 Fairs Cup Trophy (Barcelona Museum). It bears the French name of the tournament,Coupe Internationale des Villes de Foires ("International Fairs Cities Cup").[1] | |
| Organiser(s) | Fairs Cup Committee |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1955; 70 years ago (1955) |
| Abolished | 1971; 54 years ago (1971) |
| Region | Europe |
| Teams | 12 (first edition) 64 (last edition) |
| Related competitions | UEFA Cup (successor) |
| Last champions |  Leeds United(2nd title) |
| Most championships |  Barcelona(3 titles) |
TheInter-Cities Fairs Cup, most commonly referred to as theFairs Cup and sometimes as theEuropean Fairs Cup orFairs Cities' Cup,[2][3][4] was a Europeanfootball competition played between 1955 and 1971. The Fairs Cup was the idea ofFIFA vice-president and executive committee memberErnst Thommen,Italian Football Federation president and FIFA executive committee memberOttorino Barassi and EnglishFootball Association general secretary,Stanley Rous. As the name suggests, the competition was set up to promote internationaltrade fairs. Friendly games were regularly held between teams from cities holding trade fairs and it was from these games that the competition evolved. Initially, the competition was only open to cities that hosted trade fairs, and where the cities' clubs finished in their national league had no relevance. Early competitions also featured a "one city, one team" rule, with some teams selected from multiple clubs.Due to the one city one club rule, in several seasonsLondon entered a team that consisted of mixed players from various London clubs, the team was calledLondon XI.
After 1964, teams qualified based on league position. The winning team received the Noel Beard Trophy (Trophée Noel Beard), named for thecutler who designed it.[5]
The competition was organised by the Fairs Cup Committee which was led by some FIFA executives until 1971, when it was superseded by the UEFA-organisedUEFA Cup.[6][7] According to UEFA general secretaryHans Bangerter, "The competition was very successful but the time came when the UEFA Executive Committee thought that such a major competition should be governed and organised by UEFA itself, which could ensure that standard rules were followed and could deal with refereeing and disciplinary matters."
The first competition was to be held over two seasons to avoid clashes with national leagues fixtures. Because it was also intended to coincide with trade fairs, it ran over into a third year. It commenced in 1955 and finished in 1958. Cities that entered teams includedBarcelona,Basel,Birmingham,Copenhagen,Frankfurt,Vienna,Cologne,Lausanne,Leipzig,London,Milan, andZagreb. The first competition included a group stage and also featured some city representative teams instead of clubs. The eventual finalists were the city ofBarcelona, dubbed Barcelona XI, and aLondon XI. While the latter side consisted of players from 11 clubs, the former was effectivelyFC Barcelona. After a 2–2 draw atStamford Bridge, Barcelona emerged triumphant after winning the return 6–0. A second tournament took place between 1958 and 1960. This time, the group stage format was abandoned in favour of a knockout tournament. Barcelona retained the cup, beatingBirmingham City 4–1 in the final.
The third tournament was held over the course of the 1960–61 season and all subsequent tournaments were completed over one season. The season also saw the holders, Barcelona, compete in both the Fairs Cup andEuropean Cup. During the early days of European competition, these tournaments were effectively rivals and there was little or no co-ordination between the administrators running them. TheEuropean Cup quickly established itself as the premier club competition, largely because it had the advantage of featuring national league champions and was completed in a single season from the very start. The efforts of Barcelona ended in failure in both competitions. In the Fairs Cup quarter-finals, they lost 7–6 on aggregate toHibernian, while in the European Cup, they were beaten in the final byBenfica.Roma took three games to beat Hibernian in the semi-finals before they progressed to the final. Birmingham City reached their second final in two years but once again they were defeated. After a 2–2 draw at home, they lost 2–0 to Roma in the return.
