The FIFA Club World Cup predecessor,
the Intercontinental Cup, was once notorious for its dark years involving real
violence on the pitch.
The FIFA Club World Cup (CWC) might
have just been held for the first time in the new millennium back in 2000. Yet,
this tournament has a long history with shocking facts on and off the pitch.
Its predecessor, the Intercontinental Cup, had an unbelievable tale in the late
1960s and 1970s, once raising concern about its future before being revitalised
in the 1980s.
The Intercontinental Cup, not the
one with ‘FIFA’ at the front, was once not recognised by the world football
governing body despite being endorsed by the two strongest regional football
confederations in the world, UEFA and CONMEBOL. It was only considered ‘a
friendly match’ by FIFA. Yet, its prestige was still well recognised globally,
as it featured the duel of the best clubs from Europe and South America. They
are undoubtedly still the ones at the top level of international
football.
The Intercontinental Cup was meant
to be an exclusive match to determine the best club in the world, despite not
including those from Africa, North and Central America and Asia. There had been
constant rejection to include them in the tournament until FIFA took over it
since the clubs from those regions were not regarded at the same level as
Europe and South America.
However, it was seen rather
differently between those two sides. For Europeans, the Intercontinental Cup
was considered unprofitable except for the prestige and a rare opportunity
against the Latin American giants and stars. On the other hand, their South
American counterpart saw it as a chance to prove to the world that their
football style is better than the rigid European. Such an opinion goes on
up to this date. UEFA sides even display their disinterest bluntly with the
expanded 2025 FIFA CWC, as it potentially worsens the players’ wellness.
These two opposite views on the
competition might lead to their motivation and progress in the final round.
Yet, it would not turn into an actual open conflict between those
confederations and their teams.
Nevertheless, such conflict did
happen, especially between those teams squaring off on the pitch. In the late
1960s and 1970s, the Intercontinental Cup’s reputation went to the downfall due
to several reasons. Here is what happened to it during that period.
The Brutality on the Pitch
The dark age of the Intercontinental
Cup began with the rise of Argentina and Uruguay clubs, which became the new
champions of the Copa Libertadores in the late 1960s by relying more on
negative football, violent tackles, and faults in contrast to Brazilians’ jogo
bonito. They did not only apply such tactics in the CONMEBOL competitions but
carried on doing so in the Intercontinental Cup.
The 1967 edition was the first one
where Europeans saw such brutality on the pitch. At that time, European Cup
champions Glasgow Celtic faced off against Argentina’s Racing Club. The duel
was still contested in two legs at that time. The Scottish side picked up a
narrow 1-0 win at home but lost 2-1 in the reverse fixture. Since the away goal
rule was not yet introduced back then, both teams had to square off in the
neutral venue for the replay to decide the winner. At that time, if both sides
won one game each, they shared the same points of winning, which equaled two
points, instead of three point as today. The goal aggregate was not considered
as well.
The playoff match was held in
Estadio Centenario, Montevideo, only three days after the second leg. Uruguay
fans were known as supporting Celtic instead of their neighbouring side.
Unfortunately, the violence remained, as the referee even had to send off six
players, two from Racing Club and four from the Scottish champions. The
Argentine eventually came out as a winner with a single goal from Jose
Cardenas’ long-range shot.
That was the beginning of its dark
age, as the brutal acts were displayed again in the next five editions. Such
led to the European Cup winners’ reluctance to play in the Intercontinental
Cup, leading to the team replacements and even cancellation.
Edition |
Matches |
Violence on the pitch |
Aftermath |
1967 |
Celtic vs Racing Club 1-0 |
Racing Club’ excessive fouls and spitting
on Celtic players ; Celtic’s Jimmy Johnstone’s hair soaked from Racing Club’s
spit, Billy McNeil’s black eye, Bertie Auld’s being headbutted, Bobby
Lennox’s earache. |
|
|
Racing Club vs Celtic 2-1 |
Celtic’s goalie Ronnie Simpson’s head
struck by heavy object till injured; Celtic’s dressing room attacked by home
fans. |
Celtic fans from Uruguay and home fans
engaged in the battle outside the stadium. |
|
Racing Club vs Celtic 1-0 (playoff) |
Two melees between players from both sides;
six red cards with total 51 fouls (30 for Celtic and 21 for Racing) plus some
unnoticed fouls including when Racing Club’s player was kicked in his vital
organ; Uruguayan Celtic fans threw stuff on Racing Club players on the pitch
after the game. |
Celtic players were fined £250 for their
misconduct by their own chairman |
1968 |
Estudiantes vs Man Utd 1-0 |
MU’s Nobby Stiles punched, headbutted and
kicked before responding evenly and sent off, Bobby Charlton suffering wounds
on the head |
|
|
Man Utd vs Estudiantes 1-1 |
Two red cards for each team, MU’s George
Best punched and spat Estudiantes’ Jose Medina and pushed Nestor Togheri;
Home fans throwing coins at Medina before going to the dressing room; MU
players punching their opposition after the whistle; Home fans kept throwing
objects to Estudiantes players during their lap of honor. |
|
1969 |
AC Milan vs Estudiantes 3-0 |
- |
|
|
Estudiantes vs AC Milan 2-1 |
Milan players harshly disturbed by
Estudiantes’ Alberto Poletti and Ramon Suarez while practicing before the
match; Home fans pouring hot coffee to Milan players while entering the pitch;
Nestor Combin kicked and punched till breaking his cheekbone, bleeding and
fainted; Milan star, Gianni Rivera punched by Estudiantes goalie, Alberto
Poletti; Pierino Prati knocked unconscious on the pitch but the game carried
on; |
Nestor Combin was mistakenly arrested by
local police and even stayed one night in jail due to draft dodging
accusation (avoiding military service as he was born in Argentina), before
eventually being released after explaining his completion in France as a
French citizen; Alberto Poletti banned from sport for life, Ramon Suarez and Eduaredo
Manera banned for 30 and 20 matches by AFA plus serving in jail for a month. |
1970 |
Estudiantes vs Feyenoord 2-2 |
- |
|
|
Feyenoord vs Estudiantes 1-0 |
Feyenoord’s Joop van Daele’s glasses were
trampled and crushed by Estudiantes’ Carlos Pachame. |
|
1971 |
Panathinaikos vs Nacional 1-1 |
Panathinaikos’s Yiannis Tomaras broken his
leg by brutal tackle plus unconscious resulting a red card for Nacional’s
Juan Morales |
|
|
Nacional vs Panathinaikos 2-1 |
- |
|
1972 |
Independiente vs Ajax 1-1 |
Johan Cruyff receiving death threats from
home fans; Cruyff injured due to brutal tackle from Dante Mircoli; Ajax
players punched and assaulted on the pitch. |
|
|
Ajax vs Independiente 3-0 |
- |
|
Team Replacements
The series of violence and brutal acts on the pitch had led to the European
Cup champions’ reluctance and rejections to take on the CONMEBOL sides. Such an
opinion was even more justified when Brazilian sides also refused to compete in three editions of the Copa Libertadores, 1966, 1969 and 1970, for the same
reason plus being deemed as financially unprofitable for the teams. No wonder
that the Argentine and Uruguayan sides were dominating the continental
competition.
