The Fairs' Cup has seen three "domestic" finals; all three were Spanish affairs:
1961/62 Valencia v Barcelona 1963/64 Zaragoza v Valencia 1965/66 Barcelona v ZaragozaAll three teams involved won one of those finals (always the team listed first).
Two clubs have defended the Fairs' Cup successfully: Barcelona won the 1955/58 and 1958/60 editions, and compatriots Valencia won in 1961/62 and 1962/63.
England won four consecutive editions, between 1967/68 and 1970/71, by Leeds United, Newcastle United, Arsenal, and Leeds United again, respectively. If one adds the first two UEFA Cups, won by Tottenham Hotspur (1971/72) and Liverpool (1972/73), one obtains a sequence of 6 consecutive English wins.
Below we list all clubs to have entered the Fairs' Cup
on at least 5 occasions.
Note that seasons in which a club withdrew before playing a single
match (such as a number of Eastern European clubs in 1968/69) are
not included.
10 Barcelona 9 Valencia 8 Lausanne-Sports 7 Hannover 96 Hibernian (Edinburgh) Roma Wiener Sport-Club 6 FC Basel Dinamo Zagreb DOS (Utrecht) Internazionale Juventus Lokomotive Leipzig FC Porto Spartak Brno 5 Aris (Thessaloniki) Athletic Bilbao Dunfermline Athletic Ferencváros Fiorentina Girondins Bordeaux Göztepe (Izmir) 1.FC Köln Leeds United Leipzig XI FC Liégeois Lokomotiv Plovdiv Újpesti Dózsa Union Saint-Gilloise Vojvodina Novi Sad Real Zaragoza
See also the section on consecutive participations.
The record number of consecutive participations in the Fairs' Cup is 7; note that participation often depended on invitation (only clubs from towns with an international fair could qualify). All clubs to play at least 5 consecutive seasons:
7 Roma (1958/60-1965/66) Wiener Sport-Club (1964/65-1970/71) 6 Spartak Brno (1961/62-1966/67) Valencia (1961/62-1966/67) DOS (Utrecht) (1963/64-1968/69) Lokomotive Leipzig (1963/64-1968/69) 5 Barcelona (1955/58-1962/63) FC Liégeois (1963/64-1967/68) Göztepe (Izmir) (1964/65-1968/69)
In addition, adding the UEFA Cup, starting from 1971/72, two clubs have a series of seven consecutive participations starting in the Fairs' Cup: Vitória FC (Setúbal) (1968/69-1974/75) and 1.FC Köln (1970/71-1976/77).
On two occasions, Fairs' Cup entry was granted to the winners of the English League Cup: in 1966/67 to West Bromwich Albion and in 1968/69 to Leeds United. (However, Leeds United would have qualified for the 1968/69 Fairs' Cup anyway as holders.) Of these, Leeds reached the quarterfinals while West Brom were eliminated in round 3 (equivalent to the 1/8 Finals). The 1967 (Queen's Park Rangers) and 1969 (Swindon Town) League Cup winners were denied entry for 1967/68 and 1969/70 respectively, because they did not play at the English top level (as a matter of fact, both combined their League Cup win with promotion from Division Three to Division Two). The 1970 winners (Manchester City) also qualified for the Cup Winners' Cup (as holders, winning the 1969/70 edition) and entered that competition 1970/71. The exclusion of Swindon Town from the 1969/70 Fairs' Cup led to the creation of the Anglo-Italian Cup.
The UEFA Cup tournament continued the tradition of offering entry to the English League Cup winners, and a handful of other countries (France, Hungary, Poland, Scotland and Spain) also had winners from secondary cup competitions entering the UEFA Cup at some point in time.
The worst finish a Fairs' Cup winner ever achieved in their domestic league in their winning season was 12th, by Arsenal in 1969/70:
English First Division 1969/70
12.Arsenal 42 12 18 12 51-49 42
In the same season, Manchester City set the corresponding record for
the Cup Winners' Cup.
The only team to combine a Fairs' Cup with the national championship was Barcelona (Fairs' Cup 1958/60 and Spanish titles in 1958/59 and 1959/60); also Ferencváros (Fairs' Cup winners in 1964/65) won it as national champions (in the 1964 spring/fall season), but finished 2nd in the championship (1965 spring/fall season) going on when they won the Cup.
No club managed to eliminate the holders from the Fairs' Cup on more than one occasion.
Most successful countries against the holders (within the Fairs' Cup itself):
Belgium 2 eliminations (Anderlecht 1, Lierse 1) Scotland 2 (Dundee United 1, Hibernian 1)Note that Lierse eliminated Fairs' Cup holders Leeds United in the 1971/72 UEFA Cup, the successor tournament.
No other country boasts more than one such elimination.
1965/66, 1st round: 1.FC Köln 13-0 US Luxembourg
1965/66, 1st round: 1.FC Köln 13-0 US Luxembourg
US Luxembourg 0-4 1.FC Köln
1.FC Köln win 17-0 on aggregate
1965/66, 1st round: 1.FC Köln 13-0 US Luxembourg, total 13 goals
1960/61, 1st round: Internazionale 8-2 Hannover 96
Hannover 96 1-6 Internazionale
Internazionale win 14-3 on aggregate, total 17 goals
1965/66, 1st round: 1.FC Köln 13-0 US Luxembourg
US Luxembourg 0-4 1.FC Köln
1.FC Köln win 17-0 on aggregate, total 17 goals
1969/70, 2nd round: Anderlecht 6-1 Coleraine
Coleraine 3-7 Anderlecht
Anderlecht win 13-4 on aggregate, total 17 goals
1969/70, final: Anderlecht 3-1 Arsenal [after 3-0 at 81']
Arsenal 3-0 Anderlecht
Arsenal won 4-3 on aggregate
Prepared and maintained by Karel Stokkermans for the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
Author: Karel Stokkermans
Last updated: 15 Jan 2010
(C) Copyright Karel Stokkermans and RSSSF 1996/2010
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