1955–1958 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup

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
Champions Barcelona XI
(Later recognized as FC Barcelona) (1st title)
Runners-up London XI
Tournament statistics
Matches played23
Goals scored93 (4.04 per match)
Top scorer(s) Evaristo
Peter Murphy
(4 goals each)

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).

Teams location

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

Group A

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:
(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'

Group B

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:
Inter Milan 0–0 Birmingham City
Report
Attendance: 8,000
Referee: Paul Wyssling (Switzerland)


Zagreb XI 0–1 Inter Milan
Report Campagnoli 74'
Attendance: 40,000
Referee: Ezio Damiani (Yugoslavia)


Inter Milan 4–0 Zagreb XI
Skoglund 8', 89'
Lorenzi 43', 50'
Report
Attendance: 5,000
Referee: Josef Gulde (Switzerland)

Birmingham City 2–1 Inter Milan
Govan 44', 53' Report Lorenzi 88'

Group C

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:
(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

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:
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'


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

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

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

Lausanne-Sport 2–1 London XI
Vonlanden 6', 74' Report Haverty 70'

Second leg


Play-off

Final

First leg

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

Second leg

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

Notes

  1. ^ Some sources give the final goal to Hooper.[2][3]

References

  1. ^ a b "Blues in Europe – Part One 1956–1958". Birmingham City F.C. Archived from the original on 7 April 2011.
  2. ^ EC 1 & Fairs Cup 1595-1960. International Federation of Football History & Statistics. pp. 158–171.
  3. ^ Velasco, Santiago. "Inter-Cities Fairs Cup 1955-58 (game details)". linguasport.com. Archived from the original on 10 February 2009. Retrieved 25 May 2018.