This article's lead section contains information that is not included elsewhere in the article.(May 2024) |
This article needs additional citations for verification .(May 2024) |
A super cup is a competition, in association football, basketball, handball, volleyball and rugby union which often forms the 'curtain raiser' to a season, and typically involves only two teams who have qualified through success in other competitions during the previous season.
It is typically contested on a national level by two competition winners of the previous season: the national knock-out cup winner and the highest level league champion. There are also continental super cups, like the UEFA Super Cup in football, which puts together winners of the top and second-tier UEFA competitions and the Recopa Sudamericana between CONMEBOL Libertadores and the Sudamericana winners, and cross-border super cups between champions of neighbouring leagues, such as the Campeones Cup between the winners of the highest level leagues in the United States and Mexico, and the Champions Cup for the champions of both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
The now-defunct Intercontinental Cup was a super cup played between the continental champions of Europe and South America, with winners retroactively recognised by world governing body FIFA as World Champions prior to the creation of the official FIFA Club World Cup and the CONMEBOL-UEFA Cup of Champions between the winners of the European Football Championship and the Copa América, which rebranded once again in 2022 after the 29-year hiatus.
Sometimes, these are two-legged ties, with a match played at each side's stadium, but increasingly they are one-off fixtures at a neutral venue, such as a national stadium. Some Super Cups have even been staged in venues outside their home country, such as the Italian, French, Spanish, Turkish, Mexican, and Egyptian games and increasingly function as publicity events for that league in the global market.
If the league champions are also the national cup winners, they may play a selected XI team, or more commonly the runners-up from one of the competitions, typically from the league.
The Finalissima between the national team continental champions of UEFA and CONMEBOL, also known as the CONMEBOL-UEFA Cup of Champions, plus its women's counterpart, are rare examples of 'super cups' between national sides.
The following nations have an active super cup competition:
Some continental football federations also have their own super cups:
Most of the continental football confederations have jointly held a competition pitting their champions against each other:
All of these competitions are now defunct and have been succeeded by the FIFA Club World Cup, which features the champions of all of the confederations, plus the champion of the host country. In 2017, FIFA retroactively recognised the winners of the European/South American Cup as world champions. [1]
A similar tournament was held at international level, the FIFA Confederations Cup. It was initially held on a biennial basis, every odd year, from 1993 until 2005 when it became quadrennial, the year before a World Cup in its host country. It featured the six continental champions, the World Cup winners and the host. The 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup was the 10th and last Confederations Cup before FIFA abolished it for an expanded Club World Cup. CONMEBOL and UEFA relaunched the CONMEBOL-UEFA Cup of Champions in 2020, previously held as the European/South American Nations Cup in 1985 and 1993, to be contested between the champions of both confederations. The rebooted cup, now branded as the Finalissima, held its first edition in 2022, with quadrennial editions to follow. The two confederations launched a Women's Finalissima in 2023, involving the most recent winners of the Copa América Femenina and Women's Euro. It is also planned to be a quadrennial event.
Other tournaments like this have been held, including the Intercontinental Champions' Supercup (contested by the past winners of the Intercontinental Cup), Supercopa Euroamericana (pitting the Copa Sudamericana and UEFA Europa League winners), Suruga Bank Championship (pitting the Copa Sudamericana and J.League Cup winners), the Copa de Oro (pitting all the most recent CONMEBOL competition winners), and the Copa Iberoamericana (pitting the Copa de Oro and Copa del Rey winners).
The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América, is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tournament is named after the Libertadores, the leaders of the Latin American wars of independence, so a literal translation of its former name into English is "Liberators of the Americas Cup".
The South American Football Confederation, known by the acronym CONMEBOL or CSF, is the continental governing body of football in South America and it is one of FIFA's six continental confederations. The oldest continental confederation in the world, its headquarters are located in Luque, Paraguay. CONMEBOL is responsible for the organization and governance of South American football's major international tournaments. With 10 member football associations, it has the fewest members of all the confederations in FIFA.
The FIFA Confederations Cup was an international association football tournament for men's national teams, held every four years by FIFA. It was contested by the holders of each of the five continental championships CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, OFC, and UEFA), along with the current FIFA World Cup holder and the host nation, to bring the number of teams up to eight.
Football is the most popular sport in Brazil and a prominent part of the country's national identity. The Brazil national football team has won the FIFA World Cup five times, the most of any team, in 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and 2002. Brazil and Germany are the only teams to succeed in qualifying for all the World Cups for which they entered the qualifiers; Brazil is the only team to participate in every World Cup competition ever held. Brazil has also won an Olympic gold medal, at the 2016 Summer Olympics held in Rio de Janeiro and at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
The CONMEBOL Recopa Sudamericana, also known as Recopa Sudamericana or CONMEBOL Recopa, and simply as Recopa, is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1988. It is a match-up between the champions of the previous year's Copa Libertadores and the Copa Sudamericana, South America's premier club competitions.
The Supercopa Libertadores, also known as the Supercopa Sudamericana, Supercopa Libertadores João Havelange, Supercopa João Havelange or simply Supercopa, was a football club competition contested annually between 1988 and 1997 by the past winners of the Copa Libertadores. The tournament is one of the many South American club competitions that have been organized by CONMEBOL.
