Latin Cup

The Latin Cup (French: Coupe Latine; Italian: Coppa Latina; Portuguese: Taça Latina or Copa Latina; Spanish: Copa Latina) was an international football tournament for club sides from the Latin European nations of France, Italy, Spain and Portugal. In 1949 the football federations came together and launched their own club competition. European clubs could not afford hefty travel costs so competition was staged at the end of every season in a single host country. The competition featured two semi-finals, a third place play-off and a final.

The tournament began in 1949, and was played between the league champions of each of the participating countries. Every four years, a ranking would be determined for the countries based on their sides' performances in the Latin Cup. The competition was last played for in 1957 following the introduction of the European Cup. Real Madrid played and won in both the European Cup and the Latin Cup in 1957. Immediately prior to the introduction of the European Cup, the Latin Cup was considered the most important cup for clubs in Europe, the longer-established Mitropa Cup having gone into decline after World War II.

Contents

Finals

Year Final Third Place Venue
Winner Score Runner-up Third place Score Fourth place
1949 Barcelona 2 – 1 Sporting Torino 5 – 3 Stade de Reims Estadio Chamartín
1950 Benfica 3 – 3 a.e.t.
2 – 1 a.e.t.		 Bordeaux Atlético Madrid 2 – 1 Lazio Estádio Nacional
1951 Milan 5 – 0 Lille Atlético Madrid 3 – 1 Sporting San Siro
1952 Barcelona 1 – 0 Nice Juventus 3 – 2 Sporting Parc des Princes
1953 Stade de Reims 3 – 0 Milan Sporting 4 – 1 Valencia Estádio da Luz
1954 not held
1955 Real Madrid 2 – 0 Stade de Reims Milan 3 – 1 Belenenses Parc des Princes
1956 Milan 2 – 1 Athletic Bilbao Benfica 2 – 1 Nice San Siro
1957 Real Madrid 1 – 0 Benfica Milan 4 – 3 Saint-Etienne Santiago Bernabéu Stadium

Performances by team

Team Champion Runner-up Third Fourth
Milan 2 (1951, 1956) 1 (1953) 2 (1955, 1957)
Barcelona 2 (1949, 1952)
Real Madrid 2 (1955, 1957)
Benfica 1 (1950) 1 (1957) 1 (1956)
Stade de Reims 1 (1953) 1 (1955) 1 (1949)
Sporting 1 (1949) 1 (1953) 2 (1951, 1952)
Nice 1 (1952) 1 (1956)
Bordeaux 1 (1950)
Lille 1 (1951)
Athletic Bilbao 1 (1956)
Atletico Madrid 2 (1950, 1951)
Torino 1 (1949)
Juventus 1 (1952)
Lazio 1 (1950)
Valencia 1 (1953)
Belenenses 1 (1955)
Saint-Etienne 1 (1957)

Performances by country

Team Champion Runner-up Third Fourth
Spain 4 (1949, 1952, 1955, 1957) 1 (1956) 2 (1950, 1951) 1 (1953)
Italy 2 (1951, 1956) 1 (1953) 4 (1949, 1952, 1955, 1957) 1 (1950)
France 1 (1953) 4 (1950, 1951, 1952, 1955) 3 (1949, 1956, 1957)
Portugal 1 (1950) 2 (1949, 1957) 2 (1953, 1956) 3 (1951, 1952, 1955)

See also

External links