Anglo-Italian Cup

The Anglo-Italian Cup (Italian: Coppa Anglo-Italiana, also known as the Anglo-Italian Inter-League Clubs Competition[1] and from 1976–86 as the Alitalia Challenge Cup, Talbot Challenge Cup or Gigi Peronace Memorial) is a defunct European football competition.

Anglo-Italian Cup
Founded1970
Abolished1996
RegionEngland and Italy
Number of teamsVaried
Last championsGenoa
Most successful club(s)Modena (2 titles)

The competition was played intermittently between 1970 and 1996 between clubs from England and Italy. It was founded by Gigi Peronace, following the two-team Anglo-Italian League Cup in 1969. The initial Anglo-Italian Cup was played as an annual tournament from 1970 to 1973. The first final was abandoned early due to violence, with Swindon Town declared the winners. During its time the tournament had a reputation for violence between fans,[2][3] but it returned as a semi-professional tournament from 1976 before it was abolished again in 1986.

In 1992, the Anglo-Italian Cup was re-established as a professional cup for second tier clubs – it replaced the English Full Members Cup. The Italian representatives were Serie B teams. This version of the Cup ran for four seasons, until 1996, before being discontinued due to fixture congestion. The trophy was a 22-inch (56 cm) high gold loving cup mounted on a wooden plinth.[4][5]

History

Professional era
Year Winner Runner-up
1970 Swindon Town Napoli
1971 Blackpool F.C. Bologna
1972 A.S. Roma Blackpool
1973 Newcastle United Fiorentina

From 1967, a place in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup was awarded to the Football League Cup winners,[6] but that season's winners, Queens Park Rangers, could not take up their place because UEFA did not at that time allow third-tier teams to compete in the Fairs Cup.[2][7] When the same situation arose two years later with Swindon Town, a two-legged match against that year's Coppa Italia winners, A.S. Roma, was organised by way of compensation.[2][8] Following the popularity of that event, dubbed the Anglo-Italian League Cup,[2] and as a way to generate income to pay players' wages during the extended close season caused by the 1970 FIFA World Cup, the first Anglo-Italian Cup was inaugurated in 1970.[1]

For the first competition there were six English teams and six Italian teams.[2] These teams were split into three groups consisting of two English and two Italian teams each,[9] with two points being awarded for a win, one point for a draw, and a point for each goal scored.[10][11] The final was contested between the best team from each country, and Swindon played Napoli at the Stadio San Paolo on 28 May 1970. Swindon were 3–0 up after 63 minutes, when violence started to break out. The match had to be abandoned after 79 minutes, with Swindon being declared as the first winners of the tournament.[2][9]

In 1971, the second edition of the tournament, Blackpool and Bologna were the two nations' best-ranked teams and contested the final at the Stadio Renato Dall'Ara on 12 June 1971. Prior to the match, tournament organiser Gigi Peronace stressed that it was imperative for an Italian club to win back the trophy.[12] After 90 minutes the score was 1–1 and the match went into extra-time, during which Micky Burns scored the winning goal for Blackpool.[4]

Blackpool qualified for the final again in 1972, but were unsuccessful in their defence of the title, with Roma winning 3–1.[4] In 1973, points were no longer awarded for each goal scored, and Newcastle United went on to win the final 2–1 against Fiorentina at the Stadio Artemio Franchi on 3 June 1973.[13][14] Due to lack of interest the tournament did not continue,[4] and it was not until 1976 that it re-emerged as a semi-professional competition.[3]

Anglo-Italian Semiprofessional Cup

Sources: [15][16]

Year Winner Runner-up
1975 Wycombe Wanderers Monza
1976 Lecce Scarborough F.C





Semi-professional era

In March 1976, the Anglo-Italian Cup was re-introduced as a semi-professional tournament, with six entrants from each country. Wimbledon and Monza reached the final, with Monza winning the final 1–0, making them unbeaten for the tournament.[17] For the next two years Bath City were the English finalists but they lost to Lecco in 1977,[18] and Udinese in 1978,[19] when the tournament was renamed the Alitalia Challenge Cup.[20]

In 1979, each country had four entrants and Sutton United defeated Italian finalists Chieti 2–1 to become the first and only English winners of the competition during its time as a semi-professional competition.[21] Attempting to defend their title the following year, Sutton United reached the final but were defeated by Triestina.[22]

In 1981, the tournament was called the Talbot Challenge Cup and Modena were the winners.[20][23] The following year the tournament was renamed the Gigi Peronace Memorial, after the man who organised the tournament,[20][24] and reduced to four teams. The new format consisted of two Anglo-Italian semi-finals, which meant the final was not necessarily contested by an English and an Italian team. That year, Modena successfully defended their title in a final against Sutton United,[25] who were the last English team to reach the final of the semi-professional tournament.

