Balkans Cup

This article is about the defunct regional football competition contested by club teams of Balkan countries. For the national teams version, see Balkan Cup. For the youth version, see Balkan Youth Championship. For the rugby league, see Balkans Cup (rugby league).
Balkans Cup
Balkans Cup trophy in 1968
Founded1961; 63 years ago (1961)
Abolished1994; 30 years ago (1994)
RegionSoutheast Europe
Number of teamsVarious
Related competitionsBalkan Cup
Last championsTurkey Samsunspor
(1st title)
Most successful club(s)Bulgaria Beroe Stara Zagora (4 titles)

The Balkans Cup was an international football competition for clubs from Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Turkey, and Yugoslavia. It was introduced in 1961 and was very popular in the 1960s (the 1967 final attracted 42,000 spectators),[1] being the second most important international club competition for clubs from the region (after the European Champions' Cup in which the champions could play; the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup originally attracted few teams from the region as many did not organise domestic cups regularly and only Yugoslavia had significant representation in the Fairs Cup).[1]

It later declined after Balkan clubs obtained more representation in the two minor UEFA competitions, in contrast to the (much older but also defunct) Balkan Cup (not Balkans) for national teams.

  1. ^ a b "Balkans Cup". rsssf.com. Retrieved 5 January 2015.