UEFA Intertoto Cup

infobox football tournament

founded = 1961 (taken over by UEFA in 1995)
abolished = 2009
region = Europe (UEFA)
number of teams = 50
current champions = Various
current =
website = [http://www.uefa.com/competitions/intertotocup/index.html UEFA Intertoto Cup]

The UEFA Intertoto Cup, also abbreviated as UI Cup and originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition for European clubs that have not qualified for one of the two major UEFA competitions, the Champions League and the UEFA Cup. The competition will be discontinued after the 2008 tournament. [cite web | url = http://www.uefa.com/uefa/keytopics/kind=64/newsid=630602.html | title = Champions League changes agreed | accessdate = 2007-12-01 | date = 2007-12-01 | publisher = uefa.com | first = Mark | last = Chaplin] Teams who originally would have entered the Intertoto Cup will be directly entered in the qualifying stages of the UEFA Cup from this point.

The tournament was founded in 1961-62, but was only taken over by UEFA in 1995.

Any club which wishes to participate must apply for entry, with the highest placed club (by league position in their domestic league) at the end of the season entering the competition. The club does not necessarily have to be ranked directly below the clubs which have qualified for another UEFA competition; if the club which is in this position did not apply, they will not be eligible to compete, with the place instead going to the club which did apply.

The cup bills itself as providing both an opportunity for clubs who otherwise would not get the chance to enter the UEFA Cup and as an opportunity for sports lotteries (or pools) to continue during the summer.cite web

url=http://www.mogiel.net/EC/intertoto-history/background.php
title=Background on the Intertoto Cup
author=Elbech, Søren Florin
accessdate=2006-06-07

] This reflects its background, which was as a tournament solely for football pools. In 1995 the tournament came under official UEFA sanctioningcite web

url=http://www.uefa.com/competitions/intertotocup/history/index.html
work=UEFA.com
title=UEFA Intertoto Cup history
accessdate=2006-06-07

] and UEFA Cup qualification places were granted. Initially two were provided; this was increased to three after one year; but in 2006 it was again increased to the current total of eleven.

History

The Intertoto Cup was the idea of the later FIFA vice president and founder of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, Ernst B. Thommen, and the Austrian coach, Karl Rappan, who coached the Swiss national team at the 1938 World Cup and the Austrian national team at the 1954 World Cup. The "cup for the cupless" was also heavily promoted by the Swiss newspaper "Sport". It derived its name from "Toto", the German term for Football pools.

Thommen, who had set up football betting pools in Switzerland in 1932, had a major interest in having purposeful matches played in the summer break. UEFA were initially disinclined to support the tournament, finding its betting background distasteful; nevertheless they permitted the new tournament but refrained from getting officially involved. Clubs which qualified for one of the official continental competitions, such as the European Champions Cups and Cup Winners Cup, were not allowed to participate.

The first tournament was held in 1961 as the International Football Cup (IFC). Initially the Cup had a group stage, which led to knock-out matches culminating in a final. By 1967 it had became difficult to organize the games, and so the knock-out rounds and the final were scrapped, leaving the tournament without a single winner. Instead, group winners received prizes of CHF10,000-15,000.

By 1995 UEFA had reconsidered its opinion, took official control of the tournament and changed its format. Initially, two winners were given a place in the UEFA Cup. The success of one of the first winners FC Girondins de Bordeaux in reaching the final of the 1995-96 UEFA Cup encouraged UEFA to add a third UEFA Cup place in 1996.

Many clubs dislike the competition and see it as disruptive in the preparation for the new season. As a consequence they do not nominate themselves for participation even if entitled. In particular, following its 1995 relaunch, clubs in England were skeptical about the competition; after initially being offered three places in the cup, all English top division teams rejected the chance to take part.cite web

url=http://euro.futbal.org/efo/9596/toto/toto_england.html
title=Intertoto Cup: English Joy

accessdate=2006-06-07

] Following the threat of bans of English teams from all UEFA competitions the situation was eventually resolved with three English clubs entering weakened teams, and none of them qualifying.

