i know very little about this cup apart from it will be scrapped after either this year or next.

i know hibs are in it this year, and its looking like they will play their first game of the tournament against swedish team Elfsborg (currently winning from a 4-1 first win leg over on the Faroe islands team HB torshavin).

i was wondering if the hibs fans wer going to consider going to any of the games, etc. and if they count it as a fairly important cup.

how is the attendances for the games usually, and is their much of a cash sum given to the winner?

oh, and what do you need to do to qualify to get into this tournament?

Do They Televise any of the games/ the final?

cheers

I'm a great fan of the Intertoto myself, so I'll answer your various points briefly but succinctly.

The Intertoto Cup was founded in 1961, to allow football to be played over the summer break - benefiting clubs and pools companies. Admission was by application, and it became known as the 'cup for the cup-less'. For the first 5 seasons, it had group-stages then knock-out (Ajax won the first edition). However, the knock-out rounds proved too difficult to schedule and they were scrapped. As a result, the 'cup for the cupless' ran from 1967 to 1995 without a single cup winner!!

In 1995, UEFA took direct control of the tournament and re-introduced the knock-out rounds. 3 teams (2 in the first year) qualified for the UEFA Cup. In the late 1990s the tournament was reformed into straight knock-out, initially of 5 rounds; then the number of teams qualifying for the UEFA Cup was increased to 11, and the number of rounds reduced to 3. This if the format that is still in existence now. After this season's tournament, the Intertoto Cup is going to be abolished - with the rounds and matches effectively becoming the new ultra-early rounds of the UEFA Cup.




Depends. This is the 3rd time Hibs have entered (Dundee and Partick have also participated once each) - 2 years ago, we lost to Odense on away goals in the last round. There is a reasonable contingent planning to go to Elfsborg I believe. Scotland has (in its usual insular, inward-looking fashion) disliked the tournament. In Central and Eastern Europe it is huge, and Scotland is the only nation with a record of not taking up its slots in recent seasons. Most Scottish fans regard the tournament as important because it gets you into the UEFA Cup - not as a major trophy in itself.


There is cash for the winners (all 11 of them), in fact there are sizeable sums - into six-figures I believe - for each round you play. It is still heavily backed by all the major continental pools firms.

Attendances on the continent, in the major countries, will always be in the tens of thousands. In terms of matches played by Scottish clubs, they have been decent for June or July games IMO:

PARTICK THISTLE
(1995) LASK Linz 2-2 Partick
Partick 3-1 IBK Keflavik
Metz 1-0 Partick (3,905)
Partick 1-0 NK Zagreb (2,588)

DUNDEE
(2001) Dundee 0-1 Sartid (6,511)
Sartid 5-2 Dundee (16,823)

HIBS
(2004) Hibs 1-1 Vetra Vilnius (8,630)
Vetra Vilnius 1-0 Hibs (3,000)
(2006) Hibs 5-0 Dinaburg (11,753)
Dinaburg 0-3 Hibs (350)
Odense 1-0 Hibs (2,341)
Hibs 2-1 Odense (10,640)

I would hope that, bearing in mind the package deals, the home attendance could break 10,000.


Every country in UEFA, bar the 3 minnows, receive 1 place. This is open to any club in the top division of that country, which finishes in the 4 places below the lower UEFA Cup qualifier. Clubs apply, and the slot is given to the highest applicant. If no club applies (frequently occurred in Scotland), then another country gets to enter 2 clubs. Scottish clubs get bye straight into Round 2.


Eurosport cover a game each weekend, however this is usually a match involving a French, Dutch or German side. BBC, ITV etc. could cover it - however, I think it would be highly unlikely since the games will be played on Saturday or Sunday afternoons. Radio Scotland may well cover it.

Also, as I said earlier on, remember that there are 11 finals - and therefore there are 11 winners.

Interesting insight into a competition I know very little about, probably because it isn't taken seriously in Scotland.


What countries are the 3 minnows? Andorra, Liechtenstein, San Marino? Do those countries receive any places in any European competition?

I find that hard to believe.

For the last season UEFA have published distribution figures for (2006/07) the rewards for participation in each round of the UEFA Cup was 70,000 Euros, about £45k at the time, nearer £60k now. I really don't believe the financial rewards for participation in the Intertoto Cup are greater!

I want to go to Hibs' match - will I need to buy tickets beforehand?

Aye that will be right, however as usual a good read.


I love european competition, it's just different from the normal fare, I also like to support all Scottish teams in Europe outside of Rangers.

I'd like to go along to the Queen of the south game, looking forward at this point to going to taht

Skyline - I'm convinced that I saw figures relating to income of about £110k to £120k for the Intertoto Cup. That may have included gate and TV income tbf. However, it wouldn't surprise me if the Intertoto income is more than early rounds of the UEFA Cup to encourage quality entrants.

