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.Copa Rio de Janeiro 1951 by Ricardo Pontes on the RSSSF
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.Los antecedentes del Mundial de Clubes by Felipe Valderrama on El Cinco Cero, 16 Dec 2019
Participants
Team Qualification Austria Wien 1949–50 Austrian Bundesliga champion Vasco da Gama 1950 Campeonato Carioca champion Palmeiras 1950 Campeonato Paulista champion Nice 1950–51 French Division 1 champion Juventus 1949–50 Serie A champions Sporting 1950–51 Primeira Divisão champion Nacional 1950 Primera División champions Red Star 1951 Yugoslav First League champion Notes
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
TeamsGPWDLGFGAGDPoints Vasco da Gama3300122106 Austria Wien32017614 Nacional310238-52 Sporting CP 3003410-60
São Paulo Group All matches played at Pacaembu Stadium.
TeamsGPWDLGFGAGDPoints Juventus330010466 Palmeiras 32015504 Nice310247-32 Red Star 300347-30
Semi-finals First leg
Second leg
Finals Champion Runner-up 1 leg Venue 2 leg Venue Aggr. Palmeiras Juventus Maracanã Maracanã
Match details
GK Giovanni Viola DF Alberto Bertuccelli DF Sergio Manente DF Carlo Parola MF Alberto Piccinini MF Giacomo Mari OR Ermes Muccinelli IR Karl Hansen CF Giampiero Boniperti IL John Hansen OL Carl PræstManager: Jesse Carver
GK Fábio RB Salvador CB Juvenal LB Dema MF Túlio MF Luís Villa OR Eduardo Lima IR Ponce de León CF Liminha IL Jair OL RodriguesSubstitutes: FW Canhotinho Manager: Ventura Cambón
Palmeiras won the series 2–1 on points
References