International Champions Cup
Annual club association football exhibition competition
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Key Takeaways
- The International Champions Cup ( ICC ) was an annual club association football (soccer) exhibition competition staged from 2013 to 2019.
- The tournament was later abolished, but the Women's International Champions Cup has continued to play in 2021 and 2022.
- Subsequent tournaments have had different numbers of teams in the three locations.
- The groups were not played as a round-robin; rather, the winners of the first-round matches played each other in the second round, and the first-round losers also played each other in the second round.
- After the teams in each group had been ranked, they were paired against their opposite number from the other group, second playing second, third playing third, fourth playing fourth, with the results of these final matches determining a definitive placing for each team, from first place to eighth.
The International Champions Cup (ICC) was an annual club association football (soccer) exhibition competition staged from 2013 to 2019. COVID-19 resulted in the 2020 edition being cancelled. The tournament was later abolished, but the Women's International Champions Cup has continued to play in 2021 and 2022.
Format
The format has changed in each competition. Subsequent tournaments have had different numbers of teams in the three locations.
In the 2013 iteration, the participants were designated as part an "Eastern" and a "Western" group based on the location of their group stage matches. The groups were not played as a round-robin; rather, the winners of the first-round matches played each other in the second round, and the first-round losers also played each other in the second round. The two teams with two wins from the first two matches advanced to the final. The other three teams of each group were then ranked based on their records in the two matches played, with a game won in regulation time counting for two points and a game won on a deciding penalty shootout (no tied games were permitted) counting for one, with traditional methods of ranking – goal difference, goals scored, etc – determining order in case of two teams having the same points total. After the teams in each group had been ranked, they were paired against their opposite number from the other group, second playing second, third playing third, fourth playing fourth, with the results of these final matches determining a definitive placing for each team, from first place to eighth.
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