Wikipedia

1955–1958 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup

The first Inter-Cities Fairs Cup took place over three seasons from 1955 to 1958. The competition began with a group stage with each team playing home and away against each other. Due to the competition rules which stated only one side from each city was allowed to compete, many cities with several football clubs picked the best players from those teams to create a city representative side. One of these, the London XI, went on to reach the final where they were beaten over two legs by the Barcelona XI (later recognized as FC Barcelona).

1955–1958 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup
Ball used in the final (FC Barcelona Museum)
Tournament details
Dates4 June 1955 – 1 May 1958
Teams12 (10 competed)
Final positions
ChampionsSpain Barcelona XI
(Later recognized as FC Barcelona) (1st title)
Runners-upEngland London XI
Tournament statistics
Matches played23
Goals scored93 (4.04 per match)
Top scorer(s)Brazil Evaristo
England Peter Murphy
(4 goals each)

Teams location

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Location of teams in the 1955–1958 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.
  Brown: Group A;   Red: Group B;   Orange: Group C;   Yellow: Group D

Group stage

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Group A

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1   Barcelona XI 2 1 1 0 7 3 +4 3
2   Copenhagen XI 2 0 1 1 3 7 −4 1
3   Vienna XI (W) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Source: [citation needed]
(W) Withdrew from the competition
Barcelona XI  6–2  Copenhagen XI
Areta   8', 10'
Tejada   40', 80'
Villaverde   40'
Kubala   59'		 Report Lundberg   65', 75'
Copenhagen XI  1–1  Barcelona XI
Lundberg   61' Report Villaverde   85'

Group B

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1   Birmingham City 4 3 1 0 6 1 +5 7
2   Inter Milan 4 2 1 1 6 2 +4 5
3   Zagreb XI 4 0 0 4 0 9 −9 0
Source: [citation needed]
Inter Milan  0–0  Birmingham City
Report
Attendance: 8,000[2]
Zagreb XI  0–1  Birmingham City
Report Brown   8'
Zagreb XI  0–1  Inter Milan
Report Campagnoli   74'
Attendance: 40,000[3]
Birmingham City  3–0  Zagreb XI
Orritt   3'
Brown   60'
Murphy   67'		 Report
Inter Milan  4–0  Zagreb XI
Skoglund   8', 89'
Lorenzi   43', 50'		 Report
Attendance: 5,000[4]
Birmingham City  2–1  Inter Milan
Govan   44', 53' Report Lorenzi   88'
Attendance: 34,461[5]

Group C

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1   Lausanne-Sport 2 1 0 1 10 9 +1 2
2   Leipzig XI 2 1 0 1 9 10 −1 2
3   Cologne XI (W) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Source: [citation needed]
(W) Withdrew from the competition
Leipzig XI  6–3  Lausanne-Sport
Walter   5'
Konzack   9', 82'
Krause   23', 36'
Fettke   69'		 Report Maillard   11'
Rey   31'
Eschmann   43'
Lausanne-Sport  7–3  Leipzig XI
Tedeschi   28'
Eschmann   37', 43', 55'
Moser   38'
Stefano   60', 62'		 Report Walter   13'
Konzack   58'
Frohlich   70'

Group D

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1   London XI 4 3 0 1 9 3 +6 6
2   Frankfurt XI 4 2 0 2 10 10 0 4
3   Basel XI 4 1 0 3 7 13 −6 2
Source: [citation needed]
Basel XI  0–5  London XI
Report Firmani   35', 81'[a]
Holton   37', 43', 74'
London XI  3–2  Frankfurt XI
Jezzard   46', 86'
Robson   60'		 Report Pfaff   25'
Kaufhold   30'
London XI  1–0  Basel XI
Robb   87' Report
Frankfurt XI  5–1  Basel XI
Buchenau   19', 80'
Pfaff   31', 73'
Herrmann   52'		 Report Hugi   35'
Frankfurt XI  1–0  London XI
Preisendorfer   72' Report
Basel XI  6–2  Frankfurt XI
Allemann   3', 47', 66'
Sanmann   33'
Hugi   64'
Burger   88'		 Report Kraus   32'
Mayer   65'

Knockout stage

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Semi-finals Final
        
  Lausanne-Sport 2 0 2
  London XI 1 2 3
  London XI 2 0 2
  Barcelona XI 2 6 8
  Birmingham City 4 0 4 (1)
  Barcelona XI 3 1 4 (2)
  • Teams playing first leg at home shown first.
  • Birmingham City and Barcelona required a play-off after their semi-final finished level on aggregate. The play-off was played in Switzerland.

Semi-finals

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Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg Play-off
Lausanne-Sport   2–3   London XI 2–1 0–2
Birmingham City   4–4   Barcelona XI 4–3 0–1 2–1

First leg

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Lausanne-Sport  2–1  London XI
Vonlanden   6', 74' Report Haverty   70'
Birmingham City  4–3  Barcelona XI
Eddy Brown   2'
Orritt   33'
Murphy   35', 60'		 Report Tejada   12'
Evaristo   27'
Martínez   40'

Second leg

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London XI  2–0  Lausanne-Sport
Greaves   10'
Holton   76'		 Report
Barcelona XI  1–0  Birmingham City
Kubala   82' Report

Play-off

Barcelona XI  2–1  Birmingham City
Evaristo   33'
Kubala   83'		 Report Murphy   48'

Final

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Main article: 1958 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup Final

First leg

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London XI  2–2  Barcelona XI
Greaves   10'
Langley   88' (pen.)		 Martínez   7'
Tejada   35'
Attendance: 45,466

Second leg

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Barcelona XI  6–0  London XI
Suárez   6', 8'
Martínez   42'
Evaristo   52', 75'
Vergés   63'
Attendance: 70,000

Notes

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  1. ^ Some sources give the final goal to Hooper.[6][7]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Blues in Europe – Part One 1956–1958". Birmingham City F.C. Archived from the original on 7 April 2011.
  2. ^ "Internazionale 0-0 Birmingham City :: Inter-Cities Fairs Cup 1957/58 :: Match Events :: playmakerstats.com". www.playmakerstats.com. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
  3. ^ "Zagreb XI 0-1 Internazionale :: Inter-Cities Fairs Cup 1957/58 :: Match Events :: playmakerstats.com". www.playmakerstats.com. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
  4. ^ "Internazionale 4-0 Zagreb XI :: Inter-Cities Fairs Cup 1957/58 :: Match Events :: playmakerstats.com". www.playmakerstats.com. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
  5. ^ "Birmingham City 2-1 Internazionale :: Inter-Cities Fairs Cup 1957/58 :: Match Events :: playmakerstats.com". www.playmakerstats.com. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
  6. ^ EC 1 & Fairs Cup 1595-1960. International Federation of Football History & Statistics. pp. 158–171.
  7. ^ Velasco, Santiago. "Inter-Cities Fairs Cup 1955-58 (game details)". linguasport.com. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
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