The Central & Eastern European Youth Football Tournament, known as the CEE Cup is an annual invitational under-19 football tournament, which takes place in Czech Republic. The tournament has taken place 10 times, initially restricted to clubs from Central and Eastern Europe - the tournament has now expanded to include teams from Western Europe, Asia, North, South and Central America and Australia.[1][2]

Central & Eastern European Youth Football Tournament
Founded2011
Number of teams8
Current championsBrazil Palmeiras
Most successful club(s)Brazil Palmeiras (4 times)
WebsiteCEE Cup Official Website

The tournament has become a staging ground for future footballing talent, such as English Premier League players Tomáš Souček, Dwight McNeil and Anthony Gordon.[3] And German Bundesliga player Joshua Zirkzee.[4]

The trophy is a 3D representation of the tournament's logo, designed and created by Czech blacksmith Martin Blundil - who also designed plaques given to the winners of the individual players awards at the end of each tournament.

Tournament Format

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Originally, the tournament began with 4 groups, of 4 teams - with the teams playing each other in a round-robin manner, before the top ranked teams of each group competed in a semi-final and final to determine the winner.[5] Later tournaments however, have reduced to 2 groups of 4 teams - with the group winners taking part in the semi-finals, and the runners-up taking part in matches to determine their final rankings.[6] From the 2022 edition, the competition was limited to 2 groups of 3 teams.

Tournament Results

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Dates Final Stadium Winner Score Runner-Up Other Participant Ranking Source
25–31 July 2011 Ďolíček, Prague   Mladá Boleslav 1–0   Levski Sofia

3.   RNK Split
4.   Bohemians 1905
5.   Slovan Bratislava
6.   Universitatea Cluj
7.   FC Slovácko
8.   FC Brașov
9.   Vasas
10.   Krško
11.   Sparta Prague
12.   Triglav

[7]
22–29 July 2012 Ďolíček, Prague   Mladá Boleslav 4–3   Sparta Prague

3.   Vasas
4.   Levski Sofia
5.   Sarajevo
6.   Hajduk Split
7.   Debreceni
8.   Sturm Graz
9.   Bohemians 1905
10.   Spartak Trnava
11.   Universitatea Cluj
12.   FC Slovácko

[8]
24–31 July 2013 FK Viktoria Stadion, Prague   Győri ETO 2–1   Slavia Prague

3.   Vasas
4.   Sparta Prague
5.   Sarajevo
6.   Slovan Bratislava
7.   Ferencváros
8.   Cruz Azul
9.   Universitatea Cluj
10.   Bohemians 1905
11.   Sturm Graz
12.   Maccabi Haifa

[9]
23–30 July 2014 Ďolíček, Prague   Győri ETO 4–3   AS Trenčín

3.   Sarajevo
4.   FSV Frankfurt
5.   Vasas
6.   Sparta Prague
7.   Red Star Belgrade
8.   Bohemians 1905
9.   Slavia Prague
10.   SC Juventus Bucureşti
11.   Mladá Boleslav
12.   Wisła Kraków

[10]
22–29 July 2015 FK Viktoria Stadion, Prague   Sparta Prague 1–1

(7–6 p)

  Fluminense

3.   Akademija Pandev
4.   Sarajevo
5.   Hajduk Split
6.   AS Trenčín
7.   Wisła Kraków
8.   Bohemians 1905
9.   Swansea City
10.   Slavia Prague
11.   Vasas
12.   Olympic

[11]
21–27 July 2016 Ďolíček, Prague   Sparta Prague 4–1   Fluminense

3.   RB Leipzig
4.   A.A. Ponte Preta
5.   Sarajevo
6.   Akademija Pandev
7.   Slavia Prague
8.   Beijing Renhe
9.   Vasas
10.   Győri ETO
11.   AS Trenčín
12.   Bohemians 1905

[12]
20–26 July 2017 Ďolíček, Prague   Everton 3–1   Burnley


3.   Altınordu
4.   Sarajevo
5.   Sparta Prague
6.   Slavia Prague
7.   Akademija Pandev
8.   Leicester City
9.   FC Nitra
10.   Győri ETO
11.   ProStars FC
12.   Academica Cliceni

[13]
25–31 July 2018 Ďolíček, Prague   Palmeiras 4–0   Beşiktaş

3.   Slavia Prague
4.   Sarajevo
5.   Sparta Prague
6.   Everton
7.   FC Nitra
8.   Academica Cliceni

[14]
24–30 July 2019 Ďolíček, Prague   Palmeiras 2–0   Sparta Prague

3.   Slavia Prague
4.   Dinamo Zagreb
5.   Shakhtar Donetsk
6.   Altınordu
7.   Beşiktaş
8.   Burnley

[15]
22–26 July 2022 Ďolíček, Prague   Palmeiras 2–1   Slavia Prague

3.   Dynamo Kyiv
4.   Sparta Prague
5.   Tigres
6.   Aston Villa

[16]
28 July–1 August 2023 Ďolíček, Prague   Palmeiras 2–1   Slavia Prague

3.   Flamengo
4.   Sparta Prague
5.   Al Ain
6.   West Ham United

[17]