In following years UEFA made it possible for nations to forfeit Intertoto places. For example, in 1998 Scotland, San Marino and Moldova forfeited their places, and England, Portugal and Greece forfeited one of their two, Crystal Palace being the sole English entrant despite finishing bottom of the Premiership. [cite web |

url=http://euro.futbal.org/efo/9899/intertoto.html
title=1998 Intertoto Cup Draw
work=EuroFutbal Archive
accessdate=2006-06-07

] Other clubs have built upon their success in the UI Cup, following it up with great campaigns in the UEFA Cup. Furthermore UEFA reject this assertion that the tournament is disruptive. They point out that in the 2004-05 season two of the three 2004 Intertoto Cup winners went on to qualify for the Champions League.

In December 2007, following the election of new UEFA president Michel Platini, it was announced that the Intertoto Cup would be abolished as of 2009. This was a part of a range of changes that were to be made to the UEFA Cup/Champions League System. Instead of teams qualifying for the Intertoto Cup they will now qualify directly for the Qualifying Stages of the UEFA Europa League, which will be expanded to four rounds to accommodate them.

Format

When the competition was taken over by UEFA in 1995, the format was both a group stage and a knock-out stage; 60 teams were split into 12 groups of five with the 16 best teams then contesting the knock-out stage with two-legged ties at each stage, the two winning finalists qualifying for the UEFA Cup. In 1996 and 1997 just the 12 group winners entered the knock-out round, with now three finalists advancing. Nations were allocated places according to their UEFA coefficients, much as with other UEFA tournaments.

The group stage was scrapped for the 1998 tournament, which became a straight knock-out tournament, with clubs from more successful nations entering at a later stage. This arrangement lasted until 2005.

From the 2006 tournament the format for the Cup changed. There are three rounds instead of the previous five, and the eleven winning teams from the third round went through to the second qualifying round of the UEFA Cup.cite web |

url=http://www.uefa.com/competitions/IntertotoCup/news/Kind=1/newsId=400217.html
title=New look for Intertoto Cup
work=UEFA.com
accessdate=2007-02-20

] For the first time since the 1960s, there is provision for an actual trophy — whichever sides go furthest in the UEFA Cup will each be awarded a trophy. [cite web |url=http://www.uefa.com/newsfiles/19069.pdf |format=PDF |title=Regulations of the Intertoto Cup 2006 |publisher=UEFA |accessdate=2007-04-15 |quote=The clubs which qualify for ... the UEFA Cup and which subsequently go furthest in the competition each receive a UEFA Intertoto Cup trophy ] The first winners were Newcastle United, who won the 2006 tournament outright by going further in the 2006-07 UEFA Cup than the other ten qualifiers. [cite news

url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/n/newcastle_united/6185511.stm
title=Newcastle to lift Intertoto Cup
work=BBC Sport
date=2006-12-16
accessdate=2007-02-20

]

Only one team from each national association will be allowed to enter. However, should one or more nations not take up their place, the possibility has been left open for nations to have a second entrant. Seedings and entry are determined by each association. Teams from the weakest federations enter at the first round stage, while those from mid-level federations enter in the second round, and those from the strongest federations enter in the third round.

Winners

2006-2008

Listed are all eleven teams that won the third round matches, qualifying them for the UEFA Cup. The outright winners (determined by their UEFA Cup performance) are in bold.

1961-67

"The results shown are the aggregate total over two legs unless otherwise noted."

ee also

* List of UEFA Intertoto Cup winning managers
* International club competition records
* UEFA competition records
* UEFA Champions League
* UEFA Cup

References

External links

* [http://www.uefa.com/Competitions/IntertotoCup/index.html Official UEFA site]
* [http://www.intertoto-cup.com/ Official lotteries site]
* Soccernet guide to Intertoto Cup: [http://soccernet.espn.go.com/feature?id=336901&cc=5739 Part 1] and [http://soccernet.espn.go.com/feature?id=337924&cc=5739 Part 2]
* [http://www.enricosiboni.altervista.org/club/coppa_intertoto.htm Enrico Siboni Web Site - Winners of UEFA Intertoto Cup]