The 1951 Copa Rio was the first edition of the Copa Rio, the first intercontinental club football tournament with teams from Europe and South America, held in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

and

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

from 30 June to 22 July. Participant clubs were divided into two zones of four teams, playing each other once in a single

round-robin tournament A round-robin tournament (or all-go-away-tournament) is a competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero ...

.Copa Rio de Janeiro 1951
by Ricardo Pontes on the RSSSF The tournament featured players such as

Vavá Edvaldo Izidio Neto (12 November 1934 – 19 January 2002), commonly known as Vavá, was a Brazilian footballer who is widely considered one of the best strikers of his generation. His nickname was "Peito de Aço" (Steel Chest). He played as a ...

, Ademir of Vasco da Gama,

Jair da Rosa Pinto Jair da Rosa Pinto (21 March 1921 – 28 July 2005), or simply Jair, was an association footballer who played offensive midfielder – one of the leading Brazilian footballers of the 1940s and 1950s, who is best remembered for his performan ...

of Palmeiras,

José Santamaría José Emilio Santamaría Iglesias (born 31 July 1929) is a retired football central defender and manager. He spent his 18-year career with Nacional and Real Madrid, winning a combined 17 titles including four European Cups with the latter clu ...

Walter Taibo Wálter Taibo Martínez (7 March 1931 – 10 January 2021) was a Uruguayan football goalkeeper who played for Uruguay in the 1966 FIFA World Cup. He also played for C.A. Peñarol. In Argentina, he played for Huracán Huracan (; es, Huracán ...

, goalkeeper Anibal Paz, Luis Volpi of Nacional, Branko Stankovic,

Rajko Mitic Rajko ( sr-Cyrl, Рајко, ) is a masculine given name and may refer to: *Rajko Aleksić (born 1947), former Serbian football defender * Rajko Brežančić (born 1989), Serbian footballer * Rajko Ray Bogdanović (born 1979), Serbian engineer for ...

of Red Star Belgrade,

Giampiero Boniperti Giampiero Boniperti (; 4 July 1928 – 18 June 2021) was an Italian footballer who played his entire 15-season career at Juventus between 1946 and 1961, winning five Serie A titles and two Coppa Italia titles. He also played for the Italy nati ...

, Danish

Karl Aage Præst Karl Aage Præst, also spelled Carl Aage Præst, (26 February 1922 – 19 November 2011) was a Danish football player. Playing in the left winger position, Præst won two Serie A championships with Italian club Juventus FC. He played 24 games a ...

and John Hansen of Juventus,

José Travassos José António Barreto Travassos (22 February 1926 – 12 February 2002) was a Portuguese Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward. Club career Born in Lisbon, Travassos joined Sporting CP in 1946 ...

of Sporting Lisbon, and Swedish

Lennart Samuelsson Torsten Lennart Samuelsson (7 July 1924 – 27 November 2012) was a Swedish association footballer who played as a defender and won bronze medals at the 1950 FIFA World Cup and 1952 Summer Olympics. Between 1950 and 1955 Samuelsson capped 3 ...

and Antoine Bonifaci of Nice. Juventus's coach was legendary Hungarian

György Sárosi György Sárosi (; 5 August 1912 – 20 June 1993) was a Hungarian Association football, footballer. Sárosi was a complete footballer renowned for his versatility and technique among other things, and he played in several positions for Ferencv� ...

. The final was played in a two-legged format, contested by Brazilian team

Palmeiras Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras (), commonly known as Palmeiras, is a Brazilian professional football club based in the city of São Paulo, in the district of Perdizes. Palmeiras is one of the most popular clubs in South America, with around ...

and Italian side

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

. Palmeiras won the series 2–1 on points, achieving their first Copa Rio trophy.Los antecedentes del Mundial de Clubes
by Felipe Valderrama on El Cinco Cero, 16 Dec 2019

Participants

;Notes

Venues

Tournament course

Rio de Janeiro Group

All matches played at

Maracanã Stadium Maracanã Stadium ( pt, Estádio do Maracanã, standard Brazilian Portuguese: , local pronunciation: ), officially named Estádio Jornalista Mário Filho (), is an association football stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The stadium is part o ...

*30 June: Austria Wien 4−0 Nacional *1 July: Vasco da Gama 5−1 Sporting CP *3 July: Nacional 3−2 Sporting CP *5 July: Vasco da Gama 5−1 Austria Wien *7 July: Sporting CP 1−2 Austria Wien *8 July: Vasco da Gama 2−1 Nacional

São Paulo Group

All matches played at

Pacaembu Stadium Estádio Municipal Paulo Machado de Carvalho, colloquially known as Estádio do Pacaembu (), is an Art Deco stadium in São Paulo, located in the Pacaembu neighborhood. The stadium is owned by the Municipal Prefecture of São Paulo. The stadium wa ...

. *30 June: Palmeiras 3−0 OGC Nice *1 July: Juventus 3−2 Red Star *3 July: OGC Nice 2−3 Juventus *5 July: Palmeiras 2−1 Red Star *7 July: Red Star 1−2 OGC Nice *8 July: Palmeiras 0−4 Juventus

Semi-finals

São Paulo *12 July: Austria Wien 3−3 Juventus *14 July: Juventus 3−1 Austria Wien Rio de Janeiro *12 July: Vasco da Gama 1−2 Palmeiras *15 July: Vasco da Gama 0−0 Palmeiras

Participants

Venues

Tournament course

Rio de Janeiro Group

São Paulo Group

Semi-finals

Finals

Match details

References