Award Winners

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Year Best Goalkeeper Top Goalscorer Best Player
2011   Petr Nerad (Bohemians 1905)   Jan Boček (Mladá Boleslav)   Iliev Dimitar (Levski Sofia)
2012   Martin Výda (Mladá Boleslav)   Ondřej Šíma (Sparta Prague)   Szabolcs Varga (Vasas)
2013   Lukáš Soukup (Slavia Prague)   Bence Szabó (Győri ETO)   Jiří Sodoma (Slavia Prague)
2014   Jozef Zemanovič (AS Trenčín)   Milán Májer (Győri ETO)   Martin Vlček (AS Trenčín)
2015   Jennerson (Fluminense)   Hamza Čataković (Sarajevo)   Matěj Pulkrab (Sparta Prague)
2016   Rodrigo (A.A. Ponte Preta)   Gustavo (Fluminense)   Marian Burda (Sparta Prague)
2017   Adam Bruce (Burnley)   Ellis Simms (Everton)   Anthony Gordon (Everton)
2018   Audenirton (Palmeiras)   Đani Salčin (Sarajevo)   Wesley (Palmeiras)
2019   Mykyta Turbayevskyi (Shakhtar Donetsk)   Fabricio (Palmeiras)   Adam Karabec (Sparta Prague)
2022   Yurii Avramenko (Dynamo Kyiv)   Galvan Peña (Tigres)   Thalys (Palmeiras)
2023   Pedro Antonio Rodriguez (Sparta Prague)   Elisha Sowumni (West Ham United)   David Kauã (Palmeiras)

Performance

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By team

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Team Winners Runners-up Years won Years runner-up
  Palmeiras 4 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023
  Sparta Prague 2 2 2015, 2016 2012, 2013, 2019
  Győri ETO 2 2013, 2014
  Mladá Boleslav 2 2011, 2012
  Everton 1 2017
  Slavia Prague 3 2013, 2022, 2023
  Fluminense 2 2015, 2016
  AS Trenčín 1 2014
  Beşiktaş 1 2018
  Burnley 1 2017
  Levski Sofia 1 2011

By country

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Country Winners Runners-up Years won Years runner-up
  Czech Republic 4 5 2011, 2012, 2015, 2016 2012, 2013, 2019, 2022, 2023
  Brazil 4 2 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023 2015, 2016
  Hungary 2 2013, 2014
  England 1 1 2017 2017
  Bulgaria 1 2011
  Slovakia 1 2014
  Turkey 1 2018

References

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  1. ^ "THE U 19 INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT OF YOUTH TEAMS CEE CUP: AFTER MORE THAN 1000 DAYS OF DELAYS, WE'RE BACK IN PRAGUE!" (PDF). CEE Cup. 26 May 2022. Retrieved 29 June 2022.
  2. ^ "CEE Cup International Football Tournament Back in Prague". Prague Morning. 2022-05-26. Retrieved 2022-06-29.
  3. ^ Preece, Ashley (2022-06-29). "Aston Villa to play in 'prestigious' youth tournament in Prague". BirminghamLive. Retrieved 2022-06-29.
  4. ^ "Joshua Zirkzee: Bayern Munich teenager could be ideal understudy to Dominic Calvert-Lewin at Everton". Eurosport. 2021-01-15. Retrieved 2022-06-29.
  5. ^ "TESCO CEE Cup | U19 Central & Eastern European Youth Football Tournament - 25–31 July 2011, Prague". www.ceecup.org. Retrieved 2022-06-29.
  6. ^ "Match schedule CEE Cup 2022 | CEE Cup 2022: 10th Edition | U19 Football Tournament | 22-26.7.2022". www.ceecup.org. Retrieved 2022-06-29.
  7. ^ "TESCO CEE Cup | U19 Central & Eastern European Youth Football Tournament - 25–31 July 2011, Prague". www.ceecup.org. Retrieved 2022-06-29.
  8. ^ "CEE Cup | U19 Central & Eastern European Youth Football Tournament - 22–29 July 2012, Prague". www.ceecup.org. Retrieved 2022-06-29.
  9. ^ "CEE CUP". www.ceecup.org. Retrieved 2022-06-29.
  10. ^ "CEE CUP". www.ceecup.org. Retrieved 2022-06-29.
  11. ^ "CeeCup 2015". www.ceecup.org. Retrieved 2022-06-29.
  12. ^ "CeeCup 2016". www.ceecup.org. Retrieved 2022-06-29.
  13. ^ "CeeCup 2017". www.ceecup.org. Retrieved 2022-06-29.
  14. ^ "Statistics | CEE Cup 2018 | U19 Football Tournament | 25-31.7.2018". www.ceecup.org. Retrieved 2022-06-29.
  15. ^ "Statistics | CEE Cup 2019 | U19 Football Tournament | 24-30.7.2019". www.ceecup.org. Retrieved 2022-06-29.
  16. ^ "Match schedule CEE Cup 2022 | CEE Cup 2022: 10th Edition | U19 Football Tournament | 22-26.7.2022". www.ceecup.org. Retrieved 2022-07-26.
  17. ^ "Match schedule CEE Cup 2023 | CEE Cup 2023: 11th Edition | U19 Football Tournament | 28.7 - 1.8.2023". www.ceecup.org. Retrieved 2023-06-28.