Joan Gamper Trophy
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The Joan Gamper Trophy (Trofeo Joan Gamper) is an annual pre-season football competition hosted by FC Barcelona. It is named in honour of Joan Gamper, a founding member, player and later president of the club and was inaugurated by Enric Llaudet, one of Gamper’s successors as club president. It is one of several summer trophies played for in Spain. Other similar competitions include the Trofeo Teresa Herrera, hosted by Deportivo de La Coruña and the Trofeo Ramón de Carranza, hosted by Cádiz CF. The hosts, FC Barcelona, have won the competition more then any other club. The trophy itself is made of 800 grams of silver over a 10-kilogram marble plinth, along with five micrometres of gold finishing.
Initially the competition was a four team tournament and included two semi-finals, a third place play-off and a final. For the first competition in 1966, FC Barcelona were joined by RSC Anderlecht, FC Nantes and 1. FC Köln. FC Barcelona beat the latter team 3-1 in the final. 1. FC Köln subsequently won the competition in 1978 and 1981 and were runners-up in 1981. They are the only team other than the hosts to win the competition more than once. The 1967 tournament featured Atlético Madrid, Bayern Munich and Boca Juniors. The latter two clubs are among the most regular guests. Bayern were beaten finalists in 1971, 1984, 1987 and 2006. Boca became the first of several South American guests to be invited and have since returned in 1984, 1977 and 2003.
Subsequent competitions have included teams from Serie A such as AC Milan, Juventus, Sampdoria, Parma FC, while the Bundesliga has also provided regular entrants. Aside from Boca Juniors, other regular South American guests have included SC Internacional of Porto Alegre who won the competition in 1982 and then returned in 1989 and 1991. Other notable teams from South America to participate have included CR Flamengo, Botafogo, CR Vasco de Gama, Santos FC, CA River Plate and C.A. Peñarol. La Liga clubs have also occasionally been invited, most notably CD Tenerife and Valencia CF who were winners in 1993 and 1994 respectively. Since 1997 the competition has only featured a one-off game, the tournament falling victim to an increased fixture list and a shorter close season.
