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The 1961 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup Final was an association football match played over two legs between A.S. Roma of Italy and Birmingham City of England. The first leg was played in Birmingham on 27 September 1961, and the second leg was played on 11 October in Rome. It was the final of the third edition of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, an invitational competition open to teams representing host cities of industrial trade fairs. Birmingham had lost to Barcelona in the previous final; Roma were appearing for the first time. 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. Birmingham won all but one of their six legs, and beat Internazionale home and away: no other English team was to defeat Inter in the San Siro stadium for another 40 years.〔 Roma took a lengthier route to the final: they required a replay in both quarter-final and semi-final, although won each replay by a comfortable margin. In the first leg of the final, played in front of a crowd of only 21,000 at St Andrew's, Pedro Waldemar Manfredini scored twice for Roma, and goalkeeper Fabio Cudicini made several high-class saves, before Mike Hellawell and Bryan Orritt scored late in the game to equalise the scores. In the second leg, watched by 60,000 spectators, Roma won by two goals to nil – an own goal when an attempted clearance rebounded off Brian Farmer's shin, and a shot from distance by Paolo Pestrin very late in the game while Birmingham's players were all upfield attacking – in the Stadio Olimpico to win their first and, , only trophy in European competition. ==Background== As friendly matches had often been played between teams from cities hosting international trade fairs, a cup competition was first proposed in 1950 to provide a structure for such matches and make a contribution towards post-war economic recovery. 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 cities. Some cities entered a selection including players from more than one of that city's clubs, while others, including Birmingham and Rome, were represented by a single club. In an attempt to schedule matches alongside the associated trade fairs, the first two editions of the competition took three and two playing seasons respectively to complete.〔〔 Although the organising committee had intended the third edition, of which this final was the culmination, to be completed within the 1960–61 playing season,〔 the final match was not played until several weeks into the next.〔 Birmingham City were one of the 12 original participants in the Fairs Cup, and were appearing in their second consecutive final, having lost 4–1 over two legs to Spanish champions Barcelona in 1960. In A.S. Roma's only prior appearance in European competition, they were eliminated by Union Saint-Gilloise at the quarter-final stage of the previous Fairs Cup.〔 In the 1960–61 domestic season, Roma finished fifth in Serie A and lost to eventual winners Fiorentina in the quarter-final of the main national cup competition, the Coppa Italia.〔 Pat Beasley, who led Birmingham to the 1960 final, was replaced as manager by the club's former goalkeeper and appearance-record holder, Gil Merrick.〔〔 Birmingham finished 19th in the First Division, avoiding relegation by just two points (equivalent to one win), for the second season running, and reached the fifth round (last 16) of the FA 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「1961 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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