Nowadays, if you were told that Carlisle United had defeated AS Roma at the Stadio Olimpico or that Swindon Town had defeated Napoli in a cup final, it would be reasonable to assume you were hearing about somebody’s Football Manager save. 

However, these results are, in fact, very real. They were a part of an often forgotten tournament that lasted nearly 26 years: The Anglo-Italian Cup. This was a tournament that not only produced fascinating fixtures and results but was also full of controversy, violence, and big names.

So, let’s take a look back at the weird and wonderful Anglo-Italian Cup.

How the Anglo-Italian Cup began

The Anglo-Italian Cup was created in 1970 by an Italian football agent by the name of Gigi Peronace. Often regarded as a pioneer within the world of football agents, Peronace had become well known for his involvement in transfer talks and contract negotiations between British and Italian clubs.

The tournament was created following the Anglo-Italian League Cup which was played between Swindon Town and AS Roma in 1969.

Despite winning the Football League Cup, a controversial ruling prevented Swindon from playing in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup as they were a third division side.

Following this, the FA worked together with the Italian Football Federation to compensate Swindon and arranged a game between The Robins and the Coppa Italia winners—AS Roma. Swindon ran out as winners, defeating the Giallorossi 5-2 on aggregate to clinch the trophy.

This gave Peronace the idea to make a competition between Italian and English clubs a regular thing, and just six months after the second leg at Swindon’s County Ground, the Anglo-Italian Cup was born.

The tournament’s format

Initially, the Anglo-Italian Cup took place later in the season and saw six teams from each country pitted against each other in an initial group stage. Each team would play home and away against two teams from the other nation.

Additionally, the competition saw an incredibly strange set of rules implemented. Points were awarded for wins and draws as normal, however, teams would also score points for goals scored. The offside rule was also changed for the tournament and was only applied inside the penalty area.

The Anglo-Italian Cup’s first instalment was played between 1970 and 1973 and was contested between both countries’ elite clubs. However, dwindling interest from both the participating clubs and spectators saw the curtain close on the tournament.

However, the cup would soon return and was played between 1976 and 1986. The second instalment of the competition saw semi-professional teams from England’s non-league take on clubs from Italy’s third tier— Serie C.

Nevertheless, the tournament still had its problems, and due to the financial and practical demands being beyond the means of many English non-league clubs, the tournament would again come to a halt.

There was one last attempt to revive the Anglo-Italian Cup, and it would return between 1992 and 1996.

This time, the competition saw clubs from Division One, now known as the Championship, take on teams from Serie B. However, a decline in public interest and increasing fixture congestion dealt what would prove to be a fatal blow to the Anglo-Italian Cup, and the competition ended for the final time.

A competition marred by Violence

Above all, the Anglo-Italian Cup is largely remembered for violence. While fighting in the stands was all too common throughout this time period, this competition also saw an array of disorder on the pitch.

Perhaps the most famous example of this comes from a meeting between Birmingham City and Ancona in 1995— a fixture now dubbed the “Battle of Ancona.”

It was a meeting which saw a number of strong tackles and off-the-ball incidents, causing tempers to flare, however, it was after the final whistle that things boiled over.

Following the full-time whistle, a large brawl erupted between both sets of players and resulted in Ancona’s manager, Massimo Cacciatori, suffering a fractured cheekbone.

Armed police then barged into the Blues’ changing room and confiscated the players’ passports, although they were still able to leave the country.

Legal proceedings would carry on until 2000, and Birmingham’s Michael Johnson, Liam Daish and David Howells were all called to stand trial; however refused to return to Italy, which ultimately saw the case fizzle out.

The more wonderful side of the Anglo-Italian Cup

Despite its problems, the Anglo-Italian Cup still saw fans of many clubs achieve their dreams of watching their teams play in Europe. Additionally, the tournament helped create some unbelievable memories for fans of these clubs.

For example, fans of Ipswich Town may remember seeing a young midfielder by the name of Andrea Pirlo make an 11-minute cameo against them for Brescia. Tranmere Rovers fans may remember German icon Oliver Bierhoff scoring the only goal of the game as Ascoli beat Rovers 1-0 at Prenton Park.

Tranmere fans may also fondly look back at the time that their defence nullified a young Christian Vieri as their side enjoyed a 1-0 win in Pisa.

The Anglo-Italian Cup also provided results that seem almost impossible to believe now, such as Swindon defeating Napoli in the 1970 final to become the competition’s first ever winners.

Additionally, 1972 saw Carlisle United shock Italian giants AS Roma 3-2 at the Stadio Olimpico, with former Roma defender Elvio Salviori even saying that the Cumbrians gave them a “good lesson” that day.

The list of fantasy results and iconic players who played in this tournament is endless, and for the 41 English clubs to participate in the tournament, there are countless wonderful memories to last a lifetime.

Overall, the Anglo-Italian Cup may have been somewhat of a disaster in a practical sense, but it can not be denied that it also created some fantastic memories and gave supporters of lower league clubs the chance to follow their teams abroad and, in a way, play in a European competition.

For this reason, the competition can be looked back on fondly as we will likely never see another tournament as weird and wonderful as the Anglo-Italian Cup.

Year	Winners	Runners-up
1970	Swindon Town	Napoli
1971	Blackpool	Bologna
1972	Roma	Blackpool
1973	Newcastle United	Fiorentina
1975	Wycombe Wanderers	Monza
1976	Lecce	Scarborough
1976	Monza	Wimbledon
1977	Lecco	Bath City
1978	Udinese	Bath City
1979	Sutton United	Chieti
1980	Triestina	Sutton United
1981	Modena	Poole Town
1982	Modena	Sutton United
1983	Cosenza	Padova
1984	Francavilla	Teramo
1985	Pontedera	Livorno
1986	Piacenza Calcio	Pontedera
1992–93	Cremonese	Derby County
1993–94	Brescia	Notts County
1994–95	Notts County	Ascoli
1995–96	Genoa	Port Vale