World of Soccer Cup

The World of Soccer Cup, an association football friendly tournament, took place in the summer of 1977, hosted by Singapore and Australia.

Overview

The tournament was the idea of English entrepreneur Reg Lambourne, Strata Travel owner Tom Lawrence and Red Star Belgrade FC Secretary General Dr Miroljub Stojkovic and consisted of two competitions. The first (also known as Metro 20th Anniversary Tournament) was a straight knock-out tournament in Singapore, and the second was a mini-league in which the top two teams would play in the final. The first trophy was won by Red Star Belgrade (FK Crvena zvezda) and the second by Celtic, and was the last ever trophy Jock Stein would ever lift for Celtic.

Teams that participated

• Celtic FC Latchford, McGrain, Burns, Stanton, McDonald, Aitken, Wilson, Conn, Glavin, Edvaldsson, Lennox, Doyl, Kay (Manager Jock Stein)
• Red Star Belgrade Stojanović, Jelikić, Jovanović, Muslin, Bogićević, Novković, Nikolić, Petrović, Savić, Sušić, Filipović, Šestić, Lukić (Manager Gojko Zec)
• Arsenal Rimmer, Rice, Nelson, Powling, O'Leary, Young, Brady, Hudson, Macdonald, Stapleton, Armstrong, Rix, Mathews (Manager Terry Neill)
• A select XI from the host nation
• Reilly, Harris, Wilson, Bennett, Williams, Harding, Barnes, Rooney, Kosmina, Ollerton, Sharne, Nyskohus, Maher, Abonyi (Manager Jimmy Shoulder)

Team	Notes
Celtic	Scottish Premier Division champions
Red Star Belgrade	Yugoslav First League champions
Arsenal
Singapore XI	Host nation (1st tournament)
Australia	Host nation (2nd tournament)

Results

In Singapore

Semi-finals

12 July 1977

Arsenal	1–3	Red Star Belgrade
Macdonald		Filipović, Šestić, Savić

National Stadium

Attendance: 55,000

13 July 1977

Celtic	5–0	Singapore XI
Conn (2), Burns, Lennox, Edvaldsson

National Stadium

Attendance: 45,000

Third place playoff

16 July 1977

Arsenal	5–1	Singapore XI
Macdonald (3), Stapleton, Brady

National Stadium

Attendance: 45,000

Final

17 July 1977

Celtic	1–3	Red Star Belgrade
Lennox pen		Petrović, Filipović (2)

National Stadium

Attendance: 50,000

Referee: Jack Taylor

In Australia

Group stage

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Celtic	3	2	1	0	7	5	+2	7
Red Star Belgrade	3	1	1	1	4	4	0	4
Australia XI	3	1	0	2	7	7	0	3
Arsenal	3	1	0	2	4	6	−2	3

20 July 1977

Arsenal	1–3	Australia XI
Armstrong		Kosmina, Harding, Ollerton

Sydney Sports Ground[1], Sydney

21 July 1977

Celtic	1–1	Red Star Belgrade
McDonald		Savić

Olympic Park Stadium, Melbourne

Attendance: 21,000

Referee: Jack Taylor

24 July 1977

Arsenal	2–3	Celtic
Rice, Macdonald		Wilson (2), Glavin pen

SCG, Sydney

Attendance: 21,460

26 July 1977

Arsenal	1–0	Red Star Belgrade
Brady

Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide

Attendance: 12,000

26 July 1977

Australia XI	2–3	Celtic
Barnes, Ollerton		Glavin, Edvaldsson (2)

SCG, Sydney

Attendance: 12,742

Referee: Richard Lorenc

28 July 1977

Australia XI	2–3	Red Star Belgrade
Kosmina, Harding		Savić, Šestić, Filipović

Olympic Park Stadium, Melbourne

Attendance: 10,100

Referee: Stewart Mellings

Final

31 July 1977

Celtic	2–0	Red Star Belgrade
McDonald, Edvaldsson

Olympic Park Stadium, Melbourne

Attendance: 23,000

Referee: Jack Taylor

References

• World of Soccer Cup at TheCelticWiki