The 1961–62 season saw the rules amended to allow three teams from each country to enter. The "one city, one team" rule was abandoned and two teams represented each ofEdinburgh, Milan, and Barcelona (respectively Hibernian andHeart of Midlothian,Internazionale andA.C. Milan, and FC Barcelona and RCD Espanyol). This increase in teams resulted in Spanish teams continuing to dominate the competition. FC Barcelona were now regularly joined byValencia CF andZaragoza. These three clubs won the competition six times between them from 1958 to 1966. The Fairs Cup saw three all-Spanish finals in 1962, 1964, and 1966. The 1962 final saw Valencia CF beat FC Barcelona 7–3 on aggregate and in 1963 they retained the title after beatingDinamo Zagreb with a 4–1 aggregate score. They reached their third final in 1964 but lost 2–1 to Zaragoza in a single game at theCamp Nou.
The 1965 tournament saw a record entry of 48 teams, testimony to the growing status of the Fairs Cup. It also produced only the second final not to feature a Spanish team.Ferencvárosi TC of Hungary beatJuventus in another single-game final. The 1966 competition attracted attention for all the wrong reasons.Chelsea were pelted with rubbish at Roma andLeeds United fought a bruising encounter with Valencia CF which ended with three dismissals. Leeds also hadJohnny Giles sent off in the semi-final against Zaragoza. The final saw FC Barcelona beat Zaragoza 4–3 on aggregate.
The 1967 tournament saw the emergence of English clubs with Leeds United reaching the final. Although they lost to Dinamo Zagreb, they returned the following season and defeated Ferencvárosi TC to become the first English club to win the competition. The subsequent victories ofNewcastle United andArsenal and a second win for Leeds United saw English clubs winning the last four Fairs Cup tournaments. The last final saw Leeds United declared winners on away goals after drawing with Juventus 3–3 on aggregate.
In the 1971–72 season the competition was abolished and replaced by theUEFA Cup after UEFA revised the entry regulations and concluded that the "one city, one team" rule related with the Fairs Cup must be abolished,[8] which had had a particularly bad effect on English entrants for 1969–70, when Liverpool (2nd), Arsenal (4th),Southampton (7th), and Newcastle United (9th-also holders) got the places, at the expense ofEverton (3rd),Chelsea (5th),Tottenham Hotspur (6th), andWest Ham United (8th).The Football League upheld the geographic rule until 1975, when UEFA pressured the League to drop it or face sanctions. Everton that year, having come 4th, would have been excluded from the competition due to Liverpool's 2nd-place finish.[9]
After the 1970–71 tournament, the last of the Fairs Cup, the competition was abolished and replaced with theUEFA Cup.[7]
The Fairs Cup trophy had not been won by any club permanently, so a play-off match was organised to decide who would gain permanent possession of the original competition trophy. Before the match, thenFIFA President SirStanley Rous presented silver insignia to the members of the 1958 title-winning side,FC Barcelona.[11][12]
The one-off match was played on 22 September 1971, between the first ever Fairs Cup winners, Barcelona, and the last winners,Leeds United. Barcelona won this play-off 2–1.[7]
| Year | Champion | Score | Runner-up | Venue | City | Attend. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | Barcelona | 2–1 | Leeds United | Camp Nou | Barcelona | 45,000 |
| Club | Winners | Runners-up | Winning years | Runner-up years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barcelona | 3 | 1 | 1958,1960,1966 | 1962 |
| Valencia | 2 | 1 | 1962,1963 | 1964 |
| Leeds United | 2 | 1 | 1968,1971 | 1967 |
| Zaragoza | 1 | 1 | 1964 | 1966 |
 Ferencváros | 1 | 1 | 1965 | 1968 |
 Dinamo Zagreb | 1 | 1 | 1967 | 1963 |
 Roma | 1 | 0 | 1961 | |
| Newcastle United | 1 | 0 | 1969 | |
| Arsenal | 1 | 0 | 1970 | |
| Birmingham City | 0 | 2 | 1960,1961 | |
| Juventus | 0 | 2 | 1965,1971 | |
| London XI | 0 | 1 | 1958 | |
| Újpest | 0 | 1 | 1969 | |
 Anderlecht | 0 | 1 | 1970 |
| Nation | Winners | Runners-up | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spain | 6 | 3 | 9 |
| England | 4 | 4 | 8 |
| Italy | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Hungary | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Yugoslavia | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Belgium | 0 | 1 | 1 |
