| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| City | Paris |
| Dates | 12 – 14 June 1957 |
| Teams | 4 |
| Venue | Parc des Princes |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | Vasco da Gama |
| Runners-up | Real Madrid |
| Third place | Racing Paris |
| Fourth place | Rot-Weiss Essen |
1958 → | |
The 1957 Tournoi de Paris was the first edition of Tournoi de Paris, an association football intercontinental competition between European and South American clubs. In particular, the inaugural edition is often referred to by some sources as the precursor to the Intercontinental Cup, and has been mentioned by the FIFA website as the most notable intercontinental club match before 1960 and a prelude to the success of the Intercontinental Cup; the match that "reflected the possibilities that lay ahead" about the future Intercontinental Cup. [1] [2] [3] [4]
Vasco da Gama defeated Real Madrid 4–3 in the final before more than 65,000 spectators. [5] [6] [7]
The competition was organized by the Racing Club de Paris in celebration of its football team 25th anniversary. [8] Real Madrid were invited to participate in the competition as the renowned 1955–56 European Cup champions, and accepted the invitation a few days before winning the 1956–57 edition. Vasco da Gama's participation took place amidst a tour of the USA and Europe, with several European newspapers citing Vasco as "Brazilian champions of 1956" for having won the 1956 Campeonato Carioca (there was back then no Brazilian national competition at the time). [9] [10] Furthermore, Vasco was the only club to have been theretofore South American club champions, in 1948, as no other cup crowning South American club champions had taken place until the 1960 Copa Libertadores. [11] Finally, Rot-Weiss Essen, then West German champions, were invited, as West Germany was the current champion of the FIFA World Cup. [11]
| Team | Location | Qualification |
|---|---|---|
 Racing Paris | Paris | Host |
 Real Madrid | Madrid | 1955–56 European Cup winners |
 Rot-Weiss Essen | Essen | 1955 German football championship winners |
 Vasco da Gama | Rio de Janeiro | 1948 South American Championship winners |
Source: [12]
Manager: Auguste Jordan
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
|
|
Source: [13]
Manager: José Villalonga
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
|
|
Source: [13]
Manager: 
Elek Schwartz
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
|
|
Manager: Martim Francisco
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
|
|
| Semi-finals | Final | |||||
| 12 June - Paris | ||||||
| Vasco da Gama | 3 | |||||
| 14 June - Paris | ||||||
| Racing Paris | 1 | |||||
| Vasco da Gama | 4 | |||||
| 12 June - Paris | ||||||
| Real Madrid | 3 | |||||
| Real Madrid | 5 | |||||
| Rot-Weiss Essen | 0 | |||||
| Third place | ||||||
| 14 June - Paris | ||||||
| Racing Paris | 7 | |||||
| Rot-Weiss Essen | 5 | |||||
| Vasco da Gama | 3–1 | Racing Paris |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
|
| Real Madrid | 5–0 | Rot-Weiss Essen |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
| Racing Paris | 7–5 | Rot-Weiss Essen |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
| Vasco da Gama | 4–3 | Real Madrid |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
|
According to a video report from Les Actualités Françaises, published on 19th June 1957 with images of the match, the match between Vasco da Gama and Real Madrid was then referred to as the match between "the best team in South America and the European champions". [14] [15] The Intercontinental Cup would have its creation announced on October 8th 1958, at a UEFA meeting, as "the cup between the best club team/champions of South America and the best club team/champions of Europe".
After the final match between Vasco da Gama and Real Madrid, the French newspaper L'Équipe wrote: "And then, suddenly, Real literally disappeared. Would it have been the pale red shirts or the sad blue shorts that weakened the superb Spanish team? No. Rather, it was the wonderful bodies that suddenly appeared on the other side, wrapped tightly in white shirts with a black stripe, of 11 football athletes, of 11 black devils who took control of the ball and never let go. During the next one and a half hour the incredible, the prodigious impression one had was that the great Real Madrid champions of Europe, the untouchable Real winner of all European constellations was learning to play football". [11] The newspaper France Soir stated, after the tournament: "Real Madrid is not the greatest team in the world. About that, ask Vasco", [16] and the Jornal dos Sports called Vasco ""world champions". [17] The Spanish newspaper ABC de Madrid wrote that "Real Madrid were no longer invincible". [18]
According to the Brazilian newspaper Tribuna de Imprensa on October 23rd 1958, the then president of the Brazilian FA João Havelange informed that the Intercontinental Cup was a proposal by him and Jacques Goddet, the latter having been the administrator of Parc des Princes when it was the venue of the Madrid-Vasco 1957 match. As both Goddet and Santiago Bernabéu (then president of Real Madrid and thus also involved in the Paris 1957 match) were instigators of the creation of the Intercontinental Cup, such facts have been often cited as being evidence of a likely influence of the 1957 match for the creation of the Intercontinental Cup. [19] In 2023, FIFA.com mentioned the Madrid-Vasco 1957 match, in its website, as "the most notable match between teams from two continents meeting before 1960", that "reflected the possibilities that lay ahead"; in other words, a prelude to the success of the Intercontinental Cup. [1] The 1957 competition has not been, thus far, recognised by the Executive Committee/Council of either FIFA or the official creators of the Intercontinental Cup, UEFA and CONMEBOL.
The 1957 Tournoi de Paris was the only intercontinental club competition featuring the European champion club before the onset of the Intercontinental Cup. Real Madrid were the European champions all over the period between the European Cup first final, of the 1955-1956 season, and the creation of the Intercontinental Cup, [20] announced on October 8th 1958 by João Havelange at a UEFA meeting, and first played in 1960. The Madrid team also played the 1956 Pequeña Copa, but scheduled their participation in it before becoming European champions, [21] and Madrid declined to participate in the 1958 Paris Tournoi only for it was held just 5 days before the final match of the 1957/1958 European Cup. [22]
