Peace Cup

Peace Cup
Organiser(s)Sunmoon Peace Football Foundation
(Unification Church)
Founded2003
Abolished2012
RegionInternational
Teams8 or 12
Most championshipsNetherlands PSV Eindhoven
England Tottenham Hotspur
France Lyon
England Aston Villa
Germany Hamburger SV
(1 title each)
Websitepeacecup.com

The Peace Cup was an invitational pre-season friendly football tournament for clubs, held every two years by the Sunmoon Peace Football Foundation.

History

The Peace Cup was held every two years, with the Sunmoon Peace Football Foundation inviting football clubs from various nations. A corresponding event featuring women's national teams, the Peace Queen Cup, began in 2006. In October 2012, it was announced that the Peace Cup will no longer be held, following the death of Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon.

Format

From 2003 to 2007, the Peace Cup was played between 8 clubs, divided into two groups of 4 teams. The winner of each group qualified for the final, which was played in a single match.

The first three competitions were held in South Korea, and the 2009 version was held in Madrid and Andalusia, Spain with 12 teams participating. The fifth competition took place again in South Korea in July 2012, and four teams which had South Korean players entered.

Participants

South Korea's Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma participated in every tournament. Previous winners were PSV, Tottenham Hotspur, Lyon, Aston Villa, and Hamburger SV, who were the final champions.

Prize

From 2003 to 2007, the prize money of the tournament was approximately €2 million for the winning team, and €500,000 for the runners-up.

The trophy

Results

Finals

Year Host Champions Score Runners-up Clubs
2003  South Korea Netherlands PSV Eindhoven 1–0 France Lyon 8
2005 England Tottenham Hotspur 3–1 8
2007 France Lyon 1–0 England Bolton Wanderers 8
2009  Spain England Aston Villa 0–0 (a.e.t.)
(4–3 p)		 Italy Juventus 12
2012  South Korea Germany Hamburger SV 1–0 South Korea Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma 4

Awards

The "Golden Ball" was awarded to the best player of the tournament on the basis of a vote among the accredited media. There were also "Silver Ball" and "Bronze Ball" for the second and third best players respectively.

Year Golden Ball Golden Shoe
2003South Korea Park Ji-sungNetherlands Mark van Bommel (2)
2005Republic of Ireland Robbie KeaneRepublic of Ireland Robbie Keane (4)
2007France Karim BenzemaSweden Kim Källström (2)
2009England Ashley YoungBrazil Hulk (3)
2012Sweden Marcus BergNetherlands Mitchell Schet (2)

Controversy

The original name of the competition was to be Sunmoon Peace Cup, named after the founder. However, after being criticized, the organization changed its name to the World Peace King Cup. Before the inauguration, the Asian Football Confederation warned that the term "world" can only be used by competitions organized by FIFA, and "king" by competitions held by a kingdom.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Warming Up for the Kick-off". The Wall Street Journal. 2 August 2010.
  2. ↑ "Peace Queen Cup 2006". RSSSF. Retrieved 14 June 2008.
  3. ↑ "Church Scraps Peace Cup". Super Sport. 29 October 2012.
  4. ↑ "Jerez se convierte hoy en una de las sedes oficiales de la 'Peace Cup 2009'" (in Spanish). AndaluciaPress. Archived from the original on 22 April 2009. Retrieved 14 June 2008.
  5. ↑ "Peace Cup might go to Spain". The Washington Times. Retrieved 14 June 2008.
  6. ↑ 국제 클럽축구대항전 피스컵, 2012년 한국 개최. Naver.com (in Korean). Sports Seoul. 2 August 2011. Retrieved 11 October 2011.
  7. 1 2 "Sundowns in Peace Cup". BBC. 27 January 2005. Retrieved 14 June 2008.
  8. ↑ "Galaxy to compete in inaugural World Peace King Cup". USA Today. 5 February 2003. Retrieved 14 June 2008.
  9. ↑ "Peace Cup History". Goal. Retrieved 15 July 2009.
  10. ↑ "who will win the gold?". daum.net (in Korean). 19 July 2007. Retrieved 15 July 2009.[permanent dead link]
  11. ↑ "Park chosen best player of the Peace Cup". PSV Eindhoven. 22 July 2003. Retrieved 1 July 2017.[dead link]
  12. ↑ "History of Peace Cup". Naver.com (in Korean). JoyNews24. Retrieved 2 August 2009.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)