By Mark Baber
December 21- Barcelona’s victory over River Plate in the Club World Cup final on Sunday meant they equalled Al Ahly’s record of 20 international titles – at least according to FC Barcelona. However Al Ahly have disputed this claim, arguing 3 of Barcelona’s wins were in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup and therefore don’t count.
Cairo’s Al Ahly reached their 20th international title in 2014 when they defeated Ivory Coast’s Sewe Sport in the final of the Confederation Cup, Africa’s second-tier club competition, having already won eight African Champions League titles, six Super Cups, four Cup Winners’ Cups and one Afro-Asian Cup.
Barcelona, on the other hand, have won five UEFA Champions League titles, five Super Cups, four Cup Winners’ Cups, three Inter-Cities Fairs Cups and two Club World Cups.
Al Ahly pointed out in a statement issued on Sunday that “Barcelona counted three unregistered titles to their list as Inter-Cities Fairs Cups which was out of UEFA’s observation when it was launched. Inter-Cities Fairs Cups was launched in 1955 and then it was canceled in 1971.UEFA said before that they don’t count Inter-Cities Fairs Cups in their sheets as it wasn’t under their observation during that time.”
UEFA did indeed announce in 2005 that “that the Fairs Cup is not considered a UEFA competition, and hence clubs’ records in the Fairs Cup are not considered part of their European record.”
However, FIFA have recorded the Inter-Fairs Cup among Barcelona honours, as have organisations such as the RSSSF and Association of Football Statisticians and of course the club itself.
The Inter-Cities Fairs cup was initially an invitation-only competition between cities rather than clubs, although Barcelona the city was represented by Barcelona FC the club.
Barcelona’s first Inter-Cities Fairs Cup was won 8-2 on aggregate by Barcelona in May 1958 after a two legged final against a London XI.
The team Barcelona beat 6-0 at home in the second leg consisted of Kelsey (Arsenal), P.Sillett (Chelsea), Langley (Fulham), Blanchflower,Norman (both Tottenham Hotspur), Coote (Brentford), Groves (Arsenal), Greaves (Chelsea), Smith (Tottenham Hotspur), Haynes (Fulham) and Robb (Bradford).
So although Barcelona can claim to have won 20 international honours, the inclusion of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup wins in comparisons with other clubs is highly controversial, not supported by UEFA, and the achievement should be qualified by recognition that it is not directly comparable to the achievements of Al Ahli.