2009 World Football Challenge

2009 World Football Challenge
Country United States
Teams 4 (from 3 federations)
Champions England Chelsea[1]
Runners-up Mexico América
Matches played 6
Goals scored 14 (2.33 per match)
Attendance 336,813 (56,136 per match)
Top goal scorer(s) Ivory Coast Didier Drogba
Argentina Diego Milito
(2 goals)

The 2009 World Football Challenge was the first World Football Challenge event, an exhibition international club football competition featuring football clubs from Europe and North America, which has been held first in summer of 2009. Chelsea F.C. are the 2009 champions.

Format

In 2009, each team played the other three teams in the tournament once in a round-robin tournament format, with each game played at a neutral venue in the United States. Chelsea emerged as the World Football Challenge champion for 2009. The following four clubs participated in the 2009 tournament:[2][3][4]

Venues

Six cities served as the venues of the 2009 World Football Challenge.[4]

Atlanta, Georgia Baltimore, Maryland Foxborough, Massachusetts Arlington, Texas
Georgia Dome M&T Bank Stadium Gillette Stadium Cowboys Stadium
Capacity: 71,228 Capacity: 71,008 Capacity: 68,756 Capacity: 80,000

Rules

Chelsea vs Club America at the Cowboys Stadium

Clubs received one point for each goal scored in regulation time (up to three goals per game). Clubs earned three points for a win that does not go into penalty kicks. After 90 minutes of play, if the match was tied, each team received one point and the winner of the penalty kicks received an additional point. The team with the highest overall number of points determined the World Football Challenge champion.[5]

Standings

Pl Team Nation Pld W WPk LPk L GF GA GD Pts
1 Chelsea England 3300061+515
2 América Mexico 3110134–18
3 Internazionale Italy 310113307
4 Milan Italy 3000326–42

Matches


July 21, 2009
23:00 EST
Chelsea 2–0 Internazionale
Drogba  11'
Lampard  50' (pen.)
Report
Rose Bowl, Pasadena, CA
Attendance: 81,224
Referee: Ricardo Salazar (California)

July 22, 2009
19:00 EST
América 2–1 Milan
Esqueda  56'
Márquez  84'
Report Inzaghi  66'
Georgia Dome, Atlanta, GA
Attendance: 53,600
Referee: Alex Prus (South Carolina)

July 24, 2009
20:00 EST
Chelsea 2–1 Milan
Drogba  7'
Zhirkov  69'
Report Seedorf  38'

July 26, 2009
17:00 EST
Internazionale 2–0 Milan
Milito  4', 75' Report
Gillette Stadium, Foxboro, MA
Attendance: 42,531[6]
Referee: Jorge González (New York)

July 26, 2009
19:00 EST
Chelsea 2–0 América
Di Santo  76'
Malouda  78'
Report
Cowboys Stadium, Arlington, TX
Attendance: 57,229
Referee: Paul Ward (Vancouver)

Top goalscorers

Rank Player Nation Club Goals
1 Didier Drogba  CIV Chelsea 2
Diego Milito  ARG Internazionale
3 Iván Córdoba  COL Internazionale 1
Enrique Esqueda  MEX América
Filippo Inzaghi  ITA Milan
Frank Lampard  ENG Chelsea
Florent Malouda  FRA Chelsea
Daniel Márquez  MEX América
Franco Di Santo  ARG Chelsea
Clarence Seedorf  NED Milan
Juan Carlos Silva  MEX América
Yuri Zhirkov  RUS Chelsea

References

  1. "The US tour has been concluded with the World Football Challenge bowl and a fourth win in four". Chelsea. chelseafc.com.
  2. Scime, Adam (24 March 2009). "Inter, Chelsea And Milan Enter World Football Challenge 2009 Tournament". Goal.com. Retrieved 21 July 2009. Chelsea, Milan and Inter have entered the World Football Challenge 2009 tournament along with Mexican entrants Club America.
  3. Cardillo, Michael (24 March 2009). "World Football Challenge Coming to a City Near You". Fanhouse. Archived from the original on 15 June 2009. Retrieved 21 July 2009. ... which brings super clubs Chelsea, AC Milan, Inter Milan and Club America to a six-match 'series' this summer...
  4. 4.0 4.1 "Chelsea, Inter, Club America and AC Milan to face off in U.S.". ESPN Soccernet. 24 March 2009. Retrieved 21 July 2009.
  5. "World Football Challenge". World Football Challenge. Archived from the original on 16 July 2009. Retrieved 21 July 2009.
  6. "Report: AC Milan v Internazionale - World Football Challenge - ESPNFC". Soccernet.espn.go.com. 2009-07-26. Retrieved 2012-10-24.

External links