Super cup
Template:Short description Template:Lead extra info Template:More citations needed
A super cup is a competition, in association football, basketball, handball, volleyball and rugby union which often forms the 'curtain raiser' to a season, and typically involves only two teams who have qualified through success in other competitions during the previous season.
It is typically contested on a national level by two competition winners of the previous season: the national knock-out cup winner and the highest level league champion. There are also continental super cups, like the UEFA Super Cup in football, which puts together winners of the top and second-tier UEFA competitions and the Recopa Sudamericana between CONMEBOL Libertadores and the Sudamericana winners, and cross-border super cups between champions of neighbouring leagues, such as the Campeones Cup between the winners of the highest level leagues in the United States and Mexico, and the Champions Cup for the champions of both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
The now-defunct Intercontinental Cup was a super cup played between the continental champions of Europe and South America, with winners retroactively recognised by world governing body FIFA as World Champions prior to the creation of the official FIFA Club World Cup and the CONMEBOL-UEFA Cup of Champions between the winners of the European Football Championship and the Copa América, which rebranded once again in 2022 after the 29-year hiatus.
Sometimes, these are two-legged ties, with a match played at each side's stadium, but increasingly they are one-off fixtures at a neutral venue, such as a national stadium. Some Super Cups have even been staged in venues outside their home country, such as the Italian, French, Spanish, Turkish, Mexican, and Egyptian games and increasingly function as publicity events for that league in the global market.
If the league champions are also the national cup winners, they may play a selected XI team, or more commonly the runners-up from one of the competitions, typically from the league.
The Finalissima between the national team continental champions of UEFA and CONMEBOL, also known as the CONMEBOL-UEFA Cup of Champions, plus its women's counterpart, are rare examples of 'super cups' between national sides.
FootballEdit
National super cupsEdit
The following nations have an active super cup competition: {{ safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst||date=__DATE__ |$B=Template:AmboxTemplate:Main other }}
AFCEdit
- Template:Flagicon Bahraini Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon Bangladesh Challenge Cup
- Template:Flagicon Brunei Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon CNCC Charity Cup
- Template:Flagicon Chinese FA Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon Indian Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon Iranian Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon Iraqi Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon Japanese Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon Jordan Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon Kyrgyzstan Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon Kuwait Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon Lebanese Super Cup, Lebanese Women's Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Cup
- Template:Flagicon Maldivian FA Charity Shield
- Template:Flagicon Mongolia Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon MFF Charity Cup
- Template:Flagicon Oman Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon Gaza Strip Super Cup, West Bank Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon Qatari Sheikh Jassim Cup, Qatar Cup
- Template:Flagicon Saudi Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon Singapore Charity Shield
- Template:Flagicon Syrian Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon Tajik Supercup
- Template:Flagicon Thailand Champions Cup
- Template:Flagicon LFA Super Taça
- Template:Flagicon Turkmenistan Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon Uzbekistan Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon UAE Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon Vietnamese Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon Yemeni Super Cup
CAFEdit
- Template:Flagicon Algerian Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon Coupe Houphouët-Boigny
- Template:Flagicon Djibouti Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon Egyptian Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon Ghana Super Cup, Ghana Women's Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon Kenyan Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon Libyan Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon Mauritanian Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon Namibia Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon Nigeria Women's Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon Super Coupe du Congo
- Template:Flagicon Senegalese Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon Somalia Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon Tanzania Community Shield
- Template:Flagicon Tunisian Super Cup
CONCACAFEdit
- Template:Flagicon Supercopa de Costa Rica
- Template:Flagicon Salvadoran Supercup
- Template:Flagicon Copa Campeón de Campeones
- Template:Flagicon Honduran Supercup
- Template:Flagicon Campeón de Campeones
- Template:Flagicon Suriname President's Cup
- Template:Flagicon Trinidad and Tobago Charity Shield
- Template:Flagicon NWSL Challenge Cup
CONMEBOLEdit
- Template:Flagicon Supercopa Argentina
- Template:Flagicon Trofeo de Campeones de la Liga Profesional
- Template:Flagicon Supercopa Internacional
- Template:Flagicon Supercopa do Brasil
- Template:Flagicon Supercopa de Chile
- Template:Flagicon Superliga Colombiana
- Template:Flagicon Supercopa Ecuador
- Template:Flagicon Supercopa Paraguay
- Template:Flagicon Supercopa Peruana
- Template:Flagicon Supercopa Uruguaya
OFCEdit
- Template:Flagicon Champion versus Champion
- Template:Flagicon Charity Cup
- Template:Flagicon Tahiti Coupe des Champions
UEFAEdit
