The 1937 Free Spain Cup

On July 18, 1937, on the first anniversary of the military uprising that triggered the Civil War, Levante FC defeated Valencia FC 1-0 at the Sarrià stadium in Barcelona to win the first and only edition of the Free Spain Cup. Newspaper reports highlight that there wasn’t much of a crowd. Perhaps due to this, the match was repeated at Mestalla (Valencia's stadium) on Sunday, August 1, presenting Levante as the champion and Valencia as the runner-up. Levante won again, 4-2.  

Before the Civil War, there were annual competitions.  Regional championships were followed by the League (First, Second, and Third Division) with the Copa de España, the precursor to the current Copa del Rey, as the culmination. Despite the outbreak of the Civil War, the authorities tried to maintain this established pattern. Between October 1936 and July 1937, there were three competitions among teams in the Republican zone, primarily in the Mediterranean region: the Valencian and Catalan regional championships; the eight-team Mediterranean League; and at the end of the campaign, the Free Spain Cup – President of the Republic Trophy  with Valencia, Espanyol, Girona, and Levante participating. Barcelona qualified but was touring Mexico and did not compete.  

Levante FC from the Maritime Districts, to give the team its full name, began its life in 1909. It was based in the port and beach areas of the city and had clear Republican tendencies. In August 1939, a few months after the end of the war, it merged with another team from Valencia, Gimnástico FC. This team also started in 1909, but had very different social and ideological roots, being linked to the Patronato de la Juventud Obrera, a Jesuit-rooted institution. The new team was initially called Unión Deportiva Levante-Gimnástico, but the name was changed to Levante UD in 1941. The team currently plays in Spain's Second Division. The 1937 President of the Republic Cup is the only major trophy in its long history. 

Under the Franco regime, this history was erased from the historical record. In fact, by the late 1990s, even Levante UD as a club didn't know if this history was true or an urban legend. Newspaper archives and the press of the time confirmed the existence of this forgotten chapter. One afternoon, we locked ourselves in the club’s old offices and found the trophy. We didn’t know what it looked like. We didn’t even know if it existed, but luckily it was inscribed with Free Spain Cup and the date. This was followed by twenty-five years of determined efforts by the club’s management and an intense struggle with the Royal Spanish Football Federation before Levante UD’s status as champion was made official. Even after the Spanish parliament recognized the title in 2007, the Federation continued to argue that it had nothing to do with the 1937 competition. Then, armed with a statement from FIFA that it had recognized two Spanish federations from November 1937 until the end of the war, we renewed our efforts to have the Royal Spanish Football Federation reconsider its position.  

Finally, on March 25, 2023, the Federation changed its stance. Levante UD was officially recognized as the Copa champion.