914.

Regarding the question of whether club teams or national teams could compete for the European Championship, I don't think there is any doubt. My opinion is that only first-class national teams can compete for the European Championship and only these can adequately demonstrate the strength, character, class and style of each nation.

Since the Olympic Games in Antwerp, in which Czechoslovakia and Belgium displayed the most successful style of play among the other European nations, there have been no regular matches so that special international matches have to be taken into account in comparisons.

First of all, let me talk about the style of the continent. Since I know the game systems of different countries and the players themselves very well, I can say with a clear conscience that, in my opinion, the typical Scottish short-passing style of play is most successfully practiced by the Hungarians. Prague's Slavia and Vienna's Amateure are very close to this style, but neither they nor any other team on the continent are able to catch up with the Hungarians in this area and play the entire match at an equally strong pace, coupled with the strong shooting ability produced by the forward line. The Scottish style cultivated with such great success by the Hungarians is even more capable of scoring goals because, unlike Slavia in Prague and the Amateure in Vienna, the Hungarians combine much faster.

At the present moment, of course, neither the Hungarians nor the Austrians are in a position to assemble their best and strongest team, after losing their best players one after another due to the low position of their currency.

Hungary, Austria and Slavia Prague show a very good team, better than any other country in Europe. When I state this, I am also forced to state that the idea that I consider these teams to be the strongest and most successful at the moment is far from me. On the contrary, I am convinced that the playing style of Sparta Prague, similar to that of the Spanish, Dutch and Scandinavian countries, is currently more successful and effective. The same applies, of course, to the Belgians and partly to the Italians as well.

The difference in style between the champion Sparta and the next best Czech team: Slavia is as big as between a Sicilian and a Norwegian team. Slavia adapts to the beautiful but slower short-passing style of play, while Sparta adopted the strong and persistent English style of play. To date, Sparta is the strongest association combined team. For this reason, 8-9 Sparta players were included in the national teams of Czechoslovakia.

Based on this point of view, I can say that Czechoslovakia, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands play the most successful open game. For most of the game, they work with long passes, thus promoting faster development.