- Template:Flagicon Albanian Supercup
- Template:Flagicon Andorran Supercup
- Template:Flagicon Armenian Supercup
- Template:Flagicon Belarusian Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon Belgian Supercup
- Template:Flagicon Bosnian Supercup
- Template:Flagicon Bulgarian Supercup
- Template:Flagicon Croatian Supercup
- Template:Flagicon Cypriot Super Cup, Cypriot Women's Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon FA Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield), Women's FA Community Shield
- Template:Flagicon Estonian SuperCup, Estonian Women's Supercup
- Template:Flagicon Faroe Islands Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon Trophée des Champions, Trophée des Championnes
- Template:Flagicon Georgian Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon DFL-Supercup, DFB-Supercup Frauen
- Template:Flagicon Pepe Reyes Cup
- Template:Flagicon Greek Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon Icelandic Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon Israel Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon Supercoppa Italiana, Supercoppa Italiana (women)
- Template:Flagicon Kazakhstan Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon Kosovar Supercup
- Template:Flagicon Latvian Supercup
- Template:Flagicon Lithuanian Supercup
- Template:Flagicon Maltese Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon Moldovan Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon Johan Cruyff Shield
- Template:Flagicon Mesterfinalen
- Template:Flagicon NIFL Charity Shield
- Template:Flagicon Polish SuperCup
- Template:Flagicon Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira, Supertaça de Portugal Feminina
- Template:Flagicon President's Cup
- Template:Flagicon Romanian Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon Russian Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon Super Coppa Sammarinese
- Template:Flagicon Supercopa de España, Supercopa de España Femenina
- Template:Flagicon Turkish Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon Ukrainian Super Cup
Defunct super cupsEdit
- Template:Flagicon Trofeo de Campeones
- Template:Flagicon Austrian Supercup
- Template:Flagicon Azerbaijan Supercup
- Template:Flagicon Bangladesh Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon Template:Flagicon BeNe Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon Super Coupe Roger Milla
- Template:Flagicon Template:Flagicon North American Club Championship
- Template:Flagicon Czech Supercup
- Template:Flagicon Danish Supercup
- Template:Flagicon Template:Flagicon Template:Flagicon Baltic Champions Cup
- Template:Flagicon Supercoupe du Gabon
- Template:Flagicon DFV-Supercup
- Template:Flagicon Hong Kong Community Cup
- Template:Flagicon Szuperkupa
- Template:Flagicon Indian Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon Indonesian Community Shield
- Template:Flagicon Supercopa MX
- Template:Flagicon Moroccan Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon Top Four Cup
- Template:Flagicon Macedonian Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon Copa Federación
- Template:Flagicon Slovak Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon Slovenian Supercup
- Template:Flagicon Korean Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon Swiss Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon Supercupen
- Template:Flagicon Thai Super Cup (top 4 places in last season, 2009 only)
- Template:Flagicon Kor Royal Cup
- Template:Flagicon Sheriff of London Charity Shield
- Template:Flagicon Soviet Super Cup (also known as the Season's Cup)
- Template:Flagicon Yugoslav Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon Northern Cypriot Super Cup
Cross-border super cupsEdit
- Template:Flagicon Template:Flagicon Copa Aldao (league champions)
- Template:Flagicon Template:Flagicon Czech-Slovak Supercup (cup winners)
- Template:Flagicon Template:Flagicon Livonia Cup (league champions)
- Template:Flagicon Template:Flagicon Champions Cup (league champions)
- Template:Flagicon Template:Flagicon Template:Flagicon Campeones Cup (league champions)
- Template:Flagicon Template:Flagicon Saudi-Egyptian Super Cup (league champions vs. cup champions)
Continental super cupsEdit
Some continental football federations also have their own super cups:
- AFC: Asian Super Cup (defunct)
- CAF: CAF Super Cup
- CONMEBOL: Recopa Sudamericana
- UEFA: UEFA Super Cup
Regional super cupsEdit
- UAFA: Arab Super Cup (defunct)
Intercontinental super cupsEdit
Most of the continental football confederations have jointly held a competition pitting their champions against each other:
- CONMEBOL & UEFA: Intercontinental Cup (defunct)
- CONCACAF & CONMEBOL: Copa Interamericana (defunct)
- AFC & CAF: Afro-Asian Club Championship (defunct)
All of these competitions are now defunct and have been succeeded by the FIFA Club World Cup and the FIFA Intercontinental Cup, which features the champions of all of the confederations. In 2017, FIFA retroactively recognised the winners of the European/South American Cup as world champions.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref>
A similar tournament was held at international level, the FIFA Confederations Cup. It was initially held on a biennial basis, every odd year, from 1993 until 2005 when it became quadrennial, the year before a World Cup in its host country. It featured the six continental champions, the World Cup winners and the host. The 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup was the 10th and last Confederations Cup before FIFA abolished it for an expanded Club World Cup. CONMEBOL and UEFA relaunched the CONMEBOL-UEFA Cup of Champions in 2020, previously held as the European/South American Nations Cup in 1985 and 1993, to be contested between the champions of both confederations. The rebooted cup, now branded as the Finalissima, held its first edition in 2022, with quadrennial editions to follow. The two confederations launched a Women's Finalissima in 2023, involving the most recent winners of the Copa América Femenina and Women's Euro. It is also planned to be a quadrennial event.
