Intercontinental Champions' Supercup

The Intercontinental Champions' Supercup, commonly referred to as the Intercontinental Supercup or Recopa Intercontinental, was a football competition endorsed by UEFA and CONMEBOL, contested by the past winners of the Intercontinental Cup. The first Intercontinental Cup had been contested in 1960, resulting in a pool of 5 past champions (two from UEFA, three from CONMEBOL) available to contest for the first Intercontinental Supercup, in 1968.[1] The pool increased to 6 past champions for the 1969 Intercontinental Supercup, but the two past champions from UEFA chose not to participate, resulting in the winner of the CONMEBOL preliminary round being declared the Supercup winner. No further competitions were contested thereafter.

Intercontinental Supercup
Intercontinental Supercup thophy exhibited
at the Peñarol Museum
Organising bodyUEFA
CONMEBOL
Founded1968
Abolished1970 (1970)
RegionEurope
South America
Number of teams4
Related competitionsIntercontinental Cup
Most successful club(s)Brazil Santos
Uruguay Peñarol
(1 title each)

The tournament went unrecognised for many years, until in September 2005 it was officially recognised by CONMEBOL,[2] and listed as an "official competition".[3]

History

The idea for the tournament was put forth by club officials of the three South American teams that had won the Intercontinental Cup—Peñarol, Santos, and Racing. In November 1968, the tournament was announced in Buenos Aires. Earlier that year in September, Estudiantes de La Plata had defeated Manchester United in the 1968 Intercontinental Cup but would not be included in the immediate 1968 Intercontinental Supercup. Instead, Estudiantes would be present in the 1969 edition. The corresponding UEFA officials were contacted and the tournament was scheduled to start in November and include Real Madrid and Inter in addition to the three past South American Intercontinental Cup winners.

The first competition was divided into the South American Zone and the European Zone. In the South American Zone, the 3 South American participants played a round-robin tournament, whilst in the European Zone, Real Madrid and Internazionale were to play each other over two legs. Each zone winner advanced to the final. Real Madrid withdrew from playing in the tournament and, thus, Inter advanced without playing. The first round of matches were played in November between the 3 South American clubs, and the second round of matches were played in April and May 1969. Santos finished ahead of Peñarol and Racing Club and were to play Inter in June for the cup.

The first leg of the final was played in Milan, at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza. Santos won 1–0. The second leg was to be played in September in Naples, Italy; however, Inter declined to play and Santos won by default.

The second competition–now including Estudiantes–also failed to complete. Both Real Madrid and Inter declined to compete as the 1970 FIFA World Cup qualification was underway in Europe. Hence, only the South American Zone portion of the tournament was played, starting in November and culminating in December. Peñarol finished first and was declared the South American Zone champion after no European team was available to compete.

A third edition was slated for 1970 by CONMEBOL with two new European teams being eligible to play–Italian A.C. Milan and Dutch Feyenoord; however it was never held because of the lack of European interest. The tournament was postponed three times into 1971 until it was finally cancelled.

The tournament went unrecognised for many years until in September 2005, these titles were officially recognised by the CONMEBOL despite their improper conclusions.[3]

Eligible teams

These were the only teams eligible to compete in the tournament at the time it was hosted.

Team Years won
(Intercont. Cup)		 Editons
played
Spain Real Madrid 1960 (None)
Uruguay Peñarol 1961, 1966 1968, 1969
Brazil Santos 1962, 1963 1968, 1969
Italy Internazionale 1964, 1965 1968
Argentina Racing 1967 1968, 1969
Argentina Estudiantes LP 1968 1969
Italy Milan 1969 (None)
Netherlands Feyenoord 1970 (None) [note 1]

Results
Year Winner Score Runner-up Venue City
1968
 Brazil Santos
1–0
 Italy InternazionaleSan SiroMilan, Italy
1969
 Uruguay Peñarol
– [note 2]
 Argentina Racing
–
–
Notes
  1. The 1970 Intercontinental Supercup was not held and the tournament discontinued due to lack of interest from European clubs.
  2. No final held. Peñarol accumulated the most points in the South American group, therefore they were crowned champion of the competition. The squad played a total of 6 matches in a double round-robin format against Estudiantes (LP), Racing and Santos FC. No European clubs took part of the championship.[4][5]

Goalscorers
Year Scorer Club Goals
1968 Uruguay Pedro Rocha Uruguay Peñarol 3
Brazil Walter Machado da Silva Argentina Racing 3
Brazil Toninho Brazil Santos 3
1969 Uruguay Pedro Rocha Uruguay Peñarol 6

See also

References
  1. Supercopa de Campeones Intercontinentales - 1968 edition on Conmebol website, 6 Jul 2008 (Archive)
  2. Las copas olvidadas, Clarín, 7 Sep 2006
  3. Las competiciones oficiales de Conmebol on Conmebol website, 19 Aug 2015
  4. Supercopa 1969 by Osvaldo Gorgazzi, José L. Pierrend and Martín Tabeira on the RSSSF
  5. Supercopa de Campeones Intercontinentales 1969 on Padre y Decano website
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