 The new Nehru Cup trophy being unveiled by then-Minister for Civil Aviation,Praful Patel, inNew Delhi, 6 August 2009. | |
| Organiser(s) | AIFF |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1982; 43 years ago (1982) |
| Abolished | 2012; 13 years ago (2012) |
| Region | India |
| Teams | 5 (2012) |
| Related competitions | Tri-Nation Series Intercontinental Cup |
| Last champions |  India(3rd title) |
| Most championships |  Soviet Union(4 titles) |
TheNehru Cup was an internationalfootball tournament organised by theAll India Football Federation (AIFF), named after thefirst Prime Minister of India,Jawaharlal Nehru. It was launched in 1982, but was not held from 1998 to 2006. After the trophy was won byIraq in 1997, it was reinstated only in 2007 before officially being held last in 2012 and was replaced in 2017.
Nehru Cup was launched in 1982 by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) in memory of India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, held inCalcutta.[2] Known as"ONGC (Oil and Natural Gas Corporation) Nehru Cup" for sponsorship reasons, it was held once every 2 years.[3] The first edition was inaugurated by Nehru's daughter, Prime MinisterIndira Gandhi andUruguay lifted the trophy with a 2–0 win againstChina. It was not held from 1998 to 2007.[3]
The tournament was mainly started to popularisefootball in India,[4] and the hosts won for the first time in 2007 beatingSyria.[5][6][7]
North Korea became the first Asian team to win the trophy in 1993 edition, defeatingRomania B 2–0.[8]
In 1990, the "Jawaharlal Nehru Centenary Club Cup"[9] (to celebrate the birth centenary of Nehru) was organized in place of Nehru Cup, which became the only international club tournament held in the country.[10][11] The tournament was won by Paraguayan sideClub Olimpia after their 1–0 win against Argentine clubClub de Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata, in whichLuis Monzón scored the winner.[10][12]
Mohammedan Sporting Club was the only Indian team to qualify for semi-finals.[10] They defeatedZambia national team 1–0 andFC Metalist 1925 Kharkiv 1–0, before losing 2–0 to Argentine sideGimnasia Esgrima.[10] In the semi-final, Mohammedan lost 1–0 to the eventual champions, Paraguayan outfit Club Olimpia.[10][13]
The first Nehru Cup in 1982 was covered byPrabir Roy with a 5 on-line camera operation. This was long beforeDoordarshan started the same during theDelhi Asian Games in November 1982. This was apparently the firstcolour television broadcast in India.
The tournament was shelved after 1997 due to lack of sponsorship and other reasons. It was revived in 2007 mainly due to persuasion by the former coach ofIndia national football team –Bob Houghton. The original rolling trophy could not be recovered fromIraq, and a new trophy was designed.
The tournament held during 2007 was called theONGC Nehru Cup, to acknowledge sponsorship from theOil and Natural Gas Corporation. The2007 Nehru Cup took place from 17 to 29 August 2007 withSyria,Kyrgyzstan,India,Cambodia andBangladesh as participating nations whereIndia won their first title after hosting it for the last couple of decades defeating the much higher rankedSyria in the final by a 1-0 margin, on a goal scored byN. P. Pradeep in the 44th minute on a back pass fromBhaichung Bhutia.[14]
The2009 Nehru Cup took place inNew Delhi from 19 to 31 August 2009. After the participation of Palestine was cancelled by theAIFF, the tournament was changed into a round-robin format with five teams playing each other and the top two clashing in the final.[15]India defeatedSyria by 5–4 on penalties after a 1–1 draw in the final on 31 August 2009.
The 2012 Nehru Cup was the 15th edition of the Nehru Cup and 3rd Nehru Cup since it was revived in 2007. It was held from 22 August to 2 September.[16] The tournament was hosted inNew Delhi,India. A total of 5 teams participated in the tournament through being invited by theAll India Football Federation. The final match happened between India and Cameroon and India won the match in penalty shoot out 5-4 after the match ended 2-2 after 120 minutes of play.[17][18]
Hopes to have another tournament in 2014 were shelved in August 2014 due to the AIFF not being able to pursue capital investment.[19] AIFF revealed on 17 May 2016 that it plans to replace Nehru Cup with a newIntercontinental Cup.[20]
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Russia | 4 | 2 | 1 | 7 |
| 2 | India | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 3 |  Hungary | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 4 |  Iraq | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 5 |  Poland | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
 Romania | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| 7 |  North Korea | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 8 |  Uruguay | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 |  China | 0 | 4 | 1 | 5 |
| 10 |  Syria | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 11 |  Cameroon | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 12 |  Bulgaria | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 13 |  Uzbekistan | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
 Yugoslavia | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 15 |  Kyrgyzstan | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
 South Korea | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | |
| 17 |  Argentina | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
 Denmark | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 East Germany | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Finland | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Maldives | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Morocco | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Thailand | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Totals (23 entries) | 15 | 15 | 17 | 47 | |
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| League system |
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| Cup competitions |
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| Defunct competitions |
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| Others | |||||||||
International friendlyassociation football tournaments in Asia | |
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A considerable number of matches in the following competitions are recognised asinternational "A" matches. | |
Bangladesh  | |
| China | |
Chinese Taipei  | |
Hong Kong  | |
Indonesia  | |
| India | |
Iran  | |
Japan  | |
Malaysia  | |
Pakistan  | |
Philippines  | |
Singapore  | |
| South Korea | |
| Syria | |
| Thailand | |
United Arab Emirates  | |
Vietnam  | |
| Collaboration | |
