Premier League International Cup

Premier League International Cup
Founded 2014
Region Europe
Number of teams 24
Current champions Portugal Porto
(2nd title)
Most successful club(s) Portugal Porto
(2 titles)
2018–19

The Premier League International Cup is an English football competition for U23 players from across Europe.[1] It was designed to provide players in English Category One academies with the opportunity to match themselves against other elite European footballers from their age group in a competitive environment.[1] The competition was created by the Premier League as part of the organisation's Elite Player Performance Plan and is not sanctioned by UEFA.[2]

Overview

The competition features U23 sides from twelve English clubs and twelve other European clubs for the 2017–18 season.[3] Prior the 2016–17 season, eight English and eight other European clubs competed in the competition. English teams qualify via their standing in the Premier League 2 and entry by European clubs is by invitation from the Premier League. For the 2014–15 tournament the 16 teams were split into four groups of four. Upon completion of the group stages the winners and runners-up from each group progressed to the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final, all played as single-leg ties.[1] UEFA tried to block the creation of the tournament and refused to sanction its creation, to circumvent this all games will be hosted in England with games involving two foreign teams being held in neutral venues.[2] English clubs will play a minimum of two of their fixtures at the main stadium of their senior side.[4] To ensure the focus is on development, the Premier League made no prize money available for the competition.[5]

As in the Professional U21 Development League, teams are allowed to field three overage outfield players and one overage goalkeeper per match.

Finals

Season Winners Score Runners-up Losing semi-finalists Final stage host
2014–15 England Manchester City 1–0 Portugal Porto England Leicester City and England Fulham Academy Stadium, Manchester
2015–16 Spain Villarreal 4–2 Netherlands PSV England Chelsea and Portugal Porto The Den, South Bermondsey
2016–17 Portugal Porto 5–0 England Sunderland Wales Swansea City and England Norwich City Stadium of Light, Sunderland
2017–18 Portugal Porto 1–0 England Arsenal Spain Villarreal and England Newcastle United Emirates Stadium, London

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb/news/news/2014-15/oct/premier-league-international-cup-launched.html
  2. 1 2 Lawton, Matt (15 October 2014). "Premier League push ahead with European U21 tournament despite UEFA opposition (and Chelsea, Manchester City and West Ham will all be involved!)". Daily Mail.
  3. ↑ "'Playing best Premier League teams is amazing'". Premier League. 13 September 2016. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
  4. ↑ http://www.canaries.co.uk/news/article/norwich-city-under-21s-join-premier-league-international-cup-2017679.aspx
  5. ↑ Hope, Craig (4 August 2014). "Premier League to announce new European cup competition for Under-21 sides". Daily Mail.
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