The Intercontinental Cup, officially the European/South American Cup and known from 1980 as the Toyota Cup for sponsorship reasons,[a] was an international football competition endorsed by UEFA (Europe) and CONMEBOL (South America),[1][2] contested between representative clubs from these confederations, usually the winners of the UEFA Champions League and the South American Copa Libertadores. It ran from 1960 to 2004, when it was succeeded by the FIFA Club World Cup, although they both ran concurrently in 2000.
From its formation in 1960 to 1979, the competition was as a two-legged tie, with a play-off if necessary until 1968, and penalty kicks later. During the 1970s, European participation in the Intercontinental Cup became a running question due to controversial events in the 1969 match,[3] and some European Cup-winning teams withdrew.[4] From 1980, the competition was rebranded and contested as a single match played in Japan, regarded neutral territory for both contestants, and sponsored by multinationalautomakerToyota, which offered a secondary trophy, the Toyota Cup.[5] At that point, the Japan Football Association was involved at a logistical level as host,[6] though it continued to be endorsed by UEFA and CONMEBOL.[7][8]
The first winner of the cup was Spanish side Real Madrid, who beat Peñarol of Uruguay in 1960. The last winner was Portuguese side Porto, defeating Colombian side Once Caldas in a penalty shoot-out in 2004. The competition ended in 2004.[9] Since 2017, past Intercontinental Cup winners have been recognised by FIFA as club world champions.
History
Beginnings
According to Brazilian newspaper Tribuna de Imprensa in 1958, the idea for the Intercontinental Cup rose in 1958 in a conversation between the then president of the Brazilian FA João Havelange and French journalist Jacques Goddet.[10] The first mention of the creation of the Intercontinental Cup and the Copa Libertadores was published by Brazilian and Spanish newspapers on 9 October 1958, referring to Havelange's announcement of the project to create such competitions, which he uttered during a UEFA meeting he attended as an invitee.[11][12][13][14] Prior to this announcement, the reigning European champions, Real Madrid, played just one intercontinental club competition, the 1957 Tournoi de Paris (they also played the 1956 Pequeña Copa, but scheduled their participation in it before becoming European champions).[15] According to a video record of the highlights of the final match of the 1957 Tournoi de Paris, a video published by Journal Les Actualités Françaises on 19 June 1957,[16] that match, held between Real Madrid and Vasco da Gama, was the first match ever dubbed as "the best team of Europe vs. the best team of South America", as Madrid was the European champions and Vasco was the "Brazilian" (in fact, Rio de Janeiro) champions,[17][18] having this match been held at Parc des Princes, then managed by Jacques Goddet; moreover, the 1957 Paris match was the only defeat of Real Madrid to a non-European side since becoming European champions in 1956 and prior to the Intercontinental Cup in 1960, having Madrid's then-president Santiago Bernabéu been one of the instigators of the Intercontinental Cup (see below); for these reasons, some sources have claimed that the 1957 match and the 1958 FIFA World Cup Brazilian victory have influenced the Europeans on the importance of South American football, and thus the idea in 1958 for the creation of the Intercontinental Cup[19] (the Madrid team declined to participate in the 1958 Paris Tournoi for it was held just 5 days before the final of the 1957/1958 European Cup).[20] The Madrid-Vasco 1957 match was described as "being like a club world cup match" by the Brazilian press,[21][22] as was a June 1959 friendly between Real Madrid and Torneio Rio – São Paulo champions Santos, which Real Madrid won 5–3.[23]
