Chelsea Fairs Cup Titles & Results By Season

The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, to give the competition its full name, was created in 1955 and is seen by many as being the predecessor to the UEFA Cup. It was an idea that the then-Vice President of FIFA, Ernst Thommen, came up with alongside Ottorino Barassi and Stanley Rous. It was set up in order to promote trade fairs that were taking place around the world, largely because friendly games were often organised by cities hosting such fairs. It was only open to teams from cities that hosted fairs, with their position in the domestic leagues being irrelevant.

During the early years there was a ‘one city, one club’ rule. Branded as the ‘Runners-up Cup’ from 1964 onwards, it lasted until 1971 before it was abolished. Some Chelsea players took part in the London XI that played in the debut campaign, with the match against a Barcelona XI being hosted at Stamford Bridge, which is why we’ve included it on this list. Chelsea never played in it in its own right, but the London XI was managed by the then Chelsea Chairman Joe Mears. Alongside Chelsea players were those from the likes of Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur.