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The 1960 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup Final was an association football match played over two legs between Barcelona of Spain and Birmingham City of England. The first leg was played at St Andrew's, Birmingham, on 29 March 1960, and the second leg was played on 4 May at the Camp Nou, Barcelona. It was the final of the second edition of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, an invitational competition open to teams representing host cities of industrial trade fairs. Birmingham were the first English club side to appear in a European final. Barcelona had beaten the London XI in the inaugural final in 1958, having needed a replay to eliminate Birmingham in the semi-final. Each club needed to progress through three rounds to reach the final. Matches were contested over two legs, with one leg at each team's home ground. Barcelona won each of their three ties by at least two goals, and in the semi-final beat Italian club Internazionale by eight goals to two. Birmingham's progress to the final was less emphatic, but they still won all three home legs and did not lose away from home. An 8–4 aggregate victory over Belgian club Union Saint-Gilloise represented their biggest winning margin. In the first leg of the final, played in dreadful weather in front of a crowd of 40,524 at St Andrew's, Birmingham produced a fine defensive performance to hold Barcelona to a goalless draw. In the second leg, watched by 70,000 spectators, Barcelona were 2–0 up after only six minutes with goals from Eulogio Martínez and Zoltán Czibor. Czibor scored again and Lluís Coll added a fourth before Harry Hooper's late consolation made the final score 4–1. Thus Barcelona won the trophy for the second consecutive staging of the competition. ==Background== As friendly matches had often been played between teams from cities hosting international trade fairs, a knockout cup was first proposed in 1950 to provide a competitive structure for such matches. Entry to the competition, which began in 1955 and became known as the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, was by invitation extended not to football clubs but to the host city. Some cities entered a selection including players from more than one of that city's clubs, while others, including the cities of Birmingham and Barcelona, were represented by a single club. To enable matches to be scheduled alongside the associated trade fair, three playing seasons were needed to the complete the inaugural competition. For the second edition, of which this final was the culmination, the organising committee changed the format, removing the initial group stage in favour of a straight 16-team knockout, in order to accommodate the tournament within two normal seasons. CF Barcelona had needed a replay to defeat Birmingham City in the semi-final of the inaugural Fairs Cup, and went on to beat the London representative XI in the final. As champions of Spain in the 1958–59 domestic season, Barcelona qualified for the 1959–60 European Cup, and played matches in that competition alongside the later rounds of the Fairs Cup.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Barcelona 1959–1960: Results )〕 Birmingham had reached the final of a European competition for the first time, and were the first English club team to do so. Birmingham had struggled for most of the 1959–60 domestic season. Needing at least a draw from their last First Division match to be sure of avoiding relegation, they won that match, and finished the season in 19th place, two points (equivalent to one win) clear of the relegation zone.〔 and (【引用サイトリンク】title=Final Table )〕 In contrast, Barcelona confirmed their second consecutive Spanish league title on the last day of the season, defeating Real Zaragoza by a five-goal margin to ensure parity on points with Real Madrid and increase their advantage on goal average.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Ranking Liga BBVA ) Select season and then matchday required via dropdown menus.〕 Barcelona therefore qualified for the 1960–61 European Cup, and both they and Birmingham accepted invitations to participate in that season's Fairs Cup. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「1960 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup Final」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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