Latin Cup

The Latin Cup(; ; or Copa Latina; ) was an international football tournament for club sides from the Southwest European nations of France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. In 1949, the football federations came together and requested approval from FIFA to launch the competition. Although FIFA granted approval for the competition to be played under international football guidelines at the time, the Latin Cup was not created nor organized by FIFA. European clubs could not afford hefty travel costs, so competition was staged at the end of every season in a single host country. The competition featured two semi-finals, a third-place play-off, and a final.La curiosa aventura de la Copa Latina by Alfredo Relaño on El País, 25 September 2016

This competition is considered a predecessor of European club tournaments, namely the European Cup,Goals, not coal, for Kopa on UEFA website, 4 February 2011 the first edition of which was held in 1955.

Although the Latin Cup is acknowledged by UEFA, the competition is treated as a historical precursor to the European Cup and not a UEFA sanctioned competition. Given that UEFA did not create the Latin Cup, UEFA does not include the Latin Cup as an official trophy count.

History The tournament began in 1949 and was usually played between the league champions of each participating country. Every four years, the countries' ranking would be determined based on their sides' performances in the Latin Cup. The competition was last played in 1957, two years after the introduction of the UEFA-sanctioned European Cup. Real Madrid played and won the European Cup and Latin Cup in 1957.

Prior to the introduction of the European Cup, the Latin Cup was considered the most important cup for clubs in Europe, the longer-established Mitropa Cup having gone into decline after World War II. The Latin Cup has been described one of the forerunners "of the European Cup" by UEFA.

According to Jules Rimet, 3rd President of FIFA, the Latin Cup was a competition created by FIFA at the request of the four nations that contested it, but its regulation was made by a committee composed of members from the competing federations, and FIFA did not participate actively in its organisation.

The Latin Cup was based on cycles of 4 years, being held in one country each year. The champion of each edition achieved the most points (4) to its Federation while teams placed 2nd, 3rd, and 4th received 3, 2, and 1 points, respectively. Moreover, the Federation, which totalised the most points every four years, received the trophy, while the champion club was given a smaller replica of it.

The first edition was opened on 20 June 1949, with the Sporting CP vs Torino at Chamartín Stadium of Madrid. One month before 18 of Torino players had died at Superga air disaster. Barcelona would be the first champion of the tournament after beating Sporting 2–1 at the final.

The second edition clashed with the 1950 FIFA World Cup of Brazil, so most of the players of the league champions were called up by their respective national teams. Therefore, that year, Lazio, the fourth of Serie A, participated in the Latin Cup. In 1951, French runners-up Lille OSC replaced French champions Nice, who relinquished the 1951 Latin Cup in order to play the Copa Rio. Due to a fixture clash with the 1954 FIFA World Cup in Switzerland, no Latin Cup was held that year (the participants would have been Real Madrid, Sporting CP, Lille OSC, and Internazionale—the latter did not get another chance to enter).

After the first four editions played, the Royal Spanish Football Federation won the first cycle with twelve points, eight of which were contributed by Barcelona and four by Atlético Madrid.

Results All teams were champions of the preceding domestic season in each nation, except where it indicates, detailing their finishing position in respective leagues.

YearFinalThird Place MatchVenueCityWinnerScoreRunner-upThird placeScoreFourth place1949 Barcelona2–1 Sporting CP Torino 5–3 Reims Estadio Chamartín Madrid 1950 Benfica Bordeaux Atlético Madrid 2–1 Lazio Estádio Nacional Oeiras 1951 Milan 5–0 Lille Atlético Madrid 3–1 Sporting CP San Siro Milan1952 Barcelona 1–0 Nice Juventus 3–2 Sporting CP Parc des Princes Paris1953 Reims 3–0 Milan Sporting CP 4–1 Valencia Estádio Nacional Oeiras1954 Not held1955 Real Madrid 2–0 Reims Milan 3–1 Belenenses Parc des Princes Paris1956 Milan 3–1 Athletic Bilbao Benfica 2–1 Nice Arena Civica Milan1957 Real Madrid 1–0 Benfica Milan 4–3 Saint-Étienne Santiago Bernabéu Madrid

Titles by club Club Titles Winning years Barcelona 2 1949, 1952 Milan 2 1951, 1956 Real Madrid 2 1955, 1957 Benfica 1 1950 Reims 1 1953

Titles by country Country Titles Winning years Spain 4 1949, 1952, 1955, 1957 Italy 2 1951, 1956 France 1 1953 Portugal 1 1950

Individual records Most goals: 7 – Gunnar Nordahl Most assists: 6 – Gunnar Gren Most clean sheets: 3 – Juan Alonso

Top scorers by year Year Player Goals1949 Fernando Peyroteo 3 1950 Arsénio Duarte Édouard Kargu André Doye 31951 André Strappe 51952 Giampiero Boniperti 31953 João Martins 41954 Not held —1955 Héctor Rial Léon Glowacki Eduardo Ricagni 21956 Juan Alberto Schiaffino 31957 Paco Gento 3

Latin Cup

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