The International Challenge Trophy, originally known as the European Challenge Trophy, was an international association football competition. It is open to national teams featuring semi-professional U-23 footballers who have not yet won senior international caps.[1] While the competition rules allow squads to select foreign-based players, some teams, including the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and Italy, have opted to restrict selection to footballers playing in their home national leagues.[2][3] The European Challenge Trophy was contested in 2005–06 and featured just four teams - England C, Netherlands Amateurs U-23, Belgium U-21 and Italy Lega Pro U-21. England C won the inaugural competition. [4] The competition was then relaunched as the International Challenge Trophy for the 2007–09 edition. This time the number of participants doubled. [5] The 2009–11 edition was contested by eleven teams.
Tournaments edit
| Year | Winners | Final match result | Runners-up | Number of teams | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005–06 Details |
 England C
|
No final |  Belgium U-21
|
4 | ||
| 2007–09 Details |
Belgium U-21
|
1–0 | England C
|
8 | ||
| 2009–11 Details |
 Portugal U-23
|
1–0 | England C
|
11 | ||
| 2011–13 Details |
 Turkey A2
|
1–0 |  Norway U23
|
8 | ||
| 2013–15 Details [6][7] |
 Slovakia U-23
|
2–2 3–2 pen. |
Turkey U-23
|
8 | ||
| 2015–17 Details [8] |
Slovakia U-23
|
4–0 | England C
|
4 |
References edit
- ^ kassiesa.nl
- ^ www.fai.ie
- ^ bbc.co.uk
- ^ 2005–06 results at rsssf.org
- ^ 2007–09 results at rsssf.org
- ^ "IC Trophy official page". Archived from the original on September 5, 2015. Retrieved 2015-09-05.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ "Final match report (in Slovak)". Archived from the original on May 22, 2016. Retrieved 2016-05-22.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ the whole match is on Youtube