Intercontinental Cup (football)

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Intercontinental Cup
European/South American

Founded 1960

Region Europe (UEFA)
South America (CONMEBOL)

Number of teams 2

Most successful club

AC Milan

Boca Juniors

Nacional

PeÃ±arol

Real Madrid
(Three cups each)

The European/South American Cup, commonly referred to as the World Club Cup, Intercontinental Cup or Toyota Cup, was a football competition endorsed by UEFA and CONMEBOL, contested between the winners of the European Cup and the South American Copa Libertadores. From it's formation in 1960 to 1979, the competition was contested over a two legged tie; from 1980 until 2004 the competition was contested over a single match held in Japan.

From 2005 the Intercontinental Cup was replaced by the FIFA Club World Cup, which also includes North American, Asian, African and Oceanian winners.

1 History 2 Cup format 3 Intercontinental Cup finals

3.1 Single match finals 3.2 Two-legged finals

4 Statistics

4.1 By team 4.2 By country 4.3 By continent 4.4 Coaches 4.5 Players 4.6 Man of the Match

5 See also 6 External links

[edit] History

RubÃ©n SuÃ±Ã© of Boca Juniors holds the trophy after their success in 1977

The first team to claim a World Championship were clubs, Hibernian F.C., who as Scottish Cup winners challenged FA Cup winners Preston North End on August 13, 1887. The next season's winners, Renton F.C. challenged FA Cup holders West Bromwich Albion the following year, although the match was played without authorization from their respective associations. With the subsequent creation of the English and Scottish Football Leagues, the concept of a club as World Champion took on less importance as the clubs focused on winning their national leagues and the game spread further abroad. The first official competition was held at Rio de Janeiro in 1951, with major clubs from South- America and Europe only. The tournament was organized by FIFA, as Mr. Jules Rimet sent his vice-president to supervise it. The tournament, called "TaÃ§a Rio" was won by Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras (SÃ£o Paulo - Brazil) in a two matches decision against Juventus FC (Torino - Italy), becoming the first world club champion. The World Club Championship forerunner to today's cup was created by Henri Delaunay as a way of determining who is the top club in the world (Europe and South America being the football world's top continents).

Europe already had its European Champions Club Cup, but South America did not have a similar competition. Thus, South American ConfederaciÃ³n (CONMEBOL's predecessor) created a similar competition, and named it after the heroes of South American independence. The Copa Libertadores made the World Club Championship viable.

The first match-up was in 1960, between Spanish side Real Madrid and the Uruguayan club PeÃ±arol.

Ever since the 1950s (and especially since the 1970s) many talented South Americans have crossed the Atlantic to play for European teams, who also tend to be richer. Perhaps as a consequence, South American fans always attached more importance to the Intercontinental Cup than their European counterparts.

An especially traumatic event was the 1969 series between Estudiantes and Milan, which resulted in extremely harsh suspensions for many Estudiantes players.

Out of concern for the integrity of players, and also because of the lack of financial incentive, several European champions declined to participate; in all cases, their runners-up took their place. The 1975 and 1978 editions were not played at all.

The very viability of the competition came under fire until Toyota assumed the role of sponsor for the 1980 edition; for the remainder of the competition's history, no club declined playing the Intercontinental Cup, and the competition always took the form of a single match held on neutral ground, in Toyota's home country Japan.

This cup was played for the last time in 2004, being replaced by the FIFA Club World Cup from 2005. However, as of December 2005 there are talks of restoring it soon but this time featuring the winners of the Recopa Sudamericana against the European Supercup champions.

[edit] Cup format

From 1960 to 1979, the World Club Championship was played in two legs. Between 1960 and 1968, the cup was decided on points only, the same format used by CONMEBOL to determine the winner of the Copa Libertadores final through 1987. Because of this format, a third match was needed when both teams were tied on points. From 1969 through 1979, the competition adopted the European standard method of aggregate score, with away goals.

Starting in 1980, the final became a single match. Up until 2000, the matches were held at Tokyo's National Stadium. Finals since 2001 were held at the Yokohama International Stadium, venue of the 2002 FIFA World Cup final.