Copa Rio (international tournament)

Copa Rio

Founded	1951
Region	Europe South America
Most successful club	Palmeiras Fluminense(One cup each)

The Copa Rio (Rio Cup) was arguably the first intercontinental soccer club tournament. Brazilian press, at the time, dubbed it as "club world cup", a title that would later be applied to the Toyota Cup. Copa Rio presented a format resembling the one adopted by FIFA in the very first edition of FIFA Club World Cup held in 2000.

The two editions of Copa Rio took place in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, Brazil and were organized by the Brazilian Football Confederation, and endorsed by FIFA.

In 1951, Palmeiras, from Brazil, was the winner of the tournament, while Fluminense, also from Brazil, won this title in 1952.

The competition was succeeded by another tournament, named Torneio Octogonal Rivadavia Corrêa Meyer, which was won by Vasco da Gama, of Brazil. This tournament which succeeded Copa Rio had a different format, with the predominance of Brazilian teams (five Brazilian sides, and three foreign clubs), thus, losing its intercontinental aspect. In December 2007, FIFA decided that the first World Club Cup was played in 2000, thus not recognizing Copa Rio and Toyota Cup as oficial FIFA competitions. ^[1]

1951 Copa Rio

Teams

• Vasco da Gama (1950 Rio de Janeiro state champions)
• Sporting CP (1950/51 Portuguese champions)
• Austria Wien (1949/50 Austrian champions)
• Nacional (1950 Uruguayan champions)
• Palmeiras (1950 São Paulo state champions)
• OGC Nice (1950/51 French champions)
• Red Star (1951 Yugoslav champion)
• Juventus (1949/50 Italian champion)^[2]

Rio de Janeiro Group

All matches played at Estádio do Maracanã.

Teams	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Points
Vasco da Gama	3	3	0	0	12	3	9	6
Austria Wien	3	2	0	1	7	6	1	4
Nacional	3	1	0	2	4	8	-4	2
Sporting CP	3	0	0	3	4	10	-6	0

Jun 30: Austria Wien - Nacional 4-0

Jul 1: Vasco da Gama - Sporting CP 5-1

Jul 3: Nacional - Sporting CP 3-2

Jul 5: Vasco da Gama - Austria Wien 5-1

Jul 7: Sporting CP - Austria Wien 1-2

Jul 8: Vasco da Gama - Nacional 2-1

São Paulo Group

All matches played at Estádio do Pacaembu.

Teams	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Points
Juventus	3	3	0	0	10	4	6	6
Palmeiras	3	2	0	1	5	5	0	4
OGC Nice	3	1	0	2	4	7	-3	2
Red Star	3	0	0	3	4	7	-3	0

Jun 30: Palmeiras - OGC Nice 3-0

Jul 1: Juventus - Red Star 3-2

Jul 3: OGC Nice - Juventus 2-3

Jul 5: Palmeiras - Red Star 2-1

Jul 7: Red Star - OGC Nice 1-2

Jul 8: Palmeiras - Juventus 0-4

Semifinals

• São Paulo semifinal

Jul 12: Austria Wien - Juventus 3-3

Jul 14: Juventus - Austria Wien 3-1

• Rio de Janeiro semifinal

Jul 12: Vasco da Gama - Palmeiras 1-2

Jul 15: Vasco da Gama - Palmeiras 0-0

Finals

Jul 18: Palmeiras - Juventus 1-0 (in São Paulo)

Jul 22: Juventus - Palmeiras 2-2 (in Rio de Janeiro)

Champion

Palmeiras First title

1952 Copa Rio

Teams

• Austria Wien (1951/52 Austrian runners-up)
• Corinthians (1951, 1952 São Paulo state champions)
• Fluminense (1951 Rio de Janeiro state champions)
• Grasshopper-Club (1951/52 Swiss champions)
• Libertad (1952 Paraguayan runners-up)
• Peñarol (1951 Uruguayan champions)
• FC Saarbrücken (1951/52 West German runners-up)
• Sporting CP (1951/52 Portuguese champions)

Juventus (1951/52 Italian champions) and Racing Club (1951 Argentine champions) withdrew from the competition.

Rio de Janeiro Group

All matches played at Estádio do Maracanã.

Teams	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Points
Fluminense	3	2	1	0	4	0	4	5
Peñarol	3	2	0	1	4	4	0	4
Sporting CP	3	1	1	1	3	4	-1	3
Grasshopper-Club	3	0	0	3	1	4	-3	0

Peñarol - Grasshopper-Club 1-0

Jul 13: Fluminense - Sporting CP 0-0

Peñarol - Sporting CP 3-1

Jul 17: Fluminense - Grasshopper-Club 1-0

Sporting CP - Grasshopper-Club 2-1

Jul 20: Fluminense - Peñarol 3-0

São Paulo Group

All matches played at Estádio do Pacaembu.

