Intertoto Cup 1966-67

The 1966-67 Intertoto Cup was won by Eintracht Frankfurt in the final against Inter Bratislava, the last ever final of the tournament in the traditional '1 cup, 1 winner' sense. This was also last season that knock-out rounds were contested, until UEFA took over the competition in 1995 - and the last ever occasion that an out-right winner was declared. Although the competition had returned to the old 32 clubs / eight groups format the year before, this was altered with the tournament expanding to 40 clubs / ten groups.

This was Bratislava's third final in five seasons (the previous two, which they won, under their old name Slovnaft).

Group Stage

The teams were divided into ten groups of four clubs each - four in 'A' section, and six in 'B' section. Clubs from Belgium, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Switzerland were placed in 'A'; while clubs from Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Poland, Sweden and Yugoslavia were placed in 'B' groups. Club from West Germany were placed in both sections. The ten group winners advanced to the knock-out rounds.

Group A1

Group A4

Group B3

Group B6

Quarter-finals

* Górnik Zabrze and ZSK Vorwärts Berlin were participating in the European Cup, and were not allowed to continue in the Intertoto Cup after the summer break - they were withdrawn. Ironically, they drew each other in the First Round of the European Cup, so could have been given a bye and rejoined later, as had happened with Malmö FF two seasons before.
* The remaining clubs were drawn into four ties

emi-finals

Final (17 May & 17 June)

Abandonment of knock-out rounds

The Group Stage was always played during the summer break, with the knock-out rounds played as clubs could fit them in during the new season. However, this began to cause increasing problems. Firstly, clubs often had difficulty agreeing dates, and the tournament struggled to finish on time - for example, the 1964-65 final wasn't played until early June, over a year after the group games had started; and in 1963-64 and 1965-66 it was concluded in late May.

The second reason was the insistence of UEFA that any clubs taking part in the European Cup or UEFA Cup Winners' Cup could not continue games in other European competitions after the end of the summer break. This meant that clubs who had progressed from the Intertoto Group Stage, but were also competing in one of the UEFA competitions, had to be given byes through the Intertoto knock-out rounds (until they were eliminated from the UEFA competition), or withdrawn entirely. This made the knock-out rounds complicated, difficult to schedule, and weakened their significance.

The third reason was the lack of value attributed to the knock-out rounds. While reaching the final was seen as an achievement worthy of praise, the main purpose of the tournament, for most clubs who entered, was to provide football during the otherwise empty summer break. The financial benefits of participating in the pools competitions was also important. Having to arrange and play home-and-away knock-out matches during the new season was seen as difficult, expensive, and relatively pointless if the club in question was eliminated before reaching the Final or Semi-finals.

As a result, the knock-out rounds were abandoned, and for the next three decades there were no winners of the cup. The Group Stage continued much as before, with prize money still awarded according to a club's final group placing.

ee also

* European Cup 1966-67
* UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 1966-67
* Inter-Cities Fairs Cup 1966-67

External links

* [http://rsssf.com/tablesi/int66.html Intertoto Cup 1966/67 by Karel Stokkermans] at RSSSF
* [http://www.mogiel.net/EC/intertoto-history/1966.php] by Pawel Mogielnicki