From 1983 to 1986, the finals were all-Italian contests, and after the 1986 instalment the tournament was discontinued.[20]

Professional tournament again
Year Winner Runner-up
1992–93 Cremonese Derby County
1993–94 Brescia Notts County
1994–95 Notts County Ascoli
1995–96 Genoa Port Vale

The competition was re-established in 1992–93 as a replacement for the Full Members Cup.[2][5] It was a professional tournament for teams competing in the second tier of football—the newly renamed First Division in England and Serie B in Italy.[26]

The new version of the tournament began with preliminary rounds – 24 English teams competed in 8 groups of three teams. Each team played the others once, and the eight group winners progressed to the main competition.

The main competition consisted of two groups, each with four English, and four Italian teams. Each team would play four group games – against every team in its group from the other nation. Then, the top team in each group from each nation competed in semi-finals: an all-English semi-final, and an all-Italian semi-final.[27] The final was a single match played at Wembley.

In the 1992–93 tournament, Derby County lost the final 3–1 to Cremonese.[28] Brescia won the final in 1994 against Notts County, but Notts County reached the final again in 1995 and defeated Ascoli 2–1.[5] The last instalment of the competition was held in 1995–96, and Genoa triumphed 5–2 over Port Vale in the final on 17 March 1996.[29] The competition was abandoned in 1996 because the two leagues could not agree on dates for fixtures,[30][3]

Participants

For the original professional tournament in the 1970s, the English entrants were either First Division or Second Division sides. (The First Division sides had generally finished in the lower half of the table, while the Second Division sides were generally mid-table or better.) With the exception of Bari and Como in 1973, all Italian teams playing in the 1970s tournament had just competed in the previous Serie A season. The Italian clubs were often mid-table or higher finishers who had sometimes also qualified for the European competitions.

When the competition was revived in the 1990s, for the first two seasons all English sides playing in the First Division (2nd level) participated, but in the last two tournaments only 8 English teams played. In 1994/95, two of the clubs relegated from the Premiership were joined by six teams that had just missed out on promotion. For 1995/96, only one relegated Premiership team competed – most of the remaining teams had finished in mid-table or lower table in the previous First Division campaign, and Birmingham City had just been promoted from Division Two.[31]

The Italian participants in the revived 1990s tournament were the four teams that had just been relegated from Serie A and the four teams that had finished highest but not been promoted in Serie B. The exception to this was Verona, who were relegated in 1991/92, but did not play in the 1992/93 cup.[32]

Table of participants and performance by season
CountryClub 1970[11] 1971[33] 1972[34] 1973[35] 1992–93[36] 1993–94[37][nb 1] 1994–95[38] 1995–96[39]
Middlesbrough GS GSGS
Sheffield Wednesday GS
Sunderland GSGS QQ
Swindon Town WGS QGS
West Bromwich Albion GSGS GSSF
Wolverhampton Wanderers GS QQGS
Fiorentina GSRU GS
Juventus GS
Lazio GSGS
Napoli RU
Roma GSGSWGS
Lanerossi Vicenza GSGS
Blackpool WRUGS
Crystal Palace GSSF Q
Huddersfield Town GS
Stoke City GSGS GSSFGS
Bologna RUSF
Cagliari GSGS
Internazionale GS
Sampdoria GSGS
Verona GSGS
Birmingham City GS GSQQF
Carlisle United GS
Leicester City GS Q Q
Atalanta GS GS
Catanzaro GS
Fulham GS
Hull City GS
Luton Town GS QQGS
Manchester United GS
Newcastle United W GS
Oxford United GS QQ
Bari GS SF
Como GS
Torino GS
West Ham United GS
Portsmouth GSGS
Tranmere Rovers GSQGS
Millwall QQ
Derby County RUQGS
Grimsby Town QQ
Peterborough United QQ
Charlton Athletic QGS
Barnsley QQ
Bristol City GSQ
Watford QQ
Notts County QRUW
Southend United QSFGS
Brentford SF
Cambridge United Q
Bristol Rovers Q
Ascoli GSGSRU
Cesena GSGSSF
Cosenza GSGS
Cremonese W
Lucchese GS
Pisa GSGS
Reggiana GSGS
Bolton Wanderers GS
Nottingham Forest Q
Ancona GSSFGS
Brescia WGS
Padova GS
Pescara SF
Sheffield United GS
Lecce GS
Piacenza GS
Udinese GS
Venezia GS
Ipswich Town QF
Oldham Athletic GS
Port Vale RU
Foggia QF
Genoa W
Perugia GS
Salernitana QF
Key
W RU SF QF GS Q

Won tournament; runner-up; lost in semi-final (English or Italian final); lost in quarter-final (English or Italian semi-final); eliminated in group stage; eliminated in preliminary qualifying.

