Origins The association was born at the beginning of December 1902, in parallel to the creation of the Association of Foot-ball Clubs of Barcelona, which was founded on 12 November of the same year. and
Francisco Hodans as Vice-President, in addition to
Francisco de Borbón y de la Torre as secretary and
Pedro Velasco as
treasurer, with other members including Colmenares, Salló and Oteyza. The first game of the tournament, which was also the first organized party of the Madrid football association, was held at the
Hipódromo de la Castellana on 23 December 1902, and it was a complete success, having the presence of the King of Spain himself,
Alfonso XIII, the first time that the king went to a football match, which was disputed by New FC and Madrid FC, the oldest football clubs in the city.
Instability But soon the problems started. On 18 January 1903, just over a month after the creation of the federation, Madrid FC sponsored the organization of a Spanish Championship (
Copa del Rey), an action that logically belonged to the newly created federation. This led to a conflict between the two entities, which is odd as Madrid was chaired by Juan Padrós, brother of Carlos, the president of the federation, who resigned from his position shortly after, but his resignation was not accepted by the board.
1904 Copa del Rey Already in January, Avecilla announced in the Madrid and Barcelona press the celebration of the
1904 Copa del Rey, which was intended to be contested by the regional champions of
Madrid,
Bilbao and
Catalonia. A few days later, however, Madrid FC once again announced that it would be them who would organize the Copa del Rey, and the 1903 champions,
Athletic Club, stood by their side, along with several other Madrid clubs such as
Moncloa FC and
Iberia FC. A month later, however, Juan Padrós withdrew his will and let the federation organize the national championship, but doing so with just a couple of days away from the tournament, thus leaving little time for the federation, which ended up causing chaos in the development of the tournament. The tournament started on 13 March 1904, and the first problems arose on 19 March. Avecilla's Español and Padrós's Madrid faced each other in the semi-finals of the
Madrid Qualifying Tournament (the qualification contest for the 1904 Copa del Rey) and it ended in a dramatic 5–5 draw. The
captains of both teams agreed not to play
extra-time, but failed to reach an agreement on when they should replay the match. Español wanted to play the next day, but Madrid refused, citing the rules of the tournament which stated that a replay could not be played less than 48 hours after the previous game. The next day Club Español went to replay the match, but Madrid did not appear. The Madrid federation, whose president Ceferino Avecilla happened to be president of Club Español as well, ruled in favor of Español, and they were declared winners of the match eliminating Madrid FC from the competition.
Decline and Collapse Avecilla only lasted three months at the helm of the Madrid federation, because the federation ceased to exist after the controversial and chaotic development of the 1904 Copa del Rey. All the blame for the chaotic organization of the 1904 cup was laid on him, however, he was the victim of a set of intrigues and snares. The 1904 cup was boycotted by Madrid FC of Padrós, helped by Athletic Club, to put an end to the federation. Avecilla presented his resignation on 24 March, and although it was not accepted by the board, the federation ceased to exist five days later, on 29 March 1904. Months later Avecilla returned to send a letter of resignation, but now merely a formality because the federation had already disappeared. ==Presidents==