The 1970–71 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup was the 13th and final season of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, a European football competition for teams not qualified for the European Cup or the European Cup Winners' Cup. Back in 1969, UEFA determined this would be the final year of the Fairs Cup before taking over the organizational duties and evolving the competition into the UEFA Cup, which is now known as the UEFA Europa League.[1]
This was to be the final European title for Leeds United, which would cap off its most successful era later in the decade with two further finals in UEFA-organized tournaments. It was also the second Fairs Cup final lost by Juventus, who still had not won a European title. Notably, the first leg of the final was replayed from scratch two days later after the initially scheduled game, which was abandoned after 51 minutes of play with a score of 0–0 due to heavy rain and a waterlogged pitch.
As no team had ever managed to permanently win the Inter-Cities Fairs trophy that was to be discontinued, its destination was decided in a special play-off between the first and last competition winners: Barcelona and Leeds United, respectively.[1]
Country team allocation
A total of 64 teams from 29 countries were entered in the 1970–71 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. For the first time, a team from Finland entered the competition, with the allocation scheme being redrawn as follows
England have five teams qualify due to the use of the title holder berth.
Wales: There was no national league in Wales before 1992 and the only competition organised by the Football Association of Wales was the Welsh Cup so Wales had just a single participant in European competitions, the winner (or best placed Welsh team as several English teams also competed) of the Welsh Cup which competed in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup.
Teams
The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for competition:
TH: Title holders
CW: Cup winners
CR: Cup runners-up
LC: League Cup winners
2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, etc.: League position
P-W: End-of-season European competition play-offs winners
Sum: Position at the halfway mark or the summer break in a calendar-based league
Qualified teams for 1970–71 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup
England:Derby County originally qualified for the Fairs Cup by finishing 4th in the 1969–70 Football League. However, a disciplinary commission found the team guilty of administrative and financial irregularities. As a result, Derby County was not allowed to compete in the Fairs Cup. Newcastle United, the next best team not qualified for international competition, took its place.
Scotland, Yugoslavia, Hungary and Greece: The following teams qualified for the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup due to the 'one city, one team' rule that prevented other teams from competing:
West Germany, Italy, Yugoslavia and Poland: The following teams competed in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup instead of other teams that would've had the first right to compete via their league position, and were not in breach of the 'one city, one team' rule. 'Fair trade' eligibility for the unqualified teams is unknown in some cases:
West Germany: Hamburg qualified instead of Borussia Dortmund (5th), which had played previously in the Fairs Cup.
Italy: Lazio qualified instead of Napoli (6th), which had competed in the Fairs Cup the previous season. Both Milan (4th) and Torino (7th) were ineligible because of Inter Milan and Juventus qualifying ahead of them.
Denmark: Newly promoted Brönshöj led the standings at the June break, but the team was not approved to compete by the Danish federation. It was replaced by AB, who was second at the time and couldn't qualify initially because the team was also based in Copenhagen.
Schedule
The schedule of the competition was as follows. Matches were primarily scheduled for Wednesdays, though some matches took place on Tuesdays, and exceptionally on Thursdays. After the first leg of the final had to be postponed to a Friday, the return leg played in the following weekend was moved one day backwards to a Thursday. The first leg of the 1st round match-up between Sevilla FC and Eskisehirspor was played on a Saturday.
The referee called the end of the game three minutes before the regulation time and had to abandon the pitch escorted out by Beveren's players because of the pressure and the protests by the visiting team as a result of his decision. K.S.K. Beveren won 2–1 on aggregate.
