cup winner's cup 1960/61: the hungarian - south european connection does it again!
in its inaugural edition, the cup winner's cup promised to build on the success of its older brother. but it instead became the ugly little sister, the easiest way to come by european glory, and was scrapped almost four decades later. still, it provided some very exciting matches, moments and upsets, which we will all cover in the next few months.
with a maximum of nine matches to the title, this trophy was "easy" because it did not have the competition the european cup would offer. and even its other older sister, the inter-city fairs cup, would be more prestigious, since that affair had greater competition and more rounds to compete in.
with a maximum of nine matches to the title, this trophy was "easy" because it did not have the competition the european cup would offer. and even its other older sister, the inter-city fairs cup, would be more prestigious, since that affair had greater competition and more rounds to compete in.
an original ticket from the battle of britain
the 1960/61, only ten clubs signed up for the tournament, which was believed to become a failure. there were some strong names, though. wolverhampton was representing england and at the time ranked 5th in europe, in front of the rangers, who also were a top ten team. add to that dinamo zagreb from yugoslavia (17th) and fiorentina (21st), and you had quite a stellar, if not big, field. the rangers almost crashed out in the preliminary round, losing 1-2 in budapest to ferencvaros, but they slipped through to the quarterfinals, where they thrashed german side borussia mönchengladbach 11-0 on aggregate. the other favorites all came through, so the semifinals were an affair for the top 30 clubs.
this certainly helped to turn people's attention to the tournament, and a packed ibrox park saw the battle of britain between glasgow rangers and wolverhampton wanderers, at the time the best british clubs around. ralph brand put the finishing touches on the 2-0 result, scoring his fifth goal in the tournament (and thus equaling his team mate jimmy millar). that would be enough for the finals, where they would meet fiorentina, who had dispatched dinamo zagreb with relative ease.
this certainly helped to turn people's attention to the tournament, and a packed ibrox park saw the battle of britain between glasgow rangers and wolverhampton wanderers, at the time the best british clubs around. ralph brand put the finishing touches on the 2-0 result, scoring his fifth goal in the tournament (and thus equaling his team mate jimmy millar). that would be enough for the finals, where they would meet fiorentina, who had dispatched dinamo zagreb with relative ease.
glasgow rangers now had the golden opportunity to bring northern europe their first silverware. spaniards had dominated the affairs, and now portugal had won a trophy - would south europe mantain the title collection with fiorentina as its next representative? the first leg of the final occurred on may 17, when 80,000 flocked to the ibrox park in glasgow. they had been disappointed a little more than a year earlier, when the rangers were soundly beaten by eintracht frankfurt in the european cup semis, and once again, it was a disappointing evening. 0-2 at home, trophy gone. luigi milan, striker for fiorentina, provided both goals in that first match and added one in the second leg ten days later. italy had its first continental cup winner, and it was not juve, inter or milan, not even roma! it was another southern european side coached by a hungarian, this time nándor hidegkuti, who had played for his national team only three years earlier and was part of the historical 1954 squad.
so the tournament was a success after all, and uefa hoped more clubs would be in it in the following years!
so the tournament was a success after all, and uefa hoped more clubs would be in it in the following years!
inter-cities fairs cup 1960/61: 10 out of 10 for southern europe
who would have thought?
so here it was, the first season-long inter-cities fairs cup. two events had taken place over a number of seasons, both won by fc barcelona. this time, though, it would run parallel to the european cup and to the newly created cup winner's cup. at this point, it was still an invitational event, not one based on merit.
birmingham city, finalist in 1960, was the highest rank club in the fold, if we leave out fc barcelona, who interestingly played as defending champions. that would be the last time a club participated in two continental tournaments at the same time. italy had two representatives in as roma and internazionale.
the first round saw birmingham eliminate ujpesti dosza (also represented in the champions cup) in two tough matches, while roma eliminated previous year semifinalist union st-gilloise from belgium. barcelona suffered to eliminate zagreb.
