The European/South American Cup, commonly referred to as the Intercontinental Cup or Toyota Cup, was a football competition endorsed by UEFA and CONMEBOL, contested between the winners of the European Champions League and the South American Copa Libertadores in a match played each year, from 1980 always in Japan.
From 2005 the Intercontinental Cup was replaced by the Club World Championship, which also includes North American, Asian, African and Oceanian winners.
The World Club Championship was created by Henri Delaunay as a way of determining who is the top club in the world (Europe and South America being the football world's top continents).
Europe already had its European Champions Club Cup, but South America did not have a similar competition. Thus, South American Confederación (CONMEBOL's predecessor) created a similar competition, and named it after the heroes of South American independence. The Copa Libertadores made the World Club Championship viable.
The first match-up was in 1960, between Spanish side Real Madrid and the Uruguayan club Peñarol.
Ever since the 1950s (and especially since the 1970s) many talented South Americans have crossed the Atlantic to play for European teams, who also tend to be richer. Perhaps as a consequence, South American fans always attached more importance to the Intercontinental Cup than their European counterparts.
An especially traumatic event was the 1969 series between Estudiantes and Milan, which resulted in extremely harsh suspensions for many Estudiantes players.
Out of concern for the integrity of players, and also because of the lack of financial incentive, several European champions declined to participate; in all cases, their runners-up took their place. The 1975 and 1978 editions were not played at all.
The very viability of the competition came under fire until Toyota assumed the role of sponsor for the 1980 edition; for the remainder of the competition's history, no club declined playing the Intercontinental Cup, and the competition always took the form of a single match held on neutral ground, in Toyota's home country Japan.
This cup was played for the last time in 2004, being replaced by the FIFA Club World Championship from 2005. However, as of December 2005 there are talks of restoring it soon but this time featuring the winners of the Recopa Sudamericana against the European Supercup champions.
From 1960 to 1979, the World Club Championship was played in two legs. Between 1960 and 1968, the cup was decided on points only, the same format used by CONMEBOL to determine the winner of the Copa Libertadores final through 1987. Because of this format, a third match was needed when both teams were tied on points. From 1969 through 1979, the competition adopted the European standard method of aggregate score, with away goals.
Starting in 1980, the final became a single match. Up until 2000, the matches were held at Tokyo's National Stadium. Finals since 2001 were held at the Yokohama International Stadium, venue of the final.
Luis Cubilla and Juan Mugica, 2 Uruguayans won cups both as a player and coaching: *Luis Cubilla (played for Peñarol in 1961 and for Nacional in 1971; then coached Olimpia Asunción in 1979) *Juan Mugica (played for Nacional in 1971; and coached it in 1980)
Team - Players
*Alessandro Costacurta and Paolo Maldini participated 5 times of the competition, always with Milan (1989, 1990, 1993, 1994, 2003). *Estudiantes (1968, 1969 and 1970) and Independiente (1972, 1973 and 1974) participated 3 consecutive years. Of these teams a few players played the three years, including Carlos Salvador Bilardo and Juan Ramón Verón.