Created in 1960 at the initiative of the European confederation (UEFA), with CONMEBOL's support, the European/South American Cup, known also as the Intercontinental Cup, was contested by the holders of the European Champion Clubs' Cup and the winners of its newly established South American equivalent, the Copa Libertadores. The competition was not endorsed by FIFA,[24] and in 1961 FIFA refused to allow it to take place unless the participants gave it a "private friendly match" status.[25] However, the competition went on regardless, with the endorsement of UEFA and CONMEBOL, both of whom include every edition of the competition in their records.[26][27][28] It was the brainchild of UEFA president Henri Delaunay, who also helped Jules Rimet in the realisation of the inaugural FIFA World Cup in 1930.[29][30] Initially played over two legs, with a third match if required in the early years (when goal difference did not count), the competition had a rather turbulent existence. The first winners of the competition were Spanish club Real Madrid. Real Madrid managed to hold Uruguayan side Peñarol 0–0 in Montevideo and trounce the South Americans 5–1 in Madrid to win.[31][32][33]
After Real Madrid's victory in the first Intercontinental Cup, Barcelona newspaper Mundo Deportivo hailed the Madrid team as the first world champion club; although they pointed out that the competition "did not include Africans, Asians and other countries part to FIFA", they also expressed doubt that these regions presented football of the same quality as Europe and South America.[34] The Spaniards titled themselves world champions until FIFA stepped in and objected; citing that the competition did not grant the right to attempt participation to any other champions from outside Europe and South America, FIFA stated that they can only claim to be intercontinental champions of a competition played between two continental organisations[35] (in contrast to the Intercontinental Cup, the right to attempt participation at the FIFA World Cup, through FIFA invitation in 1930 and qualification process since 1934, was open to every FIFA member-country, regardless of the continent where it was located). Peñarol would appear again the following year and come out victorious after beating Portuguese club Benfica on the play-off; after a 1–0 win by the Europeans in Lisboa and a 5–0 trashing by the South Americans, a play-off at the Estadio Centenario saw the home side squeeze a 2–1 win to become the first South American side to win the competition.[36][37][38]
In 1962 the tournament grew more in worldwide attention after it was swept through the sublime football of a Santos team led by Pelé, considered by some the best club team of all times.[39]Os Santásticos, also known as O Balé Branco ("The White Ballet"), which dazzled the world during that time and containing stars such as Gilmar, Mauro, Mengálvio, Coutinho, and Pepe, won the title after defeating Benfica 3–2 in Rio de Janeiro and thrashing the Europeans 2–5 in their Estádio da Luz.[40][41][42] Santos would successfully defend the title in 1963 after being pushed all the way by Milan. After each side won 4–2 at their respective home legs, a play-off match at the Maracanã saw Santos keep the title after a tight 1–0 victory.[40][43] The competition attracted the interest of other continents. The North and Central American confederation, CONCACAF, was created, among other reasons, to attempt the participation of North and Central American clubs in the Copa Libertadores, and thus in the Intercontinental Cup.[42][44] Milan's fierce rivals, Inter Milan, would go on to win the 1964 and 1965 Intercontinental Cups, beating Argentine club Independiente on both occasions, in 1964 after a play-off match won at Santiago Bernabéu in extra time with a goal from Mario Corso, becoming the first European team to win two times in a row the competition.[45][46][47][48][49] Peñarol gained revenge for their loss in 1960 by crushing Real Madrid 4–0 in aggregate in 1966.[38][50][51]
Rioplatense violence
However, as a result of the violence often practised in the Copa Libertadores by Argentine and Uruguayan clubs during the 1960s,[52] disagreements with CONMEBOL, the lack of financial incentives and the violent, brutal and controversial way the Brazilian national team was treated in the 1966 FIFA World Cup by European teams, Brazilian football—including its club sides—declined to participate in international competitions in the late 1960s, including the Copa Libertadores and consequently the Intercontinental Cup. During this time, the competition became dogged by foul play.[53] Calendar problems, acts of brutality, even on the pitch, and boycotts tarnished its image, to the point of bringing into question the wisdom of organising it at all.
