UEFA Intertoto Cup
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The UEFA Intertoto Cup, also abbreviated as UI Cup is a summer football competition for European clubs that have not qualified for one of the two major UEFA competitions, the Champions League and the UEFA Cup. The participating clubs are those that are ranked directly below those that qualify for the major UEFA competitions.
The cup bills itself as providing both an opportunity for clubs who otherwise would not get the chance to enter the UEFA Cup, but also as an opportunity for sportslotteries (or pools) to continue during the summer.[1] This reflects its background, which was as a tournament solely for football pools. In 1995, the tournament came under official UEFA sanctioning[2] and UEFA Cup qualification places were granted. Initially two were provided, but in 2006 this number was increased to the current total of eleven.
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[edit] History
The Intertoto Cup was conceived by the later FIFA vice president and founder of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, Ernst B. Thommen, and the Austrian coach, Karl Rappan, who coached the Swiss national team at the 1938 World Cup and the Austrian national team at the 1954 World Cup.[1] The "cup for the cupless" was also heavily promoted by the Swiss newspaper Sport. It derived its name from "Toto", the German term for Football pools.
Thommen, who had set up football betting pools in Switzerland in 1937, had a major interest in having purposeful matches played in the summer break. UEFA were initially disinclined to the tournament, finding its betting background distasteful; nevertheless they permitted the new tournament but refrained from getting officially involved.[1] Clubs which qualified for one of the official continental competitions, such as the European Champions Cups and Cup Winners Cup, were not allowed to participate.
The first tournament was held in 1961 as the International Football Cup (IFC). Initially, the Cup had a group stage, which led to knock-out matches culminating in a final. By 1967 it had become difficult to organize the games,[2] and so the knock out rounds and the final were scrapped, leaving the tournament without a winner.
By 1995, UEFA had reconsidered its opinion, took official control of the tournament and changed its format. Initially, two winners were given a place in the UEFA Cup. The success of one of the first winners, FC Girondins de Bordeaux, reaching the final of the 1995-96 UEFA Cup, encouraged UEFA to add a third UEFA Cup place in 1996.[2]
Many clubs dislike the competition and see it as disruptive in the preparation for the new season. As a consequence, they do not nominate themselves for participation even if entitled. In particular, following its 1995 relaunch, clubs in England and Scotland were sceptical about the competition; after initially being offered three places in the cup, all English top division teams rejected the chance to take part.[3] Following the threat of bans of English and Scottish teams from all UEFA competitions[3], the situtation was eventually resolved with three English and one Scottish club entering weakened teams, and none of them qualifying.
In following years, UEFA made it possible for nations to forfeit Intertoto places. For example, in 1998, Scotland, San Marino and Moldova forfeited their places, whilst England, Portugal and Greece forfeited one of their two.[4] Other clubs have built upon their success in the UI Cup, following it up with great campaigns in the UEFA Cup. Furthermore, UEFA reject this assertion that the tournament is disruptive. They point out that in the 2004-05 season, two of the three 2004 Intertoto Cup winners went on to qualify for the Champions League.[2]
[edit] Format
When the competition started into 1995, the format was both a group stage and a knockout stage; 60 teams were split into 12 groups of five with the 16 best teams then contesting the knockout stage with two-legged ties at each stage; the two winning finalists qualifying for the UEFA Cup. In 1996 and 1997 just the 12 group winners entered the knockout round, with now three finalists advancing. Nations were allocated places according to their UEFA coefficients, much as with other UEFA tournaments.
The group stage was scrapped for the 1998 tournament, which became a straight knockout-tournament, with clubs from more successful nations entering at a later stage. This arrangement lasted until 2005.
For the 2006 tournament, the format for the Cup changed. There are three rounds instead of the previous five, and the eleven winning teams from the third round went through to the second qualifying round of the UEFA Cup.[5] For the first time, there is also an outright winner - whichever side goes furthest in the UEFA Cup will be awarded the trophy. The inaugural winners were Newcastle United, who won the 2006 tournament by going further in the 2006-07 UEFA Cup than the other ten qualifiers.[6]
Only one team from each national association will be allowed to enter. However, should one or more nations not take up their place, the possibility has been left open for nations to have a second entrant. Seedings and entry are determined by each association, [5] Teams from the weakest federations will enter at the first round stage, while those from middling federations will be granted a bye into the second round, and those from the strongest federations will be granted a bye into the third round.
