Founded 1953 Number of teams 16 Most successful club(s) Rijeka | Region Rijeka, Croatia Current champions Rijeka Website Official website | |
Kvarnerska Rivijera is one of the oldest youth football tournaments in the world, first played in 1953. The tournament is organised by HNK Rijeka, a Croatian football club, and attracts clubs from across Europe and other continents. It is held each year during the May–June period in Rijeka, Croatia, and its surroundings, including towns in the Istria County, the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County and the Lika-Senj County. The final is commonly played in Rijeka. Until 2014, the tournament has been contested by under-19 club sides, with occasional national team participation. From 2015, the tournament features under-17 club sides.
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History
The tournament was first played in 1953, becoming Europe's third oldest youth football tournament after Torneo di Viareggio and Bellinzona tournament. Hajduk Split were the first winners and 1860 München the first international side to compete. Each year there were 16 participants, with the exception of 1972 and 1976–80 (32 teams), and 1985 and 2002 (24 teams). Rijeka's Ivan Kocjančić and Marijan Brnčić participated in the tournament five times, making them the record holders for most appearances.
Numerous later famous footballers have played in the tournament during their youth, including Dino Zoff, Pietro Carmignani, Giovanni Galli, Gerd Müller, Paul Breitner, Joe Jordan, Terry Yorath, Pierluigi Casiraghi, Robert Prosinečki, Alen Bokšić, Zvonimir Boban and Davor Šuker.
Numerous famous international club sides have participated in the tournament, including:
A number of national under-19 sides have also taken part in the tournament, including Albania, Czechoslovakia, Ireland, Macedonia, United States, Tunisia, Oman, Iraq, China, Japan and Korea.
The hosts, HNK Rijeka, are the most successful side, winning 19 tournaments, with Hajduk Split winning 12 titles.
Format and Participating Teams (2016)
The 64th edition of the tournament was played from 23 May to 29 May 2016. The tournament featured 16 teams divided in 4 groups (the list is below), played in Cres, Labin, Novi Vinodolski and Omišalj. The groups were played in a single round-robin format. The top two teams in each of the four groups qualified for the first knock-out round. Two one-legged knock-out rounds were played in Čavle, Krk and Kostrena. This was be followed by a one-off final and third-place play-off at Stadion Rujevica in Rijeka on 29 May 2016.