Robert Fulda

Robert Fulda was of German descent and later became a Russian citizen. After graduating from the law school of the Moskva (Moscow) University, he was involved in his father’s chemical and drugstore company. In 1904, he translated the rules of football into Russian and published them for the first time. The following year, he founded Sokolnichesky Klub Sporta (SKS) with Russia’s first official football team. He also provided financial support for the construction of a stadium. Fulda donated a cup Moskva football league champions in 1910, often referred to as the “Fulda-Cup”. In 1912, he played a key role in founding the All-Russian Football Union and served as its president from 1914-15 as well as Russia’s representative at FIFA.

Fulda also established a cup that was contested as Moskva’s men’s singles championship in tennis. Moreover, he was president of the sports club of the Imperial Moscow Aeronautical Society. He held various other honorary positions in football, tennis and aviation.

After the Russian Revolution, he emigrated first to Germany in 1922 and later to Switzerland. There, in Davos in 1937, Fulda donated the Fulda Cup for curling, which was contested for around 60 years. In exile in Germany, he and his wife Alisa, devoted themselves to helping Russian emigrants. Fulda was also a pioneer in the international language of Esperanto, which he could speak and write fluently. During World War II, one of his sons was imprisoned by the Nazis for five years in the Dachau concentration camp.

Many years after his death in Switzerland, one of his grandsons brought his urn to Moskva and buried his ashes in the Vvedenskoye Cemetery.