Texaco Cup Competition Detail

Competition History

The Texaco Cup was a competition involving football clubs from England, Northern Ireland, Ireland and Scotland that had not qualified for the three major UEFA European competitions. The tournament was formed in season 1970/71 and featured 6 English teams, 6 Scottish teams and 2 teams from each of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The American oil giants Texaco sponsored the tournament, investing around £100,000 per season. In the first two seasons sixteen clubs participated. One interesting note about one of the matches in the first year of the Texaco Cup happened when Scottish team Airdrieonians played the English team Nottingham Forest, the match ended in a draw and then became the first ever domestic game in the UK to be settled by a penalty shoot out, with Airdrieonians winning.

The second season of the Texaco Cup, 1971/72 was the last time that teams from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland would compete, in subsequent years, to make up the numbers, there was 9 teams from England and 7 teams from Scotland invited to compete. In the 1973/74 tournament the final was played as a one off match. In the last season of the Texaco Cup 16 English teams played a 'round-robin group stage' with the winners progressing to a knockout stage where they were joined by 4 Scottish teams. At the end of the 1974/75 tournament Texaco removed their sponsorship, but, with the tournament having been somewhat successful, it was decided to continue the format under a new name - the Anglo-Scottish Cup. Wolverhampton Wanderers won the first trophy, followed by Derby County, Ipswich Town. Newcastle United won the tournament in the final two seasons.