[edit] Winners
[edit] 2006-
Listed are all eleven teams that won the third round matches, qualifying them for the UEFA Cup. The outright winners (as determined by UEFA) are in bold.
| Year | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 |  Newcastle United |
 FC Twente |
 Odense |
 Ethnikos Achna FC |
 Auxerre |
 Kayserispor |
 Grasshoppers |
Marseille |
|
 Hertha Berlin |
 Ried |
 NK Maribor |
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[edit] 1995-2005
The results shown are the aggregate total over two legs.
[edit] 1967-94
During this time there were no competition winners, as only group stages were contested.
[edit] 1961-67
The results shown are the aggregate total over two legs unless otherwise noted.
| Season | Winners | Runner-Up | Results | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1966–67 | |
Eintracht Frankfurt |  |
Inter Bratislava | 4-3 |
| 1965–66 |  |
Lokomotive Leipzig |  |
IFK Norrköping | 4-1 |
| 1964–65 |  |
Polonia Bytom | |
Lokomotive Leipzig | 5-4 |
| 1963–64 | |
Slovnaft Bratislava | |
Polonia Bytom | 1-0* |
| 1962–63 | |
Slovnaft Bratislava |  |
Calcio Padova | 1-0 |
| 1961–62 | |
Ajax Amsterdam | |
Feijenoord Rotterdam | 4-2* |
| * - Single match finals | |||||
[edit] Winners by nation
| Nation | Winners | Runners-Up | Winning Clubs | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
France | 14 | 5 | Auxerre (2), Bastia, Bordeaux, Guingamp, Lens, Lille, Lyon, Marseille (2), Montpellier, Paris Saint Germain, Strasbourg, Troyes |
|
Germany | 10 | 4 | Eintracht Frankfurt, FC Schalke 04 (2), Hamburger SV, Hertha BSC Berlin, Karlsruher SC, Lokomotive Leipzig, VfB Stuttgart (2), Werder Bremen |
 |
Spain | 5 | 5 | Celta Vigo, Malaga, Valencia, Villarreal (2) |
|
Italy | 4 | 3 | Bologna, Juventus, Perugia, Udinese |
|
England | 4 | 1 | Aston Villa, Fulham, Newcastle United, West Ham United |
|
Netherlands | 2 | 2 | Ajax Amsterdam, FC Twente |
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Czechoslovakia | 2 | 1 | Inter Bratislava (2) |
|
Denmark | 2 | Odense BK,Silkeborg | |
|
Austria | 1 | 3 | SV Ried |
|
Poland | 1 | 2 | Polonia Bytom |
|
East Germany | 1 | 1 | Lokomotive Leipzig |
|
Switzerland | 1 | 1 | Grasshopper-Club Zürich |
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Cyprus | 1 | Ethnikos Achna FC | |
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Slovenia | 1 | NK Maribor | |
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Turkey | 1 | Kayserispor | |
 |
Russia | 3 | ||
|
Sweden | 3 | ||
 |
Belgium | 2 | ||
|
Czech Republic | 2 | ||
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Greece | 2 | ||
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Romania | 2 | ||
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Croatia | 1 | ||
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Israel | 1 | ||
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Moldova | 1 | ||
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Norway | 1 | ||
 |
Portugal | 1 | ||
 |
Scotland | 1 | ||
 |
Ukraine | 1 | ||
 |
FR Yugoslavia | 1 | ||
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Elbech, Søren Florin. Background on the Intertoto Cup. Retrieved on 2006-06-07.
- ^ a b c d UEFA Intertoto Cup history. UEFA.com. Retrieved on 2006-06-07.
- ^ a b Intertoto Cup: English Joy. Retrieved on 2006-06-07.
- ^ 1998 Intertoto Cup Draw. EuroFutbal Archive. Retrieved on 2006-06-07.
- ^ a b New look for Intertoto Cup. UEFA.com. Retrieved on 2007-02-20.
- ^ "Newcastle to lift Intertoto Cup", BBC Sport, 2006-12-16. Retrieved on 2007-02-20.
[edit] External links
- Official UEFA site
- Official lotteries site
- Soccernet guide to Intertoto Cup: Part 1 and Part 2
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UEFA Intertoto Cup Seasons
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