the quarterfinals had a huge upset in hand. december 27, 1960 will be a date to remember for hibernian fans, since the edinburgh side went up 2-0 in camp nou and ended up with a fantastic 4-4 tie; barcelona had 3 goals from kocsis and one from evaristo, the european cup stars. the second leg in february saw hibernian come back from a 1-2 deficit at easter road to beat barcelona with two late goals and eliminate the two-time champions.
the tournament had become an event between british and italian teams, similar to the final in the cup winner's cup. birmingham eliminated internazionale with two 2-1 wins after leading 2-0 in both matches, so they had things under control. on the other hand, the heroes from edinburgh fought back against roma to equalize twice at home and travel to italy with only a 2-2 draw in their luggage. then pedro waldemar manfredini turned up the heat. the argentinian scored the opener (1-0), the and equalizer (2-2) in the second leg, but hibernian came back from the 2-3 and tied it up again. a full month later, when others were playing their finals, roma beat edinburgh 6-0 in a playoff - at home!
birmingham city, finalist in 1960, was the highest rank club in the fold, if we leave out fc barcelona, who interestingly played as defending champions. that would be the last time a club participated in two continental tournaments at the same time. italy had two representatives in as roma and internazionale.
the first round saw birmingham eliminate ujpesti dosza (also represented in the champions cup) in two tough matches, while roma eliminated previous year semifinalist union st-gilloise from belgium. barcelona suffered to eliminate zagreb.
the quarterfinals had a huge upset in hand. december 27, 1960 will be a date to remember for hibernian fans, since the edinburgh side went up 2-0 in camp nou and ended up with a fantastic 4-4 tie; barcelona had 3 goals from kocsis and one from evaristo, the european cup stars. the second leg in february saw hibernian come back from a 1-2 deficit at easter road to beat barcelona with two late goals and eliminate the two-time champions.
the tournament had become an event between british and italian teams, similar to the final in the cup winner's cup. birmingham eliminated internazionale with two 2-1 wins after leading 2-0 in both matches, so they had things under control. on the other hand, the heroes from edinburgh fought back against roma to equalize twice at home and travel to italy with only a 2-2 draw in their luggage. then pedro waldemar manfredini turned up the heat. the argentinian scored the opener (1-0), the and equalizer (2-2) in the second leg, but hibernian came back from the 2-3 and tied it up again. a full month later, when others were playing their finals, roma beat edinburgh 6-0 in a playoff - at home!
interesting looking fairs cup in the
hands of manfredini
that meant the two finals would occur in the new season, as late as september and october. manfredini, who scored 4 times in that playoff match, scored twice in brimingham to give roma what seemed to be a confortable lead. but the englishmen fought back and tied up the match. it was not to be, though, and roma had an attendance of 60,000 in the second leg of the final, finishing the brits up with a 2-0 win - birmingham's second defeat in a row in an inter-cities fairs cup final.
roma's success was no coincidence. they had just hired luis carniglia, one of the greatest coaches of all time in european club football history. the argentinian from buenos aires had coached ogc nice to some success in france, then went to real madrid, where he won the european cup twice. after a stint at fiorentina and another at bari, he landed in roma to pick up the inter-cities fairs cup. he would later also coach milan and juventus.
so italy now had two continental titles, and still none from the top trio inter, juve and milan. and after 10 continental tournaments, there were 10 southern european winners.
roma's success was no coincidence. they had just hired luis carniglia, one of the greatest coaches of all time in european club football history. the argentinian from buenos aires had coached ogc nice to some success in france, then went to real madrid, where he won the european cup twice. after a stint at fiorentina and another at bari, he landed in roma to pick up the inter-cities fairs cup. he would later also coach milan and juventus.
so italy now had two continental titles, and still none from the top trio inter, juve and milan. and after 10 continental tournaments, there were 10 southern european winners.