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The Intercontinental Cup, known earlier as European/South American Cup and Toyota Cup from 1980 to 2004 for commercial reasons by agreement with the automaker, was a football official competition endorsed by Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol (CONMEBOL),[1][2] contested between representative clubs from these confederations, usually the winners of the European Champions' Cup (now known as the UEFA Champions League), and the South American Copa Libertadores.
Despite being chronologically the fourth international competition created to define "the best team in the world" after
Since 1980
Luis Cubilla and Juan Mujica, 2 Uruguayans won cups both as players and coaches:
Carlos Bianchi won three editions as coach: one with Vélez Sársfield in 1994, and 2 with Boca Juniors in 2000 and 2003.
Five teams have won the trophy three times: Boca Juniors (1977, 2000, 2003), Milan (1969, 1989, 1990), Nacional (1971, 1980, 1988), Peñarol (1961, 1966, 1982), and Real Madrid (1960, 1998, 2002).
Starting in 1980, the final became a single match. Up until 2001, the matches were held at Tokyo's National Stadium. Finals since 2002 were held at the Yokohama International Stadium, also the venue of the 2002 FIFA World Cup final.
From 1960 to 1979, the Intercontinental Cup 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 equal on points. Commonly this match was host by the continent where the last game of the series was played. From 1969 through 1979, the competition adopted the European standard method of aggregate score, with away goals.
The competition trophy bears the words "Coupe Européenne-Sudamericaine" ("European-South American Cup") at the top. At the base of the trophy, there is the round logo of UEFA and a map of South America in a circle.
The 1990s proved to be a decade dominated by European teams as Milan, Red Star Belgrade, Ajax, Juventus, Real Madrid, Manchester United and newcomers Borussia Dortmund of Germany were fueled to victory by its economic powers and heavy poaching of South American stars. Only three title went to South America as São Paulo and Argentina's Vélez Sársfield came out the winners, each of them defeating Milan with São Paulo's inaugural win being over Barcelona. The 2000s would see Boca Juniors win the competition twice for South America while European victories came from Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Porto. The 2004 Intercontinental Cup proved to be the last edition as the competition was absorbed into the FIFA Club World Cup.
[91] The first Toyota Cup was held in
Seeing the deterioration of the Intercontinental Cup, Japanese motor corporation Toyota took the competition under its wing. It created contractual obligations to have the Intercontinental Cup played in Japan once a year in which every club participating were obliged to participate or face legal consequences. This modern format breathed new air into the competition which saw a new trophy handed out along with the Intercontinental Cup, the Toyota Cup.
Argentine side Boca Juniors qualified for the 1977 and 1978 editions, for which the European champions, English club Liverpool, declined to participate on both occasions. In 1977, Boca Juniors defeated European Cup runners-up, German club Borussia Mönchengladbach, 5-2 on aggregate.[83][84][85][86] Boca Juniors declined to face Belgian club Brugge in 1978 leaving that edition undisputed.[80] Paraguay's Olimpia won the 1979 edition against European Cup runners-up, Swedish side Malmö FF, after winning both legs.[87][88][89][90] However, the competition had greatly declined in prestige. After the 0-1 win of the South Americans in the first leg at Malmö, which saw fewer than 5000 Swedish fans turn up, Spanish newspaper El Mundo Deportivo called the Cup "a dog without an owner", adding:[20]
[82] In
German club Bayern Munich also declined to play in 1974 as Independiente again qualified to participate.[76][77][78][79] European Cup runners-up Atlético Madrid from Spain won the competition 2-1 on aggregate.[76][77] Once again, Independiente qualified to participate in 1975; this time, both finalists of the European Cup declined to participate and the competition was not played.[80] That same year, L'Equipe tried, once again, to create a Club World Cup, in which the participants would have been: the four semifinalists of the European Cup, both finalists of the Copa Libertadores, as well as the African and Asian champions. However, UEFA declined once again and the proposal failed.[81]
Ajax participated in Barry Hulshoff, described as a big and burly man.[69] In the first leg, Cruyff opened the scoring in Avellaneda at the 5th minute. As a result, Dante Mircoli retaliated with a vicious tackle a couple of minutes later; Cruyff was too injured to continue and the Dutch team found themselves being assaulted with tackles and punches.[66][67][68] Kovács had to convince his team to play on during half-time as his players wanted to withdraw.[66][67][68] Ajax squeezed a 1-1 tie and followed up with a 3-0 trounce in Amsterdam to win the Cup.[66][67][68][70] Although Ajax were the defending champions, they again declined to participate a year later after Independiente won Libertadores again, leaving it to Juventus, European Cup runners-up, to play a single-match final won by the Argentines.[67][68][71][72] That same year, French newspaper L'Equipe, who helped bring about the birth of the European Cup, volunteered to sponsor a Club World Cup contested by the champions of Europe, South America, Central and North America and Africa, the only continental club tournaments in existence at the time; the competition was to potentially take place in Paris between September and October 1974 with an eventual final to be held at the Parc des Princes.[20][20][73][74][75] The proposal, supported by the South Americans,[20] was dismissed due to the negativity of the Europeans.[75]
