[1] It was named in honor of the donator of the trophy Carl van der Straten-Ponthoz It was invented in 1900 at the instigation of Count van der Straten-Ponthoz, who offered the cup to the winners of an international tournament held in Brussels featuring six teams, including the champions of Belgium (Racing Club), the Netherlands (H.V.V.)

from the Netherlands, might be considered the first ever continental European Champions,[2] although this title is also contested by Vienna Cricket and Football-Club, who were the winners of the first Challenge Cup in 1897, a competition between clubs in Austria-Hungary.

HVV led for most of the match, but two late goals from RAP's Jan van den Berg and Julius Hisgen made up for an epic turnaround.

In addition to Pilgrims, a second English team participated, Maidstone (Maidstone Church Institute Wanderers FC), which was narrowly defeated in the first round by the eventual champions Racing Club de Bruxelles, marking the first time a Belgian club lifted the trophy, doing so after getting the better of Pilgrims in the final in a thrilling 6–5 win after extra-time.

This was Maidstone's fourth tour in the Low Countries after having previously faced an Holland XI side in 1894 and 1895 in Heemstede, and FC Brugge in 1901.

[11] Both semi-finals were a Belgian-Dutch affair, and both ended with a Belgian victory, thus setting an all-Belgian final for the second consecutive season, and again between Union Saint-Gilloise and Racing Club de Bruxelles.

[11] The seventh edition of the competition saw Union Saint-Gilloise and Racing Club de Bruxelles proving to be the strongest teams in the Low Countries by reaching the final of the tournament for a third consecutive season.

Rather than simply replaying the match, the organization was left clueless on how to handle the situation and after contacting the secretary of the English FA, it was decided to proclaim both teams as "joint holders", meaning a third title to Racing and a second consecutive to Union.

[12] The eighth and last edition of the competition was by far the most international one since it had clubs from 5 different countries: Belgium, the Netherlands, France, England, and the debutants Germany, whose representative was Dortmund FC.

[13][14] The success of the first edition led to the introduction of the Coupe Vanden Abeele in Antwerp in the following year, originally intended as an international club tournament as well, but eventually the starting point for the Low Countries derby.

[2] After winning the Coupe Van der Straeten Ponthoz for a third consecutive season, Union Saint-Gilloise became the definitive holders of the cup.