During the decade, there had been five team replacements for the
Intercontinental clash. European Cup champions were mainly replaced by their
runners-up. The first one was Greece’s Panathinaikos in 1971. Ferenc Puskas’
side replaced Ajax Amsterdam to take on Uruguay’s Nacional.
The Dutch’s concern was confirmed following another brutal tackle of
Panathinaikos’s defender, Yiannis Tomaras, in the first leg at their home turf.
He even had to be substituted, as he was unconscious after the blow.
In the next four editions, Juventus, Atletico Madrid, Borussia M’Gladbach
and Malmo stepped forward to cover Ajax, Bayern Munich, Liverpool and
Nottingham Forest’s absence in 1973, 1974, 1977 and 1979. Among those European
runners-up, only Los Rojiblancos managed to lift the trophy. Luis Aragones’
side remains the only non-European champions who won the title to date in this
tournament. They were able to bounce back in a 2-0 win over Independiente after
losing 1-0 in the reverse fixture. One of their goalscorers was the former
Deportivo La Coruña boss who led them to win their only La Liga title in 2000,
Javier Irureta.
Team replacement |
Result |
Notable players (managers) |
1971 – Panathinaikos (replacing Ajax
Amsterdam) |
vs Nacional (Uruguay) 2-3 (1-1; 1-2) |
Mimis Domazos, Anthimos Kapsis, Sakis
Kouvas (Ferenc Puskas) |
1973 – Juventus (replacing Ajax) |
vs Independiente (Argentina ) 0-1 (Juventus refused to play in Buenos Aires.
Thus, it was settled in a one-off match in Rome instead) |
Dino Zoff, Claudio Gentile, Jose Altafini,
Roberto Bettega (Cestmir Vycpalek) |
1974 – Atletico Madrid (replacing Bayern
Munich) |
vs Independiente (Argentina) 2-1 (0-1;2-0) |
Javier Irureta, Roberto Ayala, Ramon
Heredia (Luis Aragones) |
1977 – Gladbach (replacing Liverpool) |
vs Boca Juniors (ARG) 2-5 (2-2; 0-3) (The match did not take place until 1978
due to the schedule issue) |
Bertie Vogts, Allan Simonsen, Rainer Bonhof
(Udo Lattek) |
1979 – Malmo (replacing Nottingham Forest) |
vs Olimpia (Paraguay) 1-3 (0-1; 1-2) |
Tommy Hansson, Thomas Sjoberg (Bobby
Houghton) |
Match Cancellation
Besides team replacement, in some editions the Intercontiental Cup was cancelled
due to different reasons. In 1976, Bayern Munich was reportedly unable to find suitable
date for the clash against Independiente. Yet, they managed to make them
available in the following year when Die Roten only faced the nonviolent side,
the Brazillian team. Cruzeiro happened to be the champion.
Such a decision was questioned,, as the German powerhouse seemed to be
disinterested when the opposition was from Argentina or Uruguay,, whose tactics
were notoriously brutal. Yet, they had no problem when meeting the Brazilian
side.
However, such a claim was denied by Bayern boss himself, Dettmar Cramer,
stating that the match was not sufficiently profitable for the team. That was
their main reason to ditch the game in 1974 and 1975. That was the year when
South American champions happened to be Argentina’s Independiente.
Meanwhile, in 1978, Liverpool declined to face off against Boca Juniors.
UEFA then sent Belgium’s Club Bruges to take on CONMEBOL champions.
Unfortunately, Boca rejected it instead. Consequently, there was no match in 1978.
After the dark days in the 1970s, the new decade brought a new lease of life
to the competition. Thanks to Japan, who arrived with their main sponsor,
Toyota, alongside its legal agreement in the contract for both confederations
to salvage the competition and put its dark age to an end in 1980. It was said
that each continental champion had to square off for the clash. If one of them
had rejected, they would have faced an international lawsuit from both Toyota
and UEFA. One of the UEFA sides that considered doing so was Barcelona in 1992 but eventually agreed to face off against Sao Paulo due to its complexity.
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