Latin Cup

Defunct European football tournament

For other uses, see Latin Cup (disambiguation).

Football tournament

Latin Cup

The trophy awarded to champions

Organising body|  FFF
FIGC
FPF
RFEF
Founded| 1949
Abolished| 1957; 68 years ago (1957)
Region| Southwest Europe
Number of teams| 4
Related competitions| Mitropa Cup
Balkans Cup
Last champions|  Real Madrid
(2nd title) (1957)
Most successful club(s)|  Barcelona
Milan
Real Madrid
(2 titles each)

The Latin Cup[1] was an international official 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 FIFA launch the competition. 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.[2]

This competition is considered a predecessor of European club tournaments, namely the European Cup,[3] the first edition of which was held in 1955.

FIFA and UEFA recently validated the official status of the Latin Cup, which explains its inclusion in Real Madrid's list of achievements.[4]

## History

[edit]

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.[3]

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.[5]

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.[2]

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.[2]

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.[2]

## Results

[edit]

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

Year  | Final  | Third Place Match  | Venue  | City

|
|
|
|

Winner  | Score  | Runner-up  | Third place  | Score  | Fourth place
1949 |  Barcelona | 2–1 |  Sporting CP |  Torino | 5–3 |  Reims | Estadio Chamartín | Madrid
1950 |  Benfica |

3–3 (a.e.t.)

|  Bordeaux |  Atlético Madrid | 2–1 |  Lazio (4) | Estádio Nacional | Oeiras

2–1 (a.e.t.)

1951 |  Milan | 5–0 |  Lille (2) |  Atlético Madrid | 3–1 |  Sporting CP | San Siro | Milan
1952 |  Barcelona | 1–0 |  Nice |  Juventus | 3–2 |  Sporting CP | Parc des Princes | Paris
1953 |  Reims | 3–0 |  Milan (3) |  Sporting CP | 4–1 |  Valencia (2) | Estádio Nacional | Oeiras
1954 | Not held
1955 |  Real Madrid | 2–0 |  Reims |  Milan | 3–1 |  Belenenses (2) | Parc des Princes | Paris
1956 |  Milan (2) | 3–1 |  Athletic Bilbao |  Benfica (2) | 2–1 |  Nice | Arena Civica | Milan
1957 |  Real Madrid | 1–0 |  Benfica |  Milan | 4–3 |  Saint-Étienne | Santiago Bernabéu | Madrid

### Titles by club

[edit]

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

[edit]

Country  | Titles  | Winning years

|
|

Spain | 4 | 1949, 1952, 1955, 1957
Italy | 2 | 1951, 1956
France | 1 | 1953
Portugal | 1 | 1950

## Individual records

[edit]

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

### Top scorers by year

[edit]

Year  | Player  | Goals

|
|

1949 |  Fernando Peyroteo | 3
1950 |  Arsénio Duarte
Édouard Kargu
André Doye | 3
1951 |  André Strappe | 5
1952 |  Giampiero Boniperti | 3
1953 |  João Martins | 4
1954 | Not held | —
1955 |  Héctor Rial
Léon Glowacki
Eduardo Ricagni | 2
1956 |  Juan Alberto Schiaffino | 3
1957 |  Paco Gento | 3

## See also

[edit]

* Mitropa Cup
* Balkans Cup

## References

[edit]

1. ^ (French: Coupe Latine; Italian: Coppa Latina; Portuguese: Taça Latina or Copa Latina; Spanish: Copa Latina)
2. ^ a b c d La curiosa aventura de la Copa Latina by Alfredo Relaño on El País, 25 September 2016
3. ^ a b Goals, not coal, for Kopa on UEFA website, 4 February 2011
4. ^ "Centurions! Real Madrid won their 100th trophy with FIFA Club World Cup triumph". ESPN.com. 13 February 2023. Retrieved 26 April 2025.
5. ^ Rimet, Pierre (4 January 1951). Rodrigues Filho, Mário (ed.). "Cartas de Paris – Das pirâmides do Egito ao colosso do Maracanã, com o Sr. Jules Rimet" [Letters from Paris – From the pyramids of Egypt to the colossus of Maracanã, with Mr. Jules Rimet]. Jornal dos Sports (in Portuguese). No. 6554\. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. p. 5. Retrieved 2 June 2017. "A Taça Latina é uma competição criada pela F. I. F. A. a pedido dos quatro países que a disputam atualmente. Mas o Regulamento é feito por uma Comissão composta por membros das Federações concorrentes e de fato a F. I. F. A. não participa ativamente na organização"

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Latin Cup.

* Latin Cup on RSSSF

## Further reading

[edit]

* Todeschini, Maurício (2008). Taças Internacionais - Clubes 1927-2007. LuísAmorimEditions. ISBN 978-989-95672-2-1.

* v
* t
* e

Latin Cup

* Spain 1949
* Portugal 1950
* Italy 1951
* France 1952
* Portugal 1953
* 1954
* France 1955
* Italy 1956
* Spain 1957

Note: The 1954 edition was canceled due to a conflicting timeframe with the 1954 FIFA World Cup

* v
* t
* e

International pioneering / friendly association football tournaments in Europe

Clubs|

* World Championship (1887–1902)
* Challenge Cup (1897–1911)
* Challenge International du Nord (1898–1914)
* Coupe Van der Straeten Ponthoz (1900–1907)
* British League Cup (1902)
* Torneo Internazionale Stampa Sportiva (1908)
* Coupe Jean Dupuich (1908–1925)
* Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy (1909–1911)
* Pyrenees Cup (1910–1914)
* Mitropa Cup (1927–1992)
* Coupe des Nations (1930)
* Tournoi international de l'Exposition Universelle de Paris (1937)
* Empire Exhibition Trophy (1938)
* Internationaler Saarlandpokal (1949–1951)
* Latin Cup (1949–1957)
* Coronation Cup (1953)
* Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (1955–1971)
* Coppa dell'Amicizia (1959–1968)
* Coppa delle Alpi (1960–1987)
* Balkans Cup (1961–1994)
* Anglo-Italian League Cup (1969–1976)
* Anglo-Italian Cup (1970–1996)
* NextGen Series (2011–2013)

National teams|

* Central European International Cup (1927–1960)
* Balkan Cup (1929–1980)

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