The Finalissima, formerly known as European/South American Nations Cup and also called Artemio Franchi Cup, is an intercontinental football match organised by CONMEBOL and UEFA and contested by the winners of the Copa América and UEFA European Championship. Organised as an occasional one-off match, it is a national team equivalent to the defunct Intercontinental Cup between the club champions of Europe and South America. The competition was held twice, in 1985 and 1993, before being discontinued. It was relaunched in 2022, after the signing of a memorandum of understanding between CONMEBOL and UEFA.
The Copa de Oro, or Copa de Oro Nicolás Leoz, was a football cup winners' cup competition contested on 3 occasions by the most recent winners of all CONMEBOL continental competitions. These included champions of the Copa Libertadores, Supercopa Sudamericana, Copa CONMEBOL, Supercopa Masters and Copa Masters CONMEBOL. The Recopa Sudamericana champions did not participate. The cup is one of the many continental club competitions that have been organized by CONMEBOL. The first competition was held in 1993 featuring the 4 major continental champions of the previous season whilst the second competition in 1995 two continental champions declined to play leaving only two participants to play. In the final edition in 1996, all the continental champions accepted the invitation to play. Boca Juniors, Cruzeiro and Flamengo were the only winners of the tournament with one title each. Brazil became the most successful nation of the competition with two victories.
The Intercontinental Champions' Supercup, commonly referred to as the Intercontinental Supercup or Recopa Intercontinental, was a football competition endorsed by UEFA and CONMEBOL, contested by the past winners of the Intercontinental Cup. The first Intercontinental Cup had been contested in 1960, resulting in a pool of 5 past champions available to contest for the first Intercontinental Supercup, in 1968. The pool increased to 6 past champions for the 1969 Intercontinental Supercup, but the two past champions from UEFA chose not to participate, resulting in the winner of the CONMEBOL preliminary round being declared the Supercup winner. No further competitions were contested thereafter.
Santos FC is a football club based in Santos, that competes in the Campeonato Paulista, São Paulo's state league, and the Campeonato Brasileiro Série B or B, Brazil's national league. The club was founded in 1912 by the initiative of three sports enthusiasts from Santos by the names of Raimundo Marques, Mário Ferraz de Campos, and Argemiro de Souza Júnior, and played its first friendly match on June 23, 1914. Initially Santos played against other local clubs in the city and state championships, but in 1959 the club became one of the founding members of the Taça Brasil, Brazil's first truly national league. Up until 2023, Santos was one of only five clubs never to have been relegated from the top level of Brazilian football, the others being São Paulo and Flamengo.
Franco Armani is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Argentine Primera División club River Plate. He was a member of the Argentina team that won the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Boca Juniors is an Argentine professional football club based in Buenos Aires. The club first participated in a South American competition in 1919. The first international cup they took part in was the Copa Aldao in which they participated as champions of Argentina. The club competed in AFA/AUF cups from 1919 to 1946 and since entering the Copa Libertadores, in 1963, the club has competed in every CONMEBOL-organized competition, except the Copa CONMEBOL, Intercontinental Champions' Supercup, Suruga Bank Championship, Copa Merconorte, Copa Master de CONMEBOL and Copa Ganadores de Copa, most of them extinct.
The Under-20 Intercontinental Cup is a football match organised by CONMEBOL and UEFA. The match is contested by the winners of the South American and European youth club competitions, the U-20 Copa Libertadores and UEFA Youth League, respectively. Organised as an annual one-off match, it is a youth competition equivalent to the former Intercontinental Cup, which featured the senior club champions of Europe and South America. The competition was launched in 2022 as part of a renewed partnership between CONMEBOL and UEFA. Portuguese side Benfica won the first edition in 2022.
The Women's Finalissima is an intercontinental women's football super cup organised by CONMEBOL and UEFA and contested by the winners of the Copa América Femenina and UEFA Women's Championship. Played as a quadrennial one-off match, the first match was played a year after the revival of the men's competition in 2022 following the signing of a memorandum of understanding between CONMEBOL and UEFA.
The UEFA–CONMEBOL memorandum of understanding is an agreement between UEFA and CONMEBOL, the association football confederations of Europe and South America, respectively, signed between both parties with the aim of achieving close collaboration for the development of this sport in the regions. It was signed on 12 February 2020 and extended on 15 December 2021 in a first stage, and on 2 June 2022 in a second stage. This will permit creation of official championships in the branches of men's, women's, youth and indoor football and the possibility of exchanging referees in the tournaments organised by both entities.
The UEFA–CONMEBOL Club Challenge is a football match organised by CONMEBOL and UEFA. The match is contested by the winners of the South American and European second-tier competitions UEFA Europa League and CONMEBOL Sudamericana, respectively. Organised as an annual one-off match, it is a equivalent to the former Supercopa Euroamericana, which featured the winners of the South American and European second-tier competitions. The competition was launched in 2023 as part of a renewed partnership between CONMEBOL and UEFA.