When Motherwell won a Copa del Rey and other foreign cup triumphs

“Have just found out that Motherwell are the only non-Spanish side to win the Copa del Rey,” tweets Dave Chamberlain. “Are there any other examples of teams winning another country’s cup competition whilst not being a member of their FA?”

Let’s start with a bit of housekeeping: specifically, Motherwell winning the Copa del Rey. It happened in 1927, although there’s an asterisk against the whole thing. No, not that sort of asterisk.

Technically it wasn't THE Copa Del Rey, as Real Union had already won that earlier in the season. The trophy Motherwell won was an "unofficial" Copa Del Rey (a post-season, four team tournament). Sorry to put a dampener on things...

Real Unión beat Arenas 1-0 in the official Copa del Rey final. The clean sheet was kept by Antonio Emery Amocena, grandfather of Unai (who bought a stake in the club in 2021, but that’s another story). At the end of the 1926-27 season, the Royal Spanish Football Federation invited Motherwell (runners-up in the Scottish league) and Swansea (12th in the old Division Two) to take part in a special edition of the competition.

They faced each other for the right to play Real Madrid, whose team included a number of players from other clubs, in the final. Motherwell beat Swansea 4-3, a match King Alfonso XIII of Spain reportedly described as a “brilliant display of scientific football”, then outclassed the Madrid select XI 3-1. You can read more about it on the official Motherwell site.

There’s another example from Scotland worthy of mention, though it involves a near-miss rather than actual trophy-lifting glory. “While Motherwell won a Copa del Rey rather than the Copa del Rey, a Scottish side has reached the final of the FA Cup twice – though without winning,” writes