"The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, sometimes referred to as the European Fairs Cup, or simply as the Fairs Cup, was a European football competition played between 1955 ...
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and 1971. It was regarded as the forerunner to the UEFA Cup. The competition was the idea of FIFA vice-president and executive committee member Ernst Thommen, Italian Football Federation president and FIFA executive committee member Ottorino Barassi, and the English Football Association general secretary and president of FIFA from 1961 to 1974, Stanley Rous. As the name suggests, the competition was set up to promote international trade fairs. Friendly games were regularly held between teams from cities holding trade fairs and it was from these games that the competition evolved. The competition was initially only open to teams from cities that hosted trade fairs and where these teams finished in their national league had no relevance. Early competitions also featured a one city, one team rule. After 1964, it was sometimes referred to as the Runners-up Cup, with teams now qualifying based on league position." - (en.wikipedia.org 13.01.2022)
