The UEFA Intertoto Cup is a summer football competition for European clubs that have not qualified for one of the main UEFA competitions (the Champions League and the UEFA Cup).
The Intertoto Cup replaced the International Football Cup (IFC), which was a competition organised by the football pools companies of central Europe to provide matches for their coupons during the summer months. In 1995 it was taken over by UEFA and opened up to clubs from across Europe. The cup does not have a single winner; instead there are three "finals", the winners of each of which are given entry to the following season's UEFA Cup. This makes the competition attractive to many clubs who see it as their only chance of qualifying for Europe.
Some countries do not take up their full allocation of Intertoto Cup places every year, as for many clubs the competition conflicts with their planned summer break or pre-season friendlies. It is particularly unpopular in England, where it is sometimes referred to by derogatory names such as the "Intertwobob Cup" or "Intertinpot Cup".
The IntertotoCup was born in 1961 simply to provide fixtures for the football pools in eastern and central Europe (where the pools are called toto) during the summer.
Backed by the managing director of the Swiss football pools, he eventually persuaded Uefa to give their backing to the IntertotoCup in 1961, and for six years there were group stages, knockouts and a winner.
From 1967 the later stages were abandoned and the Intertoto became pointless, a cup without a winner.
Feeds |
Contact