Inter-Cities Fairs Cup

The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, often called the Fairs Cup, was a European football competition that took place from 1955 to 1971. It was created by Ernst Thommen, a vice-president of FIFA, Ottorino Barassi, president of the Italian Football Federation, and Stanley Rous, general secretary of the English Football Association. The idea behind the competition was to support international trade fairs.

The games were played between teams from cities that hosted trade fairs, and the competition grew from these matches. In the early years, only cities with trade fairs could join, and each city could only enter one team. For example, London sometimes used players from many different clubs and called their team the London XI.

After 1964, teams could join based on how well they finished in their national leagues. The winner of the competition received a trophy called the Noel Beard Trophy, designed by a cutler.

The Fairs Cup was run by a committee led by some FIFA leaders until 1971, when it was replaced by the UEFA Cup. Although it was a successful competition, UEFA decided it should be managed by UEFA itself to ensure consistent rules and better organization. Even though it was an important historical tournament, neither FIFA nor UEFA officially list the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup as a sanctioned competition.

History

The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup started in 1955 as a football competition to support trade fairs. It ran until 1971. The first competition took place over two seasons and included cities like Barcelona, Basel, Birmingham, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Vienna, Cologne, Lausanne, Leipzig, London, Milan, and Zagreb. Barcelona and London were the first finalists, with Barcelona winning the match.

Over time, the competition changed its rules. Spanish teams, especially Barcelona, Valencia CF, and Zaragoza, were very successful, winning many tournaments. Later, English teams like Leeds United, Newcastle United, and Arsenal also won the competition. In 1971, the Fairs Cup was replaced by the UEFA Cup after new rules were introduced.

Finals

Notes

Ed.	Season	Champion	Runner-up	Score	Venue	City	Attend.
1	1955–58	Barcelona XI	London XI	2–2	Stamford Bridge	London	45,466
				6–0	Camp Nou	Barcelona	70,000
				8–2
2	1958–60	Barcelona	Birmingham City	0–0	St Andrew's	Birmingham	40,524
				4–1	Camp Nou	Barcelona	70,000
				4–1
3	1960–61	Roma	Birmingham City	2–2	St Andrew's	Birmingham	21,000
				2–0	Stadio Olimpico	Rome	60,000
				4–2
4	1961–62	Valencia	Barcelona	6–2	Mestalla Stadium	Valencia	65,000
				1–1	Camp Nou	Barcelona	60,000
				7–3
5	1962–63	Valencia	Dinamo Zagreb	2–1	Stadion Maksimir	Zagreb	40,000
				2–0	Mestalla Stadium	Valencia	55,000
				4–1
6	1963–64	Zaragoza	Valencia	2–1	Camp Nou	Barcelona	50,000
7	1964–65	Ferencváros	Juventus	1–0	Stadio Comunale	Turin	40,000
8	1965–66	Barcelona	Zaragoza	0–1	Camp Nou	Barcelona	50,000
				4–2 (a.e.t.)	La Romareda	Zaragoza	33,000
				4–3
9	1966–67	Dinamo Zagreb	Leeds United	2–0	Stadion Maksimir	Zagreb	32,000
				0–0	Elland Road	Leeds	35,604
				2–0
10	1967–68	Leeds United	Ferencváros	1–0	Elland Road	Leeds	25,268
				0–0	Népstadion	Budapest	76,000
				1–0
11	1968–69	Newcastle United	Újpest	3–0	St James' Park	Newcastle	60,000
				3–2	Megyeri út	Budapest	37,000
				6–2
12	1969–70	Arsenal	Anderlecht	1–3	Constant Vanden Stock	Anderlecht	37,000
				3–0	Highbury	London	51,612
				4–3
13	1970–71	Leeds United	Juventus	2–2	Stadio Comunale	Turin	58,555
				1–1	Elland Road	Leeds	42,483
				3–3	Leeds United won on away goals.

Trophy play-off match

After the last Fairs Cup competition in 1970–71, the tournament was replaced by the UEFA Cup. Since no club had permanently won the trophy, a special match was held to decide who would keep it forever. Before the match, the then FIFA President Sir Stanley Rous gave special awards to the players from FC Barcelona, who won the first Fairs Cup in 1958.

The match took place on September 22, 1971, between FC Barcelona, the first winners, and Leeds United, the last winners. Barcelona won this match 2–1.

Year	Champion	Score	Runner-up	Venue	City	Attend.
1971	Barcelona	2–1	Leeds United	Camp Nou	Barcelona	45,000

Performances

The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup was a football competition for clubs in Europe that took place between 1955 and 1971. It was created to help promote international trade fairs.

Source: rsssf.com

Club	Winners	Runners-up	Winning years	Runner-up years
Barcelona	3	1	1958, 1960, 1966	1962
Valencia	2	1	1962, 1963	1964
Leeds United	2	1	1968, 1971	1967
Zaragoza	1	1	1964	1966
Ferencváros	1	1	1965	1968
Dinamo Zagreb	1	1	1967	1963
Roma	1	0	1961
Newcastle United	1	0	1969
Arsenal	1	0	1970
Birmingham City	0	2		1960, 1961
Juventus	0	2		1965, 1971
London XI	0	1		1958
Újpest	0	1		1969
Anderlecht	0	1		1970

Nation	Winners	Runners-up	Total
Spain	6	3	9
England	4	4	8
Italy	1	2	3
Hungary	1	2	3
Yugoslavia	1	1	2
Belgium	0	1	1

Rank	Player	Goals	Club(s)
1	Waldo	31	Valencia
2	Peter Lorimer	20	Leeds United
3	Flórián Albert	19	Ferencváros
	Ferenc Bene		Újpest
	José Antonio Zaldúa		Barcelona
6	Pedro Manfredini	18	Roma
7	Evaristo	17	Barcelona
8	Vicente Guillot	16	Valencia
9	Marcelino	15	Zaragoza
10	Héctor Núñez	14	Valencia

Season	Player(s)	Goals	Club(s)
1955–58	Evaristo	4	Barcelona
	Justo Tejada
	Peter Murphy		Birmingham City
	Cliff Holton		London XI
	Norbert Eschmann		Lausanne-Sport
1958–60	Bora Kostić	6	Belgrade XI
1960–61	Pedro Manfredini	12	Roma
1961–62	Waldo	9	Valencia
1962–63	Francisco Lojacono	6	Roma
	Pedro Manfredini
	Waldo		Valencia
1963–64	Waldo	6	Valencia
1964–65	Bobby Charlton	8	Manchester United
	Denis Law
1965–66	José Antonio Zaldúa	8	Barcelona
1966–67	Flórián Albert	8	Ferencváros
1967–68	Peter Lorimer	8	Leeds United
1968–69	Antal Dunai	10	Újpest
1969–70	Paul Van Himst	10	Anderlecht
1970–71	Pietro Anastasi	10	Juventus