Estudiantes would face Dutch side Feyenoord the following season, which saw the Europeans victorious. Oscar Malbernat ripped off Joop van Daele's glasses and trampled on them claiming that he was "not allowed to play with glasses."[58][59][60][61] Dutch side Ajax, European champions of 1971, would decline to face Uruguay's Nacional due to the latter side's reputation for violent play, which resulted in European Cup runners-up, Greek side Panathinaikos, participating.[62][63][64] Nacional's Luis Artime ended up breaking Yiannis Tomaras' leg in two places in the first leg as Nacional won the series 3-2 on aggregate.[62][63][64][65]
Due to the brutality in these editions, FIFA was called into providing penalties and regulating the tournament. However, FIFA stated that it could not stipulate regulations in a competition that it did not organize. However, with the Asian and North American club competitions in place, FIFA opened the idea of supervising the competition if it included those confederations, which was met with a negative response from its participants.[52][53][54][55][56][57] Nevertheless, some European champions started to decline participation in the tournament after the events of 1969.[20]
Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport dubbed it, "Ninety minutes of a man-hunt". The Argentinean press responded with "The English were right"-a reference to Alf Ramsey's famous description of the Argentina national football team as "animals" during the 1966 FIFA World Cup.[46][50][51] The Argentinean Football Association (AFA), under heavy international pressure, took stern action. Argentina's President, military dictator Juan Carlos Onganía, summoned Estudiantes delegate Oscar Ferrari and demanded "the severest appropriate measures in defence of the good name of the national sport. [It was a] lamentable spectacle which breached most norms of sporting ethics".[46][50][51] Poletti was banned from the sport for life, Suarez was banned for 30 games, and Eduardo Manera for 20 with the former and latter serving a month in jail.[46]
Combin was kicked in the face by Poletti and later saw his nose and cheekbone broken by the elbow of Ramón Aguirre Suárez. Bloodied and broken, Combin was asked to return to the pitch by the referee but fainted. While unconscious, Combin was arrested by Argentine police on a charge of draft dodging, having not undertaken military service in the country. The player was forced to spend a night in the cells, eventually being released after explaining he had fulfilled national service requirements as a French citizen.[46] Estudiantes won the game 2-1 but Milan took the title on aggregate.[46][49][50][51]
The following season, Argentine side Estudiantes de La Plata faced England's Manchester United in which the return leg saw Estudiantes come out on top of a bad-tempered series.[43][44][45] But it was the events of 1969 which damaged the competition's integrity.[46] After a 3-0 win at San Siro, Milan went to Buenos Aires to play Estudiantes at La Bombonera.[47][48][49] Estudiantes' players booted balls at the Milan team as they warmed up and hot coffee was poured on the Italians as they emerged from the tunnel by Estudiantes' fans. Estudiantes resorted to inflicting elbows and allegedly even needles at the Milanese team in order to intimidate them. Pierino Prati was knocked unconscious and continued for a further 20 minutes despite suffering from a mild concussion. Estudiantes goalkeeper Alberto Poletti also punched Gianni Rivera, but the most vicious treatment was reserved for Nestor Combin-an Argentinean-born striker, who had faced accusations of being a traitor as he was on the opposite side of the intercontinental match.[46][50][51]
The 1967 edition between Argentina's Racing Club and Scotland's Celtic F.C. was a violent affair, with the decisive game being dubbed "The Battle of Montevideo" after three players from the Scottish side and two the Argentine side were sent off. A fourth Celtic player was dismissed but amid the chaos got away with staying on.[39][40][41][42]
However, as a result of the violence practiced often in the Copa Libertadores by Argentine and Uruguayan clubs,[37] disagreements with CONMEBOL, the lack of financial incentives and the violent, brutal and controversial way the Brazilian national team was treated in the 1966 FIFA World Cup by European teams, in 1966, 1969 and 1970, Brazilian football, including its clubs, declined to participate in international competitions, including the Copa Libertadores and consequently the Intercontinental Cup. During this time, the competition became dogged by foul play.[38] Calendar problems, acts of brutality, even on the pitch, and boycotts tarnished its image, to the point of bringing into question the wisdom of organizing it at all.