The 1967 games between Argentina's Racing Club and Scotland's Celtic were violent affairs, with the third decisive game being dubbed "The Battle of Montevideo" after three players from the Scottish side and two from the Argentine side were sent off. A fourth Celtic player was also dismissed near the end of the game, but amid the chaos he got away with staying on.[54][55][56][57]
Some of the rough moments in the 1968 match, between Manchester United and Estudiantes LP in Old Trafford, José Medina (covering his face), being sent off after a fight with George Best
[61] After a 3–0 win at San Siro, Milan went to Buenos Aires to play Estudiantes at La Bombonera.[62][63][64] Estudiantes' players booted balls at the Milan team as they warmed up and hot coffee was poured on the Italians as they emerged from the tunnel by Estudiantes' fans. Estudiantes resorted to inflicting elbows and allegedly even needles at the Milanese team in order to intimidate them. Pierino Prati was knocked unconscious and continued for a further 20 minutes despite suffering from a mild concussion. Estudiantes goalkeeper Alberto Poletti also punched Gianni Rivera, but the most vicious treatment was reserved for Néstor Combin, an Argentinean-born striker, who had faced accusations of being a traitor as he was on the opposite side of the intercontinental match.[61][65][66]
Combin was kicked in the face by Poletti and later had his nose and cheekbone broken by the elbow of Ramón Aguirre Suárez. Bloodied and broken, Combin was asked to return to the pitch by the referee but fainted. While unconscious, Combin was arrested by Argentine police on a charge of draft dodging, having not undertaken military service in the country. The player was forced to spend a night in the cells, eventually being released after explaining he had fulfilled national service requirements as a French citizen.[61] Estudiantes won the game 2–1 but Milan took the title on aggregate.[61][64][65][66]
Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport dubbed it "Ninety minutes of a man-hunt". The Argentinean press responded with "The English were right" – a reference to Alf Ramsey's famous description of the Argentina national football team as "animals" during the 1966 FIFA World Cup.[61][65][66] The Argentinean Football Association (AFA), under heavy international pressure, took stern action. Argentina's president, military dictator Juan Carlos Onganía, summoned Estudiantes delegate Oscar Ferrari and demanded "the severest appropriate measures in defence of the good name of the national sport. [It was a] lamentable spectacle which breached most norms of sporting ethics".[61][65][66] Poletti was banned from the sport for life, Suárez was banned for 30 games, and Eduardo Manera for 20 with the former and latter serving a month in jail.[61]
Degradation
Due to the brutality in the 1967 match, FIFA was called into providing penalties and regulating the tournament. However, FIFA stated that it could not stipulate regulations in a competition that it did not organise. Though the competition was endorsed by UEFA and CONMEBOL, René Courte, FIFA's General Sub-Secretary, wrote an article shortly afterwards (1967) stating that FIFA viewed the competition as a "European-South American friendly match".[67] Courte's statement was endorsed by then-FIFA president Sir Stanley Rous, who then stated that FIFA saw the Intercontinental Cup as a friendly match.[68][69][70][71] After these controversial statements, Madrid newspaper ABC then pointed out that, though the Intercontinental Cup was not endorsed by FIFA, it was endorsed by UEFA and CONMEBOL, therefore being an "intercontinental jurisdiction" cup.[72] However, with the AFC and CONCACAF club competitions in place, FIFA opened the idea of supervising the Intercontinental Cup if it included those confederations, which was met with a negative response from its participating confederations, UEFA and CONMEBOL. According to Rous, CONCACAF and the Asian Football Confederation had requested in 1967 to participate in the Intercontinental Cup, which was rejected by UEFA and CONMEBOL. In 1970, the FIFA Executive Committee gathering put forward, unsuccessfully, a proposal for the expansion of the Intercontinental Cup into a Club World Cup with representative clubs of every existing continental confederation.[73][74][75][76][77][78] Nevertheless, some European champions started to decline participation in the tournament after the events of 1969.[79]
A moment of the Feyenoord v Estudiantes match, 9 Sep 1970
Estudiantes would face Dutch sideFeyenoord the following season, which saw the Dutch side victorious. Oscar Malbernat ripped off Joop van Daele's glasses and trampled on them claiming that he was "not allowed to play with glasses".[80][81][82][83] Dutch side Ajax, European champions of 1971, would decline to face Uruguay's Nacional due to violence in previous matches, which resulted in European Cup runners-up, Greek side Panathinaikos, participating.[84][85][86] Ajax fears about Nacional's brutal game were confirmed. In the first game in Athens, Uruguayan striker Julio Morales broke the leg of Yiannis Tomaras with a brutal blow. According to the Greek press of the time, the sound of the fracture was heard up to the stands. The Greek defender collapsed on the ground and was transported unconscious out of the field. The medical diagnosis was a fracture of the tibia and fibula, an injury that effectively ended his career.[87] Nacional won the series 3–2 on aggregate.[84][85][86][88]
Dutch team Ajax won the 1972 series v Argentine club Independiente
Ajax participated in 1972 against Independiente.[89][90][91] The team's arrival at Buenos Aires was extremely hostile: Johan Cruyff received several death threats from Independiente's local fan firms.[92] Due to the indifference from the Argentine police, Ajax manager Ştefan Kovács appointed an organised emergency security detail for the Nederlandse meester, headed by himself and team member Barry Hulshoff, described as a big and burly man.[92] In the first leg, Cruyff opened the scoring in Avellaneda at the 5th minute. As a result, Dante Mircoli retaliated with a vicious tackle a couple of minutes later; Cruyff was too injured to continue and the Dutch team found themselves being assaulted with tackles and punches.[89][90][91] Kovács had to convince his team to play on during half-time as his players wanted to withdraw.[89][90][91] Ajax squeezed a 1–1 tie and followed up with a 3–0 trounce in Amsterdam to win the Cup.[89][90][91][93] Although Ajax were the defending champions, they again declined to participate in the 1973 Intercontinental Cup after Independiente won the Copa Libertadores again, leaving it to Juventus, European Cup runners-up, to play a single-match final won by the Argentines.[90][91][94][95]
Daniel Bertoni (left) and Ricardo Bochini with the Intercontinental trophy won in 1973 v Juventus
Also in 1973, French newspaper L'Équipe, which helped to bring about the birth of the European Cup, volunteered to sponsor a Club World Cup contested by the champions of Europe, South America, North and Central America, and Africa, the only continental club tournaments in existence at the time; the competition was to potentially take place in Paris between September and October 1974 with an eventual final to be held at the Parc des Princes.[79][96][97][98] The proposal, supported by CONMEBOL,[79] was dismissed due to the negativity of the Europeans.[98] In 1974, João Havelange was elected president of FIFA, having made the proposal, among others, of creating a multicontinental Club World Cup. In 1975, L'Équipe once again made its 1973 proposal, again to no avail.