Teams	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Points
Corinthians	3	3	0	0	14	3	11	6
Austria Wien	3	2	0	1	10	5	5	4
Libertad	3	1	0	2	7	11	-4	2
FC Saarbrücken	3	0	0	3	3	15	-12	0

Austria - Libertad 4-2

Jul 13: Corinthians - Saarbrücken 6-1

Jul 16: Austria - Saarbrücken 5-1

Corinthians - Libertad 6-1

Jul 19: Libertad - Saarbrücken 4-1

Corinthians - Austria 2-1

Semifinals

• São Paulo semifinal

Corinthians - Peñarol 2-1

Corinthians - Peñarol w/o

• Rio de Janeiro semifinal

Jul 23: Fluminense - Austria 1-0

Jul 27: Fluminense - Austria 5-2

Finals

Both matches played at Estádio do Maracanã.

Jul 30: Fluminense - Corinthians 2-0

Aug 2: Fluminense - Corinthians 2-2

Champion

Fluminense First title

Torneio Octogonal Rivadavia Corrêa Meyer 1953

NB: tournament successor of Copa Rio held in 1951 and 1952.

Teams

• Botafogo (Second Place of the Small Cup of the World in 1952)
• Fluminense (Champion of the Copa Rio in 1952)
• Vasco (Rio de Janeiro State Champions in 1952)
• Corinthians (Champion of the Tournament Rio-São Paulo in 1953)
• São Paulo (São Paulo State Champions in 1953)
• Olimpia (Second Place in the Paraguayan Championship in 1953)
• Hibernian (Scottish Champion in 1952)
• Sporting CP (Portuguese Champion in 1953)

Real Madrid (Champion of the Small Cup of the World in 1952) and Nacional (Uruguayan Champion in 1953) withdrew from the competition.

Rio de Janeiro Group

Date	Venue	Game	Team
June 7, 1953	Rio de Janeiro	A	Vasco 3 - 3 Hibernian
June 13, 1953	Rio de Janeiro	B	Botafogo 3 - 1 Hibernian
June 14, 1953	Rio de Janeiro	C	Vasco 2 - 1 Fluminense
June 17, 1953	Rio de Janeiro	D	Botafogo 2 - 2 Fluminense
June 20, 1953	Rio de Janeiro	E	Fluminense 3 - 0 Hibernian
June 21, 1953	Rio de Janeiro	F	Vasco 2 - 1 Botafogo

Final Classification

Position	Team	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Points
1	Vasco da Gama	3	2	1	0	7	5	2	5
2	Fluminense	3	1	1	1	6	4	2	3
3	Botafogo	3	1	1	1	6	5	1	3
4	Hibernian	3	0	1	2	4	9	-5	1

São Paulo Group

Date	Venue	Game	Team
June 7, 1953	São Paulo	G	Corinthians 5 - 2 Olimpia
June 13, 1953	São Paulo	H	São Paulo 4 - 1 Olimpia
June 14, 1953	São Paulo	I	Corinthians 2 - 1 Sporting
June 17, 1953	São Paulo	J	São Paulo 4 - 1 Sporting
June 20, 1953	São Paulo	L	Olimpia 1 - 1 Sporting
June 21, 1953	São Paulo	M	São Paulo 1 - 1 Corinthians

Final Classification

Position	Team	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Points
1	São Paulo	3	2	1	0	9	3	6	5
2	Corinthians	3	2	1	0	8	4	4	5
3	Sporting	3	0	1	2	3	7	-4	1
4	Olimpia	3	0	1	2	4	10	-6	1

Semifinals in São Paulo

Date	Venue	Game	Teams
June 24, 1953	São Paulo	N	São Paulo 1 - 0 Fluminense
June 28, 1953	São Paulo	O	São Paulo 0 - 1 (1 - 0) Fluminense

Semifinals in Rio de Janeiro

Date	Venue	Game	Team
June 24, 1953	Rio de Janeiro	Q	Vasco da Gama 4 - 2 Corinthians
June 28, 1953	Rio de Janeiro	R	Vasco da Gama 3 - 1 Corinthians

Finals

Date	Venue	Game	Teams
July 1, 1953	São Paulo	S	São Paulo 0 - 1 Vasco da Gama
July 4, 1953	Rio de Janeiro	T	Vasco da Gama 2 - 1 São Paulo

Champion

Vasco da Gama First title

See also

• International club competition records

References

1. ^ "Fifa decides: first FIFA Club World Cup was held in 2000; Intercontinental Cup and Copa Rio are forgotten". http://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/federation/releases/newsid=660747.html. 
2. ^ Italian champion 1950/51, AC Milan, renounced because they had to play the Latin Cup during the same period.

External links

• RSSSF (1951)
• RSSSF (1952)
• Matches of Fluminense in Copa Rio 1952
• Copa Rio 1952 history
• Copa Rio 1952 film
• RSSSF (1953)