Other tournaments like this have been held, including the Intercontinental Champions' Supercup (contested by the past winners of the Intercontinental Cup), the Club Challenge, previously held as Supercopa Euroamericana (pitting the Copa Sudamericana and UEFA Europa League winners), the J.League-Sudamericana Championship (pitting the Copa Sudamericana and J.League Cup winners), the Copa de Oro (pitting all the most recent CONMEBOL competition winners), and the Copa Iberoamericana (pitting the Copa de Oro and Copa del Rey winners).
BasketballEdit
National super cupsEdit
- Template:Flagicon Algeria Basketball Supercup
- Template:Flagicon Austrian Supercup
- Template:Flagicon Belgian Supercup
- Template:Flagicon Dutch Supercup
- Template:Flagicon French Match des Champions
- Template:Flagicon German BBL Champions Cup
- Template:Flagicon Greek Super Cup
- Template:Flagicon Israeli Supercup
- Template:Flagicon Italian Supercup
- Template:Flagicon Jordan Basketball Supercup
- Template:Flagicon Polish Supercup
- Template:Flagicon Portuguese SuperCup
- Template:Flagicon Romanian Supercup
- Template:Flagicon Slovenian Supercup
- Template:Flagicon Spanish Supercup
- Template:Flagicon Turkish Presidential Cup
RegionalEdit
Template:Flagicon & Template:Flagicon
- BNXT Supercup (Belgium & the Netherlands)
Template:Flagicon Template:Flagicon Template:Flagicon Template:Flagicon Template:Flagicon Template:Flagicon
- Adriatic Supercup (former Yugoslavia)
Continental levelEdit
- FIBA Europe SuperCup Women: contested between the winners of EuroLeague Women and EuroCup Women.
Water poloEdit
National super cupsEdit
- Template:Flagicon Supercopa de España de Waterpolo: an annual men's water polo match contested between the winners of División de Honor de Waterpolo and Copa del Rey de Waterpolo.
- Template:Flagicon Supercopa de España de Waterpolo Femenino: an annual women's water polo match contested between the winners of División de Honor Femenina de Waterpolo and Copa de la Reina de Waterpolo.
Continental super cupsEdit
- File:LEN Logo.svg Men's LEN Super Cup: an annual water polo match organized by LEN (European Swimming League) and contested by the reigning champions of the two European club competitions, the LEN Champions League and the LEN Euro Cup.
- File:LEN Logo.svg Women's LEN Super Cup: an annual water polo match organized by the LEN (European Swimming League) and contested by the reigning champions of the two European club competitions, the LEN Euro League and the LEN Trophy.
MotorsportsEdit
- The ADAC Supercup, commonly known as Supercup, was a German sportscar racing series held between 1986 and 1989.
- Ginetta GT Supercup, a British 2-class 1-make sports car racing series.
- Porsche Supercup, an international one-make racing series for Porsche 911 Carreras.
RugbyEdit
- The current format of the rugby league World Club Challenge sees the winners of the Super League from Europe face the National Rugby League winners from Australasia, and was last played in 2024. In 1997, 2015, 2016 and 2017, the game formed part of an expanded tournament that included as few as four and as many as twenty-two teams.
- The Charity Shield is a defunct super cup competition in British rugby league, contested by the winners of the RFL Championship First Division and RFL Challenge Cup.
- The Super Powers Cup was an annual international rugby union competition contested by national teams from Canada, Japan, Russia and United States. In 2005, its name was changed to the Super Cup.
Other sportsEdit
- IIHF Super Cup, a defunct ice hockey competition.
See alsoEdit
ReferencesEdit
Template:National football Supercups (CAF region) Template:National football Supercups (AFC region) Template:National football Supercups (UEFA region) Template:National football Supercups (CONCACAF region) Template:National football Supercups (OFC region) Template:National football Supercups (CONMEBOL region)