The Anglo-Italian Cup is fondly remembered, but went away for good reason. Could a Champions League for second-tier clubs possibly be a goer?
Eugenio Guarascio wants to resurrect an old tournament(Image credit: Simone Arveda/Getty Images)
A proposal has been made for fondly-remembered European competition from years gone by to be revived in an extended format.
The Anglo-Italian Cup was contested in the 1970s and 1980s before a brief revival in the 1990s, spending much of its existence as a cross-national cup competition for lowe-league teams.
The competition featured enjoyably romantic finals as Udinese v Bath City and Genoa v Port Vale - and one Italian club president would now like to see a pan-European tournament for second-tier sides, like a lower-league Champions League.
Champions League-style tournament for second-tier sides proposed
Fulham play Roma in the Anglo-Italian Cup back in 1973 (Image credit: Monte Fresco/Mirrorpix via Getty Images)
Cosenza president Eugenio Guarascio has suggested the idea to help address the financial difficulties Serie B clubs currently face, suggesting that it could help attract new sponsors and media interest for lower-league clubs across Europe.
Things seem not to have moved any further than that, with Neapolitan outlet Il Vaporetto suggesting that discussions have not yet been held between Serie B clubs, let alone their counterparts across the continent, or governing bodies FIFA and UEFA.
Gabriel Batistuta at the Victoria Ground: football heritage (Image credit: Getty Images)
It's certainly a romantic notion, but the realities of actually putting it together probably make it a non-starter. We dare say that getting it off the ground is likely to be difficult, if nt impossible.
The Anglo-Italian Cup is a nostalgic novelty, but in each iteration (top-flight sides, semi-professional sides, and the 1990s revival for second-tier clubs) clubs soon lost interest in the competition.
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The fixture calendar was a particular issue in the 1990s, and with 46 games on the Championship calendar on top of cup commitments and the more pressing concerns of going for promotion, the competition would be unlikely to be a priority either for clubs or fans.
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But they were also poor in England. The 1995 final between Notts County and Ascoli drew just 11,000 fans to Wembley - and there were even minor diplomatic incidents along the way.
Still, we can always dream of a day when Barcelona's B team come to Oxford United... even if it remains just that.
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Steven Chicken has been working as a football writer since 2009, taking in stints with Football365 and the Huddersfield Examiner. Steven still covers Huddersfield Town home and away for his own publication, WeAreTerriers.com. Steven is a two-time nominee for Regional Journalist of the Year at the prestigious British Sports Journalism Awards, making the shortlist in 2020 and 2023.