West German club Bayern Munich also declined to play in 1974 as Independiente again qualified to participate.[99][100][101][102]European Cup runners-upAtlético Madrid from Spain won the competition 2–1 on aggregate.[99][100] Once again, Independiente qualified to participate in 1975; this time, both finalists of the European Cup declined to participate and the competition was not played.[103] That same year, L'Équipe tried, once again, to create a Club World Cup, in which the participants would have been: the four semifinalists of the European Cup, both finalists of the Copa Libertadores, as well as the African and Asian champions. However, UEFA declined once again and the proposal failed.[104]
In 1976, when Brazilian side Cruzeiro won the Copa Libertadores, the European champions Bayern Munich willingly participated, with the Bavarians winning 2–0 on aggregate. In an interview with Jornal do Brasil, Bayern's manager Dettmar Cramer denied that Bayern's refusal to dispute the 1974 and 1975 Intercontinental Cups were a result of the rivals being Argentine teams. He claimed it was a scheduling impossibility, rather, which kept the Germans from participating. He also stated that the competition was not economically rewarding due to the team's fan base's disinterest in the Cup. To cover the costs of playing the first leg in Munich's Olympiastadion, the organisers needed to have a minimum of 25,000 spectators. However, due to heavy snow and cold weather, only 18,000 showed up. Because of this deficit, Cramer stated that if Bayern were to win the European Cup again, they would decline to participate as it held no assurances of income, and that a friendly match, as the one Bayern Munich had scheduled in Tel Aviv, would have been more financially rewarding to them.[105]
Argentine Boca Juniors played West German Borussia Mönchengladbach after European champions Liverpool declined to participate in the 1977 edition. In the image, José Luis Salinas carrying the ball
The truth is that the Intercontinental Cup is an adventitious competition without foundation.[clarification needed] It has no known owner, it depends on a strange consensus and the interested clubs are not tempted to risk much for so little money, as evidenced by the attendance at the game in Malmö, played, of course, in absence of this year's champion, Nottingham Forest, by the Swedish team, finalist in one of the most boring and worst games played to cap off the European Cup since 1956.
According to Brazilian newspaper O Estado de São Paulo, the deal for the establishment of the Interamerican Cup was made in 1968 by CONMEBOL and CONCACAF, and established that the Interamerican Cup champion club would be entitled to represent the American continent in the Intercontinental Cup.[114] According to the Mexican newspapers, after winning the 1977 and 1980 Interamerican Cup tournaments, Mexican clubs América and PUMAS Unam, and the Mexican Football Association, demanded, unsuccessfully, to participate in the Intercontinental Cup, either by representing the American continent against the European champions or by creating a UEFA-CONMEBOL-CONCACAF tournament.[115][116][117]
Rebirth in Japan
Logo of the tournament, used between 1980 and 2004
Seeing the deterioration of the Intercontinental Cup, Japanese motor corporation Toyota took the competition under its wing, and created contractual obligations to have the Intercontinental Cup played in Japan once a year, with every club participating being obliged to participate or face legal consequences. This modern format breathed new air into the competition which saw a new trophy handed out along with the Intercontinental Cup, the Toyota Cup.
