Super cup

Super cup
A super cup is a competition, usually but not exclusively in association football, which often forms the 'curtain raiser' to a season, and typically involves only two teams who have qualified through success in other competitions during the previous season.
It is typically contested on a national level by two competition winners of the previous season: the national knock-out cup winner and the highest level league champion. There are also continental super cups, like the UEFA Super Cup in football, which puts together winners of the top and second-tier UEFA competitions and the Recopa Sudamericana between CONMEBOL Libertadores and the Sudamericana winners, and cross-border super cups between champions of neighbouring leagues, such as the Campeones Cup between the winners of the highest level leagues in the United States and Mexico, and the Champions Cup for the champions of both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
The now-defunct Intercontinental Cup was a super cup played between the continental champions of Europe and South America, with winners retroactively recognised by world governing body FIFA as World Champions prior to the creation of the official FIFA Club World Cup and the CONMEBOL-UEFA Cup of Champions between the winners of the European Football Championship and the Copa América which rebranded once again in 2022 after the 29-year hiatus.
Sometimes these are two-legged ties, with a match played at each side's stadium, but increasingly they are one-off fixtures at a neutral venue, such as a national stadium. Some Super Cups have even been staged in venues outside their home country, such as the Italian, French, Spanish, Turkish, Mexican, and Egyptian games and increasingly function as publicity events for that league in the global market.
If the league champions are also the national cup winners, they may play a selected XI team, or more commonly the runners-up from one of the competitions, typically from the league.
The Finalissima between the national team continental champions of UEFA and CONMEBOL, also known as the CONMEBOL-UEFA Cup of Champions, is a rare example of a 'super cup' between national sides.
Football
National super cups
The following nations have an active super cup competition:
AFC
Bahraini Super Cup
Brunei Super Cup
CNCC Charity Cup
Chinese FA Super Cup
Iranian Super Cup
Iraqi Super Cup
Japanese Super Cup
Jordan Super Cup
Kyrgyzstan Super Cup
Kuwait Super Cup
Lebanese Super Cup
Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Cup
Maldivian FA Charity Shield
Mongolia Super Cup
MFF Charity Cup
Oman Super Cup
Gaza Strip Super Cup, West Bank Super Cup
Qatari Sheikh Jassim Cup, Qatar Cup
Saudi Super Cup
Singapore Charity Shield
Syrian Super Cup
Tajik Supercup
Thailand Champions Cup
LFA Super Taça
Turkmenistan Super Cup
Uzbekistan Super Cup
UAE Super Cup
Vietnamese Super Cup
Yemeni Super Cup
CAF
Algerian Super Cup
Coupe Houphouët-Boigny
Djibouti Super Cup
Egyptian Super Cup
Ghana Super Cup
Kenyan Super Cup
Libyan Super Cup
Mauritanian Super Cup
Namibia Super Cup
Super Coupe du Congo
Senegalese Super Cup
Somalia Super Cup
Tanzania Community Shield
Tunisian Super Cup
CONCACAF
Supercopa de Costa Rica
Salvadoran Supercup
Copa Campeón de Campeones
Honduran Supercup
Campeón de Campeones
Suriname President's Cup
Trinidad and Tobago Charity Shield
CONMEBOL
Supercopa Argentina
Trofeo de Campeones de la Liga Profesional
Supercopa Internacional
Supercopa do Brasil
Recopa Catarinense
Recopa Gaúcha
Supercopa de Chile
Superliga Colombiana
Supercopa Ecuador
Supercopa Paraguay
Supercopa Peruana
Supercopa Uruguaya
OFC
Champion versus Champion
Charity Cup
Tahiti Coupe des Champions
UEFA
Albanian Supercup
Andorran Supercup
Armenian Supercup
Belarusian Super Cup
Belgian Supercup
Bulgarian Supercup
Croatian Supercup
Cypriot Super Cup
FA Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield)
Estonian SuperCup
Faroe Islands Super Cup
Trophée des Champions
Georgian Super Cup
DFL-Supercup
Pepe Reyes Cup
Icelandic Super Cup
Israel Super Cup
Supercoppa Italiana
Kazakhstan Super Cup
Kosovar Supercup
Lithuanian Supercup
Maltese Super Cup
Moldovan Super Cup
Johan Cruyff Shield
Mesterfinalen
NIFL Charity Shield
Polish SuperCup
Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira
President's Cup
Romanian Super Cup
Russian Super Cup
Super Coppa Sammarinese
Supercopa de España
Turkish Super Cup
Ukrainian Super Cup
Defunct super cups
Trofeo de Campeones
Austrian Supercup
Azerbaijan Supercup
Bangladesh Super Cup
Supercup of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Super Coupe Roger Milla
Czech Supercup
Danish Supercup
Supercoupe du Gabon
DFV-Supercup
Greek Super Cup
Hong Kong Community Cup
Szuperkupa
Indian Super Cup
Indonesian Community Shield
Latvian Supercup
Supercopa MX
Moroccan Super Cup
Top Four Cup
Macedonian Super Cup
Copa Federación
Slovak Super Cup
Slovenian Supercup
Korean Super Cup
Swiss Super Cup
Supercupen
Thai Super Cup (Top 4 places in last season, 2009 only)
Kor Royal Cup
Sheriff of London Charity Shield
Soviet Super Cup (also known as the Season's Cup)
Yugoslav Super Cup
Northern Cypriot Super Cup
Cross-border super cups
Czechoslovak Supercup (cup winners)
Champions Cup (league champions)
Campeones Cup (league champions)
Saudi-Egyptian Super Cup (league champions vs. cup champions)
Continental super cups
Some continental football federations also have their own super cups:
AFC: Asian Super Cup (defunct)
CAF: CAF Super Cup
CONMEBOL: Recopa Sudamericana
UEFA: UEFA Super Cup
Intercontinental super cups
Most of the continental football confederations have jointly held a competition pitting their champions against each other:
CONMEBOL & UEFA: Intercontinental Cup (defunct)
CONCACAF & CONMEBOL: Copa Interamericana (defunct)
AFC & CAF: Afro-Asian Club Championship (defunct)
All of these competitions are now defunct and have been succeeded by the FIFA Club World Cup, which features the champions of all of the confederations, plus the champion of the host country. In 2017, FIFA retroactively recognised the winners of the European/South American Cup as world champions.
A similar tournament was held at international level, the FIFA Confederations Cup. It was initially held on a biennial basis, every odd year, from 1993 until 2005 when it became quadrennial, the year before a World Cup in its host country. It featured the six continental champions, the World Cup winners and the host. The 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup was the 10th and last Confederations Cup before FIFA abolished it for an expanded Club World Cup. CONMEBOL and UEFA relaunched the CONMEBOL-UEFA Cup of Champions in 2020, previously held as the European/South American Nations Cup in 1985 and 1993, to be contested between the champions of both confederations.
Other tournaments like this have been held, including the Intercontinental Champions' Supercup (contested by the past winners of the Intercontinental Cup), Supercopa Euroamericana (pitting the Copa Sudamericana and UEFA Europa League winners), Suruga Bank Championship (pitting the Copa Sudamericana and J.League Cup winners), the Copa de Oro (pitting all the most recent CONMEBOL competition winners), and the Copa Iberoamericana (pitting the Copa de Oro and Copa del Rey winners.
Basketball
National Supercups
Algeria Basketball Supercup
Austrian Supercup
Belgian Supercup
Dutch Supercup
French Match des Champions
German BBL Champions Cup
Greek Super Cup
Israeli Supercup
Italian Supercup
Jordan Basketball Supercup
Polish Supercup
Portuguese SuperCup
Romanian Supercup
Slovenian Supercup
Spanish Supercup
Turkish Presidential Cup
Regional
&
BNXT Supercup (Belgium & the Netherlands)
Adriatic Supercup (former Yugoslavia)
Continental level
FIBA Europe SuperCup Women: contested between the winners of EuroLeague Women and EuroCup Women.
Water polo
National super cups
Supercopa de España de Waterpolo: an annual men's water polo match contested between the winners of División de Honor de Waterpolo and Copa del Rey de Waterpolo.
Supercopa de España de Waterpolo Femenino: an annual women's water polo match contested between the winners of División de Honor Femenina de Waterpolo and Copa de la Reina de Waterpolo.
Continental super cups
Men's LEN Super Cup: an annual water polo match organized by LEN (European Swimming League) and contested by the reigning champions of the two European club competitions, the LEN Champions League and the LEN Euro Cup.
Women's LEN Super Cup: an annual water polo match organized by the LEN (European Swimming League) and contested by the reigning champions of the two European club competitions, the LEN Euro League and the LEN Trophy.
Motorsports
The ADAC Supercup, commonly known as Supercup; a German sportscar racing series held between 1985 and 1989.
Ginetta GT Supercup, a British 2-class 1-make sports car racing series
Porsche Supercup, an international one-make racing series for Porsche 911 Carreras
Other sports
IIHF Super Cup, a defunct ice hockey competition.
The Super Powers Cup was an annual international rugby union competition contested by national teams from Canada, Japan, Russia and United States. In 2005, its name was changed to the Super Cup.
See also
Super League (disambiguation)
Superbowl (disambiguation)
References
Association football terminology
Water polo terminology