Performance by nation
NationWinners
 Italy15
 England6

See also

References
  1. "When Palace humbled Inter". The Holmesdale Online. 25 February 2009. Retrieved 31 August 2009.
  2. Murray, Scott (26 June 2009). "The Joy of Six: Extinct football competitions – 3 Anglo-Italian Cup". The Sport Blog. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 7 February 2011.
  3. Lea, Greg (25 October 2019). "Remembering the violent but fascinating Anglo-Italian Cup". These Football Times. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
  4. "Bologna 1, Blackpool 2 – Anglo-Italian Cup Final, June 12, 1971". Blackpool Gazette. 20 September 2006. Archived from the original on 5 June 2010. Retrieved 29 August 2009.
  5. "Anglo-Italian Cup Winners". Notts County F.C. 18 January 2008. Archived from the original on 7 August 2011. Retrieved 4 February 2011.
  6. Murray, Scott (12 November 2008). "Why the League Cup still has its place in English football". The Guardian. London: Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 1 September 2009.
  7. Murphy, Alex (2 May 2009). "Mike Keen: Footballer who captained Third Division Queen's Park Rangers to League Cup victory in 1967". The Independent. London: Independent News & Media. Retrieved 29 August 2009.
  8. King, Clive (28 August 1969). "Swindon outplay Italians to win cup". Swindon Advertiser. Retrieved 29 August 2009.
  9. Sheldon, Peter. "Under the Shadow of Mighty Vesuvius". Swindon's pride. Retrieved 29 August 2009.
  10. "Blackpool 10 LANEROSSI VICENZA 0 Anglo-Italian Cup, June 10, 1972". Blackpool Gazette. 6 November 2006. Archived from the original on 22 July 2012. Retrieved 2 September 2009.
  11. Andrea Veronese (12 April 2004). "Anglo-Italian Cup 1970". RSSSF. Retrieved 2 May 2012.
  12. Gillatt, Peter (30 November 2009). Blackpool FC on This Day: History, Facts and Figures from Every Day of the Year. Pitch Publishing Ltd. ISBN 1-905411-50-2.
  13. "I've had countless drinks for my goal against Sunderland". Evening Chronicle. 15 January 2002. Archived from the original on 23 July 2012. Retrieved 29 August 2009.
  14. "Anglo-Italian Cup 1973". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 29 August 2009.
  15. http://www.rsssf.com/tablesa/angloitalian.html
  16. https://web.archive.org/web/20171022211849/https://www.wycombewanderers.co.uk/news/2013/march/the-end-of-amateurism/
  17. "Anglo-Italian Cup 1976". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 29 August 2009.
  18. "Anglo-Italian Cup 1977". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 29 August 2009.
  19. "Anglo-Italian Cup 1978". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 29 August 2009.
  20. "Anglo-Italian Cups". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 29 August 2009.
  21. "Club Info". Sutton United F.C. Archived from the original on 24 September 2010. Retrieved 29 August 2009.
  22. "Anglo-Italian Cup 1980". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 29 August 2009.
  23. "Anglo-Italian Cup 1981". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 29 August 2009.
  24. Formosa, Tony (27 February 2005). "'King John' and 'Angel with Dirty Face'". Malta Today. Archived from the original on 1 January 2010. Retrieved 30 August 2009.
  25. "Anglo-Italian Cup 1982". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 29 August 2009.
  26. "The Tempestuous Curtain Call of a Tournament Destined to Fail: the Anglo-Italian Cup 1992-96". Calcio England. 13 September 2019. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
  27. "Anglo-Italian Cup 1992/93". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 29 August 2009.
  28. "Rams Celebrate Lionel Pickering". Derby County F.C. 28 July 2009. Archived from the original on 1 September 2009. Retrieved 29 August 2009.
  29. Shaw, Phil (18 March 1996). "Genoa produce high strike-rate". The Independent. London: Independent News & Media. Retrieved 29 August 2009.
  30. "Anglo-Italian Cup has been scrapped". The Independent. London: Independent News & Media. 12 September 1996. Retrieved 29 August 2009.
  31. Paul Felton (4 September 2008). "England – Football Statistics Archive – League Records". RSSSF. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
  32. Tamas Karpati and Igor Kramarsic (12 May 2011). "Italy – List of Champions". Links to Italian tables by season. RSSSF. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
  33. Andrea Veronese (15 October 2000). "Anglo-Italian Cup 1971". RSSSF. Retrieved 22 July 2012.
  34. 1972 competition results at RSSSF Archived 29 May 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  35. 1973 competition results at RSSSF
  36. 1992/93 competition results at RSSSF
  37. 1993/94 competition results at RSSSF Archived 24 May 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  38. 1994/95 competition results at RSSSF
  39. 1995/96 competition results at RSSSF

Notes
  1. The references for the qualifiers are 1 Archived 10 March 2010 at the Wayback Machine2 Archived 28 February 2010 at the Wayback Machine 3 Archived 10 August 2014 at the Wayback Machine45 Archived 10 August 2014 at the Wayback Machine6 Archived 30 April 2010 at the Wayback Machine 7 Archived 18 April 2010 at the Wayback Machine8 Archived 26 February 2010 at the Wayback Machine
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