Founded 1968 Number of teams 2 | Abolished 1970 | |
Region Europe (UEFA)
South America (CONMEBOL) Most successful club(s) Santos
Peñarol (1 title each) | ||
The Intercontinental Champions' Supercup, commonly referred to as the Intercontinental Supercup or Recopa Intercontinental, was a football competition endorsed by UEFA and CONMEBOL, contested by the past winners of the Intercontinental Cup and played only in 1968 and 1969.
Contents
History
The idea for the tournament was put forth by club officials of the three South American teams that had won the Intercontinental Cup—Peñarol, Santos, and Racing. In November 1968, the tournament was announced in Buenos Aires. Earlier that year in September, Estudiantes had defeated Manchester United in the 1968 Intercontinental Cup but would not be included in the immediate 1968 Intercontinental Supercup. Instead, Estudiantes would be present in the 1969 edition. The corresponding UEFA officials were contacted and the tournament was scheduled to start in November and include Real Madrid and Internazionale in addition to the 3 first South American winners.
The first competition was divided into the South American Zone and the European Zone. In the South American Zone, the 3 South American participants played a round-robin tournament, whilst in the European Zone, Real Madrid and Internazionale were to play each other over two legs. Each zone winner advanced to the final. Real Madrid withdrew from playing in the tournament and, thus, Inter advanced without playing. The first round of matches were played in November between the 3 South American clubs, and the second round of matches were played in April and May 1969. Santos finished ahead of Peñarol and Racing Club and were to play Inter in June for the cup.
The first leg of the final was played in Milan, at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza. Santos won 1–0. The second leg was to be played in September in Naples, Italy; however, Inter declined to play and Santos won by default.
The second competition–now including Estudiantes–also failed to complete. Both Real Madrid and Inter declined to compete as the 1970 FIFA World Cup qualification was underway in Europe. Hence, only the South American Zone portion of the tournament was played, starting in November and culminating in December. Peñarol finished first and was declared the South American Zone champion after no European team was available to compete.
A third edition was slated for 1970 by CONMEBOL with two new European teams being eligible to play–Italian A.C. Milan and Dutch Feyenoord; however it was never held because of the lack of European interest. The tournament was postponed three times into 1971 until it was finally canceled.
The tournament went unrecognized for many years until in September 2005, these titles were officially recognized by the CONMEBOL despite their improper conclusions.
Eligible teams
These were the only teams eligible to compete in the tournament at the time it was hosted.