In 1962 the tournament grew more in worldwide attention after it was swept through the sublime football of a Santos team led by Pelé, considered by some the best club team of all times.[24] Os Santásticos, also known as O Balé Branco (or white ballet), which dazzled the world during that time and containing stars such as Gilmar, Mauro, Mengálvio, Coutinho, and Pepe, won the title after defeating Benfica 3-2 in Rio de Janeiro and thrashing the Europeans 2-5 in their Estádio da Luz.[25][26][27] Santos would successfully defend the title in 1963 after being pushed all the way by Milan. After each side won 4-2 at their respective home legs, a playoff match at the Maracanã saw Santos keep the title after a tight 1-0 victory.[25][28] The competition had attracted the interest of other continents. The North and Central America condeferation, CONCACAF, had asked, unsuccessfully, to participate.[27][29] Milan's fierce rivals, Inter Milan, would go on to win the 1964 and 1965 editions, beating Argentine club Independiente on both occasions.[30][31][32][33][34] Peñarol gain revenge for their loss in 1960 by crushing Real Madrid 4-0 in aggregate in 1966.[23][35][36]
[23][22][21] saw the home side squeeze a 2-1 win to become the first South American side to win the competition.Estadio Centenario and a 5-0 trashing by the South Americans, a playoff at the Lisboa on the playoff; after a 1-0 win by the Europeans in Benfica Peñarol would appear again the following year and come out victorious after beating Portuguese club [20] It was the brainchild of UEFA president [14][13][12], known also as the Intercontinental Cup, was contested by the holders of the European Champion Clubs’ Cup and the winners of its newly established South American equivalent, the Copa Libertadores. Both UEFA and CONMEBOL consider all editions official by including them in their records.European/South American Cup Created in 1960 at the initiative of the European confederation (UEFA), with CONMEBOL's support, the
All the winning teams were recognised as de facto "world club champions".[4][9][10][11] The first winner of the cup was Spanish side Real Madrid, defeating Uruguayan side Peñarol in 1960. The last winner was Portuguese side Porto, defeating Colombian side Once Caldas in a penalty shootout in 2004.
From its formation in 1960 to 1979, the competition was contested over a two legged tie, with a playoff if necessary until 1968, and penalty kicks later. During the 1970s, European participation in the Intercontinental Cup became a running question due controversial events in the 1969 final,[6] and some European Champions Club' winner teams withdrew.[7] From 1980 until 2004, the competition was contested over a single match held in Japan and sponsored by multinational automaker Toyota, which offered a secondary trophy, the Toyota Cup.[8]
[5].2000, held for the first time in FIFA Club World Cup to the [4] it is considered by that international governing body as the sole predecessor[3]
UEFA Champions League, Supercoppa Italiana, UEFA Super Cup, Intercontinental Cup (football), UEFA Europa League
Italy national football team, A.C. Milan, Italy, 1994 FIFA World Cup, 1990 FIFA World Cup
Italy, Brazil, Intercontinental Cup (football), Tokyo, A.C. Milan
Argentina, Italy, Intercontinental Cup (football), Brazil, A.C. Milan
Spain, Italy, Portugal, France, Germany