1951 Copa Rio

1951 Copa Rio
Palmeiras, champions
Tournament details
Host countryBrazil
Dates30 June – 22 July
Teams8 (from 7 associations)
Venue(s)2 (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
ChampionsBrazil Palmeiras
Runners-upItaly Juventus
Tournament statistics
Matches played18
1952 →

The 1951 Copa Rio, also known as Torneio Internacional de Clubes Campeões (International Champions Club Tournament, in english) was the first edition of the Copa Rio, the first intercontinental club football tournament with teams from Europe and South America, held in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo from 30 June to 22 July. Participant clubs were divided into two zones of four teams, playing each other once in a single round-robin tournament.[1]

The tournament featured players such as Vavá, Ademir of Vasco da Gama, Jair da Rosa Pinto of Palmeiras, José Santamaría, Walter Taibo, goalkeeper Anibal Paz, Luis Volpi of Nacional, Branko Stankovic, Rajko Mitic of Red Star Belgrade, Giampiero Boniperti, Danish Karl Aage Præst and John Hansen of Juventus, José Travassos of Sporting Lisbon, and Swedish Lennart Samuelsson and Antoine Bonifaci of Nice. Juventus's coach was the legendary Hungarian György Sárosi.

The final was played in a two-legged format, contested by Brazilian team Palmeiras and Italian side Juventus. Palmeiras won the series 2–1 on points, achieving their first Copa Rio trophy.[1][2]

Participants

Team Qualification
Austria Austria Wien 1949–50 Austrian Bundesliga champion [note 1]
Brazil Vasco da Gama 1950 Campeonato Carioca champion
Brazil Palmeiras 1950 Campeonato Paulista champion
France Nice 1950–51 French Division 1 champion
Italy Juventus 1949–50 Serie A champions [note 2]
Portugal Sporting 1950–51 Primeira Divisão champion
Uruguay Nacional 1950 Primera División champions
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Red Star 1951 Yugoslav First League champion
Notes
  1. ^ Austrian champions of 1950–51 (Rapid Vienna) declined to participate.
  2. ^ Italian champion of the season, AC Milan, renounced because they had to play the Latin Cup during the same period.

Venues

Rio de Janeiro São Paulo
Maracanã Stadium Pacaembu Stadium
Capacity: 150,000 Capacity: 71,000

Tournament course

Rio de Janeiro Group

All matches played at Maracanã Stadium

Teams GP W D L GF GA GD Points
Brazil Vasco da Gama 3 3 0 0 12 3 9 6
Austria Austria Wien 3 2 0 1 7 6 1 4
Uruguay Nacional 3 1 0 2 4 8 -4 2
Portugal Sporting CP 3 0 0 3 4 10 -6 0
  • 30 June: Austria Wien 4−0 Nacional
  • 1 July: Vasco da Gama 5−1 Sporting CP
  • 3 July: Nacional 3−2 Sporting CP
  • 5 July: Vasco da Gama 5−1 Austria Wien
  • 7 July: Sporting CP 1−2 Austria Wien
  • 8 July: Vasco da Gama 2−1 Nacional

São Paulo Group

All matches played at Pacaembu Stadium.

Teams GP W D L GF GA GD Points
Italy Juventus 3 3 0 0 10 4 6 6
Brazil Palmeiras 3 2 0 1 5 5 0 4
France Nice 3 1 0 2 4 7 -3 2
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Red Star 3 0 0 3 4 7 -3 0
  • 30 June: Palmeiras 3−0 OGC Nice
  • 1 July: Juventus 3−2 Red Star
  • 3 July: OGC Nice 2−3 Juventus
  • 5 July: Palmeiras 2−1 Red Star
  • 7 July: Red Star 1−2 OGC Nice
  • 8 July: Palmeiras 0−4 Juventus

Semi-finals

São Paulo

  • 12 July: Austria Wien 3−3 Juventus
  • 14 July: Juventus 3−1 Austria Wien

Rio de Janeiro

  • 12 July: Vasco da Gama 1−2 Palmeiras
  • 15 July: Vasco da Gama 0−0 Palmeiras

Finals

Champion Runner-up 1 leg Venue 2 leg Venue Aggr.
Brazil Palmeiras Italy Juventus
1–0
 Maracanã
2–2
 Maracanã
3–2

Match details

1951 Copa Rio Finals
1st Leg
Palmeiras Brazil1–0Italy Juventus
Rodrigues 20' Report
Attendance: 56,961
Referee: Franz Grill (Austria)
2nd Leg
Juventus Italy2–2Brazil Palmeiras
 Report
Attendance: 100,093
Referee: Gabriel Tordjan (France)

Palmeiras won the series 2–1 on points

1951 Copa Rio
Brazil
Palmeiras
First title title

References

  1. ^ a b Copa Rio de Janeiro 1951 by Ricardo Pontes on the RSSSF
  2. ^ Los antecedentes del Mundial de Clubes by Felipe Valderrama on El Cinco Cero, 16 Dec 2019