In order to protect themselves against the possibility of European withdrawals, Toyota, UEFA and every European Cup participant signed annual contracts requiring the eventual winners of the European Cup to participate in the Intercontinental Cup – this was added as a condition to those UEFA stipulated for clubs to participate in the European Cup – or face an international lawsuit from UEFA and Toyota. Barcelona, the winners of the 1991–92 European Cup, considered not participating in the Intercontinental Cup in 1992, and the aforementioned contractual obligation weighed in for their decision to play.[118]
Waldemar Victorino shooting during the 1980 match, Nacional (winner) v Nottingham Forest, which was the first held in Japan
The first Toyota Cup was held in 1980, which saw Uruguay's Nacional triumph over Nottingham Forest. The 1980s saw a domination by South American sides as Brazil's Flamengo and Grêmio, Uruguay's Nacional and Peñarol, Argentina's Independiente and River Plate take the spoils once each after Nacional's victory in 1980. Only Juventus, Porto and Milan managed to bring the trophy back to Europe.
In that decade, the English Football Association attempted to organise a Club World Cup sponsored by promoting company West Nally, only to be shot down by UEFA.[119]
The 1990s proved to be a decade dominated by European teams, as Milan, Red Star Belgrade, Ajax, Juventus, Real Madrid, Manchester United, and newcomers Borussia Dortmund of Germany were fuelled to victory by their economic powers and heavy poaching of South American stars. Only three titles went to South America, as São Paulo and Argentina's Vélez Sársfield came out the winners, each of them defeating Milan, with São Paulo's inaugural win being over Barcelona.
The 2000s would see Boca Juniors win the competition twice for South America, while European victories came from Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, and Porto.
Trophies of Intercontinental and Toyota Cup and shirts worn, displayed at the Porto (left), Estudiantes de La Plata, and San Siro Museums
All the winning teams from Intercontinental Cup were regarded as de facto "world club champions".[120][121][122][123] According to some texts on FIFA.com, due to the superiority at sporting level of the European and South American clubs to the rest of the world, reflected earlier in the tournament for national teams, the winning clubs of the Intercontinental Cup were named world champions and can claim to be symbolic World champions,[124][125] in a "symbolic" club world championship,[126] while the FIFA Club World Cup would have another dimension,[127] as the "true" world club showdown,[128][129][130] created because, with the passage of time and the development of football outside Europe and South America, it had become "unrealistic" to continue to confer the symbolic title of world champion upon the winners of the Intercontinental Cup,[131] the idea to expand it being mentioned for the first time in 1967 by Stanley Rous as CONCACAF and the AFC had established their continental club competitions and requested the participation,[71][73][74][75][76][77][78] an expansion that was to occur only in 2000 through the 2000 FIFA Club World Championship. Nevertheless, some European champions started to decline participation in the tournament after the events of 1969.[79] Though "symbolic" or de facto as a club world championship,[28] the Intercontinental Cup has always been an official title at interconfederation level, with both UEFA and CONMEBOL having always considered all editions of the competition as part of their honours.[7][8]
Throughout the history of football, various attempts have been made to organise a tournament that identifies "the best club team in the world" – such as the Football World Championship, the Lipton Trophy, the Copa Rio, the Pequeña Copa del Mundo and the International Soccer League– due to FIFA's lack of interest or inability to organise club competitions,[132] – the Intercontinental Cup is considered by FIFA as the predecessor[133] to the FIFA Club World Cup, which was held for the first time in 2000.
On 27 October 2017, the FIFA Council, while not promoting statistical unification between the Intercontinental Cup and the Club World Cup, in respect to the history of the two tournaments[134] (which merged in 2005),[9] has made official (de jure) the world title of the Intercontinental Cup, recognising all the winners as club world champions,[135][136][137][138][139][140][141][142][143] with the same title of the FIFA Club World Cup winners, or "FIFA Club World Champions".[144][138][145][141][146][147][143][148][142]
FIFA recognises the Intercontinental Cup as the sole direct predecessor of the Club World Cup, and the champions of both competitions are the only ones uncontroversially officially recognised by FIFA as Club World Champions, as seen in the FIFA Club World Cup Statistical Kit, the official document of FIFA's club competition.
Trophy
The competition trophy bears the words "Coupe Européenne-Sudamericaine" ("European-South American Cup") at the top. At the base of the trophy, there is the round logo of UEFA and a map of South America in a circle.
