Évence Coppée Trophy
| Event | Évence Coppée Trophy | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Date | 1 May 1904 | ||||||
| Venue | Stade du Vivier d'Oie, Uccle | ||||||
| Referee | John C. Keene (England) | ||||||
| Attendance | 1,500 | ||||||
The Évence Coppée Trophy (French: Trophée Evence Coppée) was a single-game tournament in 1904 and the maiden match of the national association football teams of Belgium and France. The trophy was named after Évence Coppée, the Belgian patron that decided to organise this duel in the framework of the Franco-Belgian friendship. The incident-packed game had taken place at the Stade du Vivier d'Oie ("Goose Pond Stadium") in Uccle, Belgium and it ended in a 3–3 draw. As the encounter ended undecided (and no extra time was foreseen) the Évence Coppée Trophy that would be handed out to the winner was logically not awarded.
It meant the official debut of both national football teams and it was at the same time the first match between two independent European countries; it was the third official international football game in continental Europe (after the games between Austro-Hungarian teams Austria and Hungary and the squads of Hungary and Bohemia) and the third official game between the teams of two independent countries (after two matches between Argentina and Uruguay in 1902 and 1903). Twenty days later in Paris, Belgium and France would found the international association football federation FIFA together with five other Western European football associations (Belgium being represented by the UBSSA, precursor of the Royal Belgian Football Association, and France by USFSA, precursor of the current French Football Federation).
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