España Libre Cup: The Precedents

Levante prior to the 1937 title was spectacular. The 1934/35 season had been historic. After winning the Super Regional Championship at the end of 1934, they reached the semi-finals of the 1935 Spanish Cup, eliminating Valencia and Barça along the way. In the summer of 1936, the squad returned to work with promotion to the First Division on the horizon. But the outbreak of the Civil War cut everything short.

Despite the war conflict, the idea of playing in the Regional Championship, which also included teams from Murcia, was maintained. And not only that, the Spanish Federation tried to include Madrid and Athletic, the two big clubs from Madrid, in this Super Regional tournament. Unfortunately, the war prevented it and Valencia, Levante, Gimnástico, Hércules, Cartagena and Murcia were chosen.

With the Civil War, the First, Second and Third Division Championships were suspended. But the desire to watch football did not wane. In January 1937, following a meeting held in Valencia (capital of the Republic since November 1936), the Mediterranean League was formed. Barcelona, Español, Granollers, Gerona, Valencia, Levante, Gimnástico and Castellón played in it, Barça won it and Levante came fifth.

Let's look at the background. Since the early 1920s, the teams that entered the Spanish Cup did so through the Regional Championships. When the League was created in the 1928-29 season, the formula was maintained, but with the Civil War everything changed. In mid-1937 Barça went on tour to Mexico and Hércules and Murcia (both ahead of Levante in the 1936 Regional) resigned.

After the Mediterranean League (played by the teams on the Republican side), the idea of maintaining the competitive sequence with the Spanish Cup was still alive. Rodríguez Tortajada (president of Valencia) proposed a cup tournament with a two-legged group between four teams and a final between the top two. And he had the backing of Ricardo Cabot, the head of the Spanish Federation.

Tortajada's proposal did not come out of the blue. The press was already talking about finishing off the season with a tournament similar to the Spanish Cup. The war, however, forced a change in the usual qualifying parameters. And finally, with the support of the Spanish Federation, the Copa España Libre was born, to be contested by the clubs with the greatest capacity to compete: Valencia, Espanyol, Levante and Girona.

The Cup has always had an official status. The President of the Republic undertook to donate a trophy to the winner. Manuel Azaña, President since May 1936, was unable to give it in person at the final in Sarriá. But El Mundo Deportivo made its sponsorship clear in its 19 July article, with a photo of the Levante eleven and an unequivocal headline: "The winner of the President of the Republic's Cup".

A very curious historical fact: the team that ended up being the champion of this Cup was not interested in it at the beginning. However, things changed in May 1937 and Levante decided to take part in the tournament, reinforced by a great agreement with Gimnástico, who loaned them their Vallejo stadium and four of their players (Rubio, Fraisón, Palahí and Nieto, eventually the best player in the Cup) for the tournament.