During the sponsorship by Toyota, the competition awarded an additional trophy, entitled "Toyota Cup", usually given to the winning team's vice-captain.
Cup format
From 1960 to 1979, the Intercontinental Cup was played in two legs. Between 1960 and 1968, the cup was decided on points only, the same format used by CONMEBOL to determine the winner of the Copa Libertadores final through 1987. Because of this format, a third match was needed when both teams were equal on points. Commonly this match was host by the continent where the last game of the series was played. From 1969 through 1979, the competition adopted the European standard method of aggregate score, with away goals.
Starting in 1980, the final became a single match. Up until 2001, the matches were held at Tokyo's National Stadium. Finals since 2002 were held at the Yokohama International Stadium, also the venue of the 2002 FIFA World Cup final.
1972–73 European Cup finalists Juventus (Italy) replaced the champions Ajax (Netherlands) who declined to contest the meeting in South America, officially for financial reasons.[151][152]
After the events of the 1969 Intercontinental Cup, many European Cup champions refused to play in the Intercontinental Cup. On five occasions, they were replaced by the tournaments' runners-up. Additionally, two Intercontinental Cups were called off after runners-up, too, declined to participate.[149]
Pelé is the all-time top scorer in the competition having scored seven goals in three matches.
In 1962, he scored five goals in two matches against Benfica, including a hat-trick in the second leg played in Lisbon (the only hat trick in competition's history).[159]
↑ From 1980 to 2004, when played in Japan, the competition was known as the Toyota European/South American Cup (Japanese: トヨタ ヨーロッパ/サウスアメリカ カップ) due to sponsorship from Toyota. This was often shortened to Toyota Cup (Japanese: トヨタカップ).
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References
↑ "Legend – UEFA club competition"(PDF). Union des Associations Européennes de Football. 2009. p.99. Archived(PDF) from the original on 11 January 2012. Retrieved 23 August 2014.
↑ Union of European Football Associations. "Rede do futebol mundial" (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 28 November 2019. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
1 2 "Las competiciones oficiales de la CONMEBOL". CONMEBOL. Archived from the original on 22 August 2015. Retrieved 4 June 2019. Official competitions are those recognised as valid by an organisation and not only organised by it, in fact Conmebol includes in its list of official competitions the Club World Cup that is fully organised by FIFA.
↑ The 1957 match was held amidst a CR Vasco da Gama's European trip, in which the Brazilian club, then reigning Rio de Janeiro champions (1956 league), was often presented to the European audience as being the Brazilian champion, since then there existed neither a national championship in Brazil, nor the Torneio Rio – São Paulo had been played in 1956.
↑ Carluccio, Jose (2 September 2007). "¿Qué es la Copa Libertadores de América?"[What is the Copa Libertadore de América?] (in Spanish). Historia y Fútbol. Archived from the original on 2 October 2012. Retrieved 18 May 2010.
↑ "La FIFA rehuye el bulto"[FIFA shuns the bulge](PDF). Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). 25 November 1967. p.8. Archived from the original on 6 November 2014. Retrieved 6 March 2013.
↑ Aguilar, Francesc (18 September 1992). "La negociación será difícil"[Negotiations will be difficult](PDF). Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). p.8. Archived from the original on 23 October 2013. Retrieved 6 March 2013.
↑ "We are the champions". Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 1 December 2005. Archived from the original on 30 April 2011. Retrieved 28 October 2009.
↑ "We are the Champions". Fédération Internationale de Football Association. December 2005. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 4 February 2013. [...] clubs that have been named world champions [...]
↑ "Ten things you never knew". Fédération Internationale de Football Association. December 2005. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 15 December 2015. Among this year's six representatives, Brazil's Sao Paulo are the only team that can claim to have been world champions.
↑ "Goodbye Toyota Cup, hello FIFA Club World Championship". Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 10 December 2004. Archived from the original on 27 January 2016. Retrieved 8 March 2015. With the passage of time, it became apparent that it was unrealistic to continue to confer the symbolic title of "Club World Champion" on the basis of a single match between the European and South American champions.
↑ "Goodbye Toyota Cup, hello FIFA Club World Championship". Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 10 December 2004. Archived from the original on 27 January 2016. Retrieved 8 March 2015. As of 2005, the Toyota Cup, traditionally a one-off match between the champions of Europe and South America, will take on a whole new dimension when it becomes the FIFA Club World Championship, disputed by the champion clubs from all six continents.