Gnash - Liechtenstein has no league, all their clubs play in Switzerland (including Vaduz in the top division). The Swiss FA forbids them from using Swiss European places, but the Liechtenstein Cup has a UEFA place. The Andorra and San Marino both have top divisions which are too small and wholly amateur, as a result they get 1 CL / 1 UC, as opposed to 1 CL / 2 UC / 1 Intertoto.

In season 06/07, clubs received €50,000 for each round played in the Intertoto Cup.

Cheers

The Intertoto Cup, or as often reffered to because the only prize is a spot in the UEFA Cup, the Inter Diddy Cup.

The reason behind Scotland having no clubs in it last year, was because Inverness has the spot to play in it, but had stupidly booked out their ground for a concert

The cup obviously has some money in it, and for the clubs in the SPL, the cash is quite large as it would be the equivalent of a few games vs the OF. (for winning a round)

The attendances really depend on wither the fans want to go watch it, but I suspect the Hibs fans will be more than happy to see their team play in Europe again, even if it is only the ITC.

The cup is due to be scrapped next season, and more spots added to qualifying for UEFA Cup.

Games are not likely to be shown due to having quite a few winners, who are rewarded with a spot in either the qualifying round or first round proper of the UEFA Cup (can't quite remember).

The competition has had some previous big winners, such as PSG, so don't be kidding yourself that there isn't really any big sides in there, and that you should beat them all.

Scotland do have a tendancy to dislike this competition as has been said, and will probably be happy to see the back off it when it is scrapped.

Not really much to say about it, pretty sure theres only 4 or 5 rounds to the competition. The remaining at the end obviously being put into the UEFA Cup.

We play either TPS Turku (they have Paatelainen's brother, Simo Valakari (ex-Derby County) and Armand One ) or OB Odense (have ex-Milan fullback Thomas Helveg)

Two decent possible draws

I think Elfsborg will be too strong for Hibs.

I thought Norway also refused a spot last season?

Also there are plenty of teams who turn down places, although for numerous reasons (e.g. other leagues having more squads who can actually make a go of it and get into the UEFA Cup) there are others more willing to replace them. I believe that both Mallorca and Almería turned down their places, meaning that Deportivo got in from Spain despite finishing around 9th.

Armand One scored the third in a 3-1 second leg victory over Distillery, so Turku v Odense confirmed.

Since when were Morton in the Intertoto?

Hibs 1-0 down to Elfsborg and the Swedes are sounding fairly comfortable with their lead.

WTF to tired thought they had been training, oh well this is bad for hibs as with starting there pre-season so early and the possibility of going out straight away it could have a knock on effect on there SPL season

0-2

They're now 2-0 down.

Fukkin embarrassment and very damaging to our co-efficient

The s
Swedes are a pretty good outfit and are a good few weeks into their season so you have to factor that in

Hibs are getting beat of a team sitting second in the league midway through their season so not a disgrace or a suprise, only wish I had put more than a fiver on.

http://www.uefa.com/newsfiles/19069.pdf

Intertoto games dont count for the coeff

Bloobell in 'not knowing the rules' shocker.

The Swedes must be trying their hardest to win a move to Hamilton, as Billy Reid is attending today.

Hibs going out (on the assumption they can't come back from two down over in Sweden) is hardly an embarrassment.

Ishizaki, Lucic, Ilola, Svensson and Berglund are all experienced players who have played at higher levels than most of the Hibs players!

Thank fukk for that

Elfsborg would probably defeat Rangers over two legs at this point in time.

was at the game today and Elfsborg were a very very good side. Several internationals in their team and they looked a lot sharper.

Bloobell, for a change not knowning anything about anything outside goven - but tbh I for one will be happy enough if he stays there.

This is a very strong team from a strong league.

Hibs got a really tough draw if you look at some of the other teams they could have got.

The Elfsborg keeper looked very good, was no3 choice at Euro 2008 for sweden and one of their fans said he was signing for PSV.

Was a horrible day - this was not summer football!!!

On the plus side, at least Dundee will now get a bye into the 2nd round of the CIS Cup...

Don't hold much hope for Hibs in the return leg, so looks like you'll get your wish.

I think Elfsborg would have beaten most SPL teams today, Hibs were simply sluggish, slow, and generally uninterested. Sloppy at the back, poor in front of goal, and lacking pace. Elfsborg won at a canter, and (had they taken their gilt-edged chances) it could have been 5-0 or 6-0. The one thing I was disappointed in was the attitude of our players. They treated it like a pre-season game and at 1-0 and 2-0 down, were not that bothered about equalising. I can guarentee you, they will put in twice the effort in the game against Barcelona - which is a friendly, and counts for nought.

Scottish clubs will have to buck up their ideas for next season, because one of them WILL be in the UEFA Cup as early as the last weekend in June (a week earlier than today), with the season finishing a week later than this year. We will be embarrassed again if they don't take it seriously.