World Football Challenge

Football tournament

World Football Challenge

Founded| 2009
Abolished| 2013
Region| CONCACAF
UEFA
Canada
United States (hosts)
Number of teams| Varies
Television broadcasters| ESPN
Univisión
Website| mlssoccer.com

The World Football Challenge was an international club association football exhibition competition featuring club teams from Europe and North America, that was held from 2009 until 2012, when it was replaced by the International Champions Cup.[1]

## History

[edit]

The 2009 World Football Challenge was the first World Football Challenge event, featuring Chelsea from the Premier League in England, América from the Primera División de México in Mexico, and Internazionale and AC Milan from Serie A in Italy. Chelsea were the 2009 champions.[2]

The 2011 World Football Challenge was held in July and August 2011. It featured thirteen different squads meeting up in fourteen matches across the United States and Canada. The tournament format was very different from the 2009 event, due to the increase in number of teams, including five MLS teams. Four of the MLS teams played one match at home while L.A. Galaxy played one match on their home pitch and one at the larger Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Real Madrid emerged as the World Football Challenge winners for 2011 with 17 points, narrowly edging-out Manchester United on goal differential.[3] The only European clubs to play against each other in this tournament were Juventus and Sporting CP. This was Sporting CP's only match in the exhibition.

The 2012 World Football Challenge was held in seven American and one Canadian stadium in July and August 2012. Eleven clubs competed from UEFA and CONCACAF. Real Madrid played the most matches and went undefeated.[4]

On April 15, 2013, it was announced that the International Champions Cup would be replacing the World Football Challenge.[5]

## Winners

[edit]

Tournament  | Winner  | Nation  | Runner-up  | Nation  | Third  | Nation

|
|
|
|
|
|

2009

| Chelsea |  England | América |  Mexico | Internazionale |  Italy

2011

| Real Madrid |  Spain | Manchester United |  England | Manchester City |  England

2012

| Real Madrid |  Spain |

n/a (changed to unbalanced format)

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "International Champions Cup to feature Galaxy, Real Madrid and Juventus". April 16, 2013. Retrieved February 21, 2014.
2. ^ "The US tour has been concluded with the World Football Challenge bowl and a fourth win in four". Chelsea. chelseafc.com.
3. ^ "El Real Madrid se adjudica el World Football Challenge" [Real Madrid wins the World Football Challenge]. AS (in Spanish). AS.com.
4. ^ "WFC: Real Madrid top Celtic to finish US tour perfect". MLS. MLSSoccer.com.
5. ^ Wahl, Grant (April 15, 2013). "U.S. will host new International Champions Cup this summer". Sports Illustrated. SportsIllustrated.CNN.com. Archived from the original on April 15, 2013. Retrieved April 16, 2013.

## External links

[edit]

* Official website

* v
* t
* e

World Football Challenge

* 2009
* 2011
* 2012

* Successor: International Champions Cup (since 2013)

* v
* t
* e

Club soccer friendly tournaments in the United States

Active|

* Capital Cup
* Carolina Challenge Cup
* Coachella Valley Invitational
* Dallas Cup
* Florida Cup
* Women's International Champions Cup
* Srbijada
* Visit Tucson Sun Cup

Inactive|

* ATX Pro Challenge
* Barclays New York Challenge
* ChampionsWorld Series
* Chicago Sister Cities International Cup
* Chicago Trophy
* Copa Independencia
* Copa De Tejas
* Hawaiian Islands Invitational
* International Champions Cup
* International Soccer League
* Marlboro Cup
* Pan-Pacific Championship
* Parmalat Cup
* Reebok Cup
* Walt Disney World Pro Soccer Classic
* World Football Challenge
* World Series of Soccer

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template