↑ "Japan welcomes the world with open arms". Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 28 July 2005. Archived from the original on 7 April 2014. Retrieved 31 December 2015. Brought up watching the annual Europe-South America clash, Japanese fans are counting the days to the kick off of the true world club showdown.
↑ "Goodbye Toyota Cup, hello FIFA Club World Championship". Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 10 December 2004. Archived from the original on 27 January 2016. Retrieved 8 March 2015. According to the new format, which enters into force in 2005, once again in Japan, the respective winners of the six "champions cups" of each confederation will qualify for the FIFA Club World Championship. "I am convinced that this is the best formula for everyone", argues Michel Platini, a FIFA Executive Committee member and former Toyota Cup winner from 1985. "It won't make the clubs' trips any longer, but by playing an extra game, the club crowned this time will be true world champions" continued the former Juventus playmaker.
↑ "Continental champions prepare for Tokyo draw". Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 28 July 2005. Archived from the original on 4 February 2016. Retrieved 8 March 2015. Initially a one-off contest between the champions of South America and Europe, the Toyota Cup, which superseded the Intercontinental Cup in 1980, has been revamped by FIFA to reach out to all confederations and associations across the globe so the winners may truly be regarded as the best club side in the world.
↑ "50 years of the European Cup"(PDF). Union des Associations Européennes de Football. October 2004. pp.7–9. Archived from the original(PDF) on 7 May 2019. Retrieved 15 December 2011.
↑ "While it does not promote the statistical unification of tournaments, that is, has not absorbed to the Intercontinental Cup (merged with FIFA Club World Cup in 2005), FIFA is the only organisation with worldwide jurisdiction over continental confederations and, then, the only one that can confer a title on that level, ergo the title assigned by FIFA (with Official Documents issued after the Council decision) to the winners of the Intercontinental Cup is legally a FIFA world title." cfr. "FIFA Statutes, April 2016 edition"(PDF). p.19. Archived(PDF) from the original on 6 December 2021. cfr.
↑ For FIFA statute, official competitions are those for representative teams organised by FIFA or any confederation. Representative teams are usually national teams but also club teams that represent a confederation in the interconfederal competitions or a member association in a continental competition cfr. "FIFA Statutes, April 2016 edition"(PDF). p.5. Archived(PDF) from the original on 6 December 2021. cfr. "FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2018: Statistical-kit"(PDF). 10 December 2018. p.13. Archived(PDF) from the original on 9 August 2021. cfr. "2018/19 UEFA Champions League regulations"(PDF). p.10. Archived from the original(PDF) on 12 May 2018.
↑ FIFA in its statute recognises as official all competitions organised by itself and by the continental confederations; indeed, on its website, it calls the competitions played under its auspices simply "FIFA Tournaments". cfr. FIFA (April 2016). "FIFA Statutes, April 2016 edition"(PDF). p.5. Archived(PDF) from the original on 6 December 2021. cfr. FIFA.COM. "Fifa tournaments". Archived from the original on 10 April 2021. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
↑ “While it does not promote the statistical unification of tournaments, that is, has not absorbed to the Intercontinental Cup (merged with FIFA Club World Cup in 2005), the title was conferred from the world federation (with Official Documents issued after the Council decision) so it is legally a FIFA world title" cfr. "FIFA Club World Cup Qatar 2019"(PDF). p.12. Archived(PDF) from the original on 17 July 2021. cfr.
↑ "Intercontinental Club Cup 1963". Rec.Sports.Soccer Statistics Foundation. 14 April 1999. Archived from the original on 30 September 2018. Retrieved 14 February 2022.
Amorim, Luís (1 December 2005). Intercontinental Cup 1960–2004. LuísAmorimEditions. ISBN978-989-95672-5-2.
Amorim, Luís (1 September 2005). Taça Intercontinental 1960–2004 (in Portuguese). Editora Multinova. ISBN989-551-040-3.
Williamson, Daniel (15 October 2022). When Two Worlds Collide: The Intercontinental Cup Years. Pitch Publishing Ltd. ISBN978-1-80150-145-3.
Karsdorp, Dirk (June 2022). The Complete Results & Line-ups of the Intercontinental Cup 1960–2004 and the FIFA Club World Cup 2000–2022. Soccer Books Ltd. ISBN978-1-86223-491-8.
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