UEFA Intertoto Cup

The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from Latin: inter, "between" and German: toto, "betting pool"), originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was discontinued after the 2008 tournament.

The tournament was founded in 1961–62, but was only taken over by UEFA in 1995. Initially, the tournament ended with a single champion, who received the Intertoto Cup. Starting in 1967, the tournament ended with a number of group winners (7 to 14 winners), who received cash prizes. When UEFA took on the tournament, it became a qualifier for the UEFA Cup, with 2 to 11 Intertoto winners advancing to the second qualifying round of the UEFA Cup.

Any club who wished to participate had to apply for entry, with the highest placed clubs (by league position in their domestic league) at the end of the season entering the competition. The club did not have to be ranked directly below the clubs which had qualified for another UEFA competition; if the club which was in that position did not apply, they would not be eligible to compete, with the place instead going to the club which did apply.

The cup billed itself as providing both an opportunity for clubs who otherwise would not get the chance to enter the UEFA Cup and as an opportunity for sports lotteries (or pools) to continue during the summer. This reflects its background, which was as a tournament solely for football pools. In 1995, the tournament came under official UEFA sanctioning and UEFA Cup qualification places were granted. Initially, two were provided; this was increased to three after one year, but in 2006, it was again increased to the final total of 11.

The Intertoto Cup was the idea of Malmö FF chairman Eric Persson and the later FIFA vice-president and founder of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, Ernst B. Thommen, and the Austrian coach Karl Rappan, who coached the Switzerland national team at the 1938 FIFA World Cup and at the 1954 World Cup. The "Cup for the Cupless" was also heavily promoted by the Swiss newspaper Sport. It derived its name from Toto, the German term for football pools.

Thommen, who had set up football betting pools in Switzerland in 1932, had a major interest in having purposeful matches played in the summer break. UEFA were initially disinclined to support the tournament, finding its betting background distasteful; nevertheless they permitted the new tournament but refrained from getting officially involved. Clubs which qualified for one of the official continental competitions, such as the European Champions Cups and Cup Winners' Cup, were not allowed to participate.

The first tournament was held in 1961 as the International Football Cup (IFC). Initially the Cup had a group stage, which led to knock-out matches culminating in a final. By 1967, it had become difficult to organize the games, and so the knock-out rounds and the final were scrapped, leaving the tournament without a single winner. Instead, group winners received prizes of CHF10,000-15,000.

By 1995, UEFA had reconsidered their opinion, took official control of the tournament and changed its format. Initially, two winners were given a place in the UEFA Cup. The success of one of the first winners, Bordeaux, in reaching the final of the 1995–96 UEFA Cup encouraged UEFA to add a third UEFA Cup place in 1996.