Berlin – Gary James' Football Archive

Remember When England beat Germany in Women’s European Championship Final

With the Women’s Euros starting today it’s worth looking back to a time decades ago when a women’s team from Manchester, playing as England won a European Cup. Let’s make everyone aware of when England beat Germany in the final of a women’s European tournament in 1957? Here’s the story of when they did…

The match saw the pioneering women’s team, Manchester Corinthians, play as England in the International Ladies Football Association’s European Cup. They won 4-0 in the final of this European championship in 1957, played in Berlin. This game, like so many others when the Corinthians played as England, are not officially recognised as internationals as they predated the Women’s FA and the involvement of UEFA in women’s football, but no one should underestimate the achievements of the Manchester women who took part. At the time they occurred these were full-blooded affairs and I’ve been fortunate to interview many of the women who played as England that day.

You can find out more about the Corinthians and their Germany trip in my new highly acclaimed history of the club:

UK ONLY – Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History

The story of a pioneering women’s club as told to Gary James by those who were there. This will be published in late December 2024. This is UK only at £25 (incl UK postage and packaging). Outside UK contact for additional postage costs.

£25.00

Pioneering Mancunian Women

Manchester City’s European Tours

These days pre-season tours are an expected part of a football club’s activities but that’s not always been the case. Pre-1939 it was highly unusual for English teams to travel for friendlies before a season, but some clubs did enjoy post-season tours. The idea was that a trip to mainland Europe was a reward for first team players after an arduous season. Here for subscribers to my site is a brief overview of some of Manchester City’s European tour firsts.

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Manchester City v Germany in the Berlin Olympic Stadium

On this day (19 May) in 1937 Manchester City became the first English team to play at the Berlin Olympic Stadium. This was a highly political match but it doesn’t get mentioned as often as it should but I’ve talked about it frequently over the decades. The match saw League Champions Manchester City become the first English side to play in the Berlin Olympic stadium when they faced a German national 11 – club v country!

The German national side beat “England’s greatest players” 3-2 in a propaganda led game. According to the English players there that day, tHe Blues had a morale victory when they refused to perform the Nazi salute. You can read more on this game below.

I am not going to pretend that English football teams making tours of Continental countries do not have a very pleasant time, but at the same time these tours are not picnics. You are there to play serious football, and you have to go about it in the ordinary businesslike way.” Sam Barkas, City Captain, 27^th May 1937

As Sam Barkas hinted, sometimes end of season football tours are not the fun experience a lot of fans think. Sometimes the tour takes on a whole different meaning. This is certainly true for the May 1937 tour to Germany.

The Blues, as Champions of England, were invited to play a series of high profile matches across Germany and its neighbouring States. Although this was a major honour for City it has to be stressed that the whole concept of the tour, as far as Germany’s Nazi rulers were concerned, was to promote Germany’s sporting prowess against the best England could offer.