Host country Spain Venue(s) 6 (in 5 host cities) | Dates 24 July – 2 August Runners-up Juventus | |
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Teams 12 (from 4 confederations) Champions Aston Villa (1st title) | ||
The 2009 Peace Cup Andalucia was an invitational friendly football tournament. It was the fourth edition of Peace Cup and was held in Spain from 24 July to 2 August in the cities of Madrid, Seville, Málaga, Jerez and Huelva. It was the first time that the tournament has been hosted by a nation other than South Korea. The winners of the tournament were Aston Villa, who defeated Juventus in the final. They succeeded Olympique Lyonnais, who were the previous holders of the tournament through winning the 2007 edition. It was one of seven 2009 pre-season friendly tournaments, the others being the Emirates Cup, the Barclays Asia Trophy, the World Football Challenge, the Wembley Cup, the Amsterdam Tournament and the Audi Cup.
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Host country
After the previous three tournaments were held in South Korea, the Peace Cup Committee decided that the tournament would be hosted by another country. In 2007, the Peace Cup organizers were connected with Sports Ministry of Andalucia and Andalucia Football Federation, after the discussion with the Autonomous Community of Andalucia, they suggested the cities of Seville, Málaga, Huelva and Jerez to host the 2009 Peace Cup.
On 19 December 2007, it was announced in a press conference in Seville that the number of teams would be increased to 12. It was also confirmed that Real Madrid and Sevilla would be playing in the tournament. The Peace Cup committee continued to negotiate with other "big" clubs, by 13 April 2009, eight more participating clubs such as Juventus, Málaga, Lyon, Aston Villa, Celtic, Porto, Fenerbahçe and LDU Quito, were announced. Celtic and Fenerbahçe, however, were forced to pull out due to conflicts with UEFA Champions League qualifying ties; they were replaced by Atlante and Beşiktaş, respectively.
Venues
The official venue for the tournament was Andalucia, however some matches were played in Madrid.
Teams
The following 12 teams confirmed to play in the tournament.
Format
The 12 teams were divided into four groups of three teams. Each team played one match against each other in the group stage, the first place in each group qualified to the semi-finals and the winners advanced to the final.
Prize
The champion and the runner-up received trophies as well as the corresponding cash prizes. The prizes were:
Competition notes
Several players scored their first goals for new clubs in the 2009 Peace Cup competition, though these goals do not impact their regular season statistics. These players included Cristiano Ronaldo scoring his first goal for Real Madrid, Diego scored his first goal for Juventus in the Peace Cup, and Marc Albrighton scored his first goal for Aston Villa in the Peace Cup. Aston Villa's Stiliyan Petrov suffered a dislocated shoulder in the competition's group stages that forced him to miss significant time with injury.
Matches
All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+2)
The final draw for the 2009 Peace Cup was staged in Seville on 16 April 2009.
Group stage
The first place (shaded in green) qualified to the semi-finals.
Scorers
Brazilian striker Hulk of Porto was the tournament's top scorer with three goals.
Broadcasting rights
The following broadcasting systems had the rights for the broadcast of 2009 Peace Cup:
La Sexta (all matches)
ESPN (all matches)
SBS (all matches)
Sport TV (all matches)
La7 (semifinals and final)
Teleamazonas (LDU Quito games, Semifinal and Final)