The

Markus Liebherr Markus Liebherr (30 March 1948 – 10 August 2010) was a German-born Swiss businessman and a member of one of Europe's top family business dynasties. He was a Swiss entrepreneur and owner of MALI International AG, which he founded in 1994. Life ...

Memorial Cup was an invitational

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

friendly tournament held at St Mary's,

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

. The competition was named after former

Chairman Markus Liebherr. Described as a "unique triangular cup competition", each club played one another and points determined the winners of the tournament, which was held in 2011 and 2012, and won by

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club ( eu, Bilboko Athletic Kluba; es, Athletic Club de Bilbao), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao or just Athletic, is a professional Association football, football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Basque Country (autonomous com ...

and

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

2011

Source: The inaugural edition of the Markus Liebherr Memorial Cup was held on 23 July 2011 as a triangular round-robin system. Various European teams were invited to compete in a tournament, with the other participants besides the hosts Southampton being the Spanish club

and German club Werder Bremen. The hosts won the first match of the tournament, beating Bremen 3–0 with goals from David Connolly, Guly do Prado and Adam Lallana. Bilbao also beat Bremen, with a 2–1 scoreline, thanks to goals from

Igor Gabilondo Igor Gabilondo del Campo (born 10 February 1979) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a left midfielder. He played mainly for Real Sociedad and Athletic Bilbao (six seasons apiece) during his career, amassing La Liga totals of 276 game ...

and Gaizka Toquero. In the decisive match between Southampton and Bilbao, it was the Spanish side who won 2–0, with

Igor Martínez Igor Martínez Caseras (born 19 July 1989) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played mainly as an attacking midfielder. Club career Martínez was born in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava. After beginning his career at hometown's Deportivo A ...

and

Markel Susaeta Markel Susaeta Laskurain (, ; born 14 December 1987) is a Spanish former footballer who played as a right winger. He spent almost the entirety of his professional career with Athletic Bilbao after making his debut with the first team in 2007, ...

sealing the title to Bilbao. *Each match lasted 45 minutes each. Drawn matches were resolved by extra-time and then penalities.

Final Standings

2012

Source: Scottish club

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

were initially scheduled to take part, but were later replaced by

Anderlecht Anderlecht (, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, and Saint-Gilles, as well as the ...

due to the financial troubles that Rangers were facing. The tournament was held on 14 July as a triangular round-robin system in 45-minute matches, and in the first match of the tournament, Southampton lost to Anderlecht 1–0, with the only goal coming early in the first half from Tom De Sutter. Arsenal then won their first game against Anderlecht by the same scoreline, with a goal from young midfielder Henri Lansbury deciding the match. In the decisive match between Southampton and Arsenal, the Saints new signing

Jay Rodriguez Jay Enrