Intercontinental Cup (football)

The Intercontinental Cup was an international football competition. It was approved by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and the Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol (CONMEBOL). Teams from these confederations played against each other. It was usually the winners of the UEFA Champions League against the South American Copa Libertadores winners. It ran from 1960 to 2004. The FIFA Club World Cup replaced it. These cups ran at the same time from 2000 to 2004. The Intercontinal Cup was also known as European/South American Cup, or the Toyota Cup from 1980 to 2004. This was because they had an agreement with the car maker Toyota. 

Between 1960 and 1979, the competition was two matches between the same teams. There was a playoff if the teams were level until 1968. After this date, there were penalty kicks instead. During the 1970s, the European teams were unsure about playing due to events in the 1969 final. Some European Cup-winning teams did not play. From 1980, the competition was a single match. The teams played in Japan. The sponsor was the multinational car maker Toyota. It gave a second trophy called the Toyota Cup. The organisation of the competition was then done by the Japan Football Association. UEFA and CONMEBOL continued to approve of the tournament.

The first winner of the cup was Spanish team Real Madrid. They beat Peñarol of Uruguay in 1960. The last winner was Portuguese team Porto. They beat Colombian team Once Caldas in a penalty shoot-out in 2004. The competition ended in 2004. It merged with the FIFA Club World Cup in 2005.

Trophy
The competition trophy has the words "Coupe Européenne-Sudamericaine" ("European-South American Cup") at the top. At the bottom of the trophy, there is the round logo of UEFA and a map of South America in a circle.

During the sponsorship by Toyota, the competition gave a second trophy called the "Toyota Cup".

Results

Notes
 After the events of the 1969 Intercontinental Cup, many European Cup Champions refused to play in the Intercontinental Cup.
 #1 1970–71 European Cup finalists  Panathinaikos replaced the champions  Ajax who declined to participate.
 #2 1972–73 European Cup finalists  Juventus replaced the champions  Ajax who declined to contest the meeting in South America, officially for financial reasons.
 #3 1973–74 European Cup finalists  Atlético Madrid replaced the champions  Bayern Munich who declined to participate.
 #4 1976–77 European Cup finalists  Borussia Mönchengladbach replaced the champions  Liverpool who declined to participate.
 #5 1978–79 European Cup finalists  Malmö FF replaced the champions  Nottingham Forest who declined to participate.
 #6 1992–93 Champions League finalists  Milan replaced the champions  Marseille who were suspended due to a match fixing and bribery scandal.

Performances
The performance of various clubs is shown in the following tables:

Performance by club

Performance by country

Performance by confederation

Coaches

Carlos Bianchi won three times as a coach: once with  Vélez Sársfield in 1994, and twice with  Boca Juniors in 2000 and 2003.
Luis Cubilla and Juan Mujica won cups both as players and coaches: 
Luis Cubilla (played for  Peñarol in 1961 and for  Nacional in 1971, then coached  Olimpia in 1979)
Juan Mujica (played for  Nacional in 1971, and coached it in 1980)

Players
Alessandro Costacurta and Paolo Maldini played five times in the competition, all with  Milan (1989, 1990, 1993, 1994, 2003).
 Estudiantes (1968, 1969 and 1970) and  Independiente (1972, 1973 and 1974) played in three consecutive years. A few players in those teams played in all three, including Carlos Bilardo and Juan Ramón Verón.

All-time top scorers 

 Pelé is the all-time top scorer in the competition. He scored seven goals in three matches.
 In 1962, he scored five goals in two matches against  Benfica. This included a hat-trick (three goals) in the second match played in Lisbon (the only hat trick in competition's history).
 In 1963, he scored two goals in one match (against Milan).
 Only six players scored at least three goals in the Intercontinental Cup.

Hat-tricks 
 Pelé is the only player in the history of the competition to score a hat-trick (Lisbon, 1962, second leg, against Benfica).

Man of the Match 

The man of the match was selected from 1980. Here is the list of the winners.

References

Bibliography

Other websites

 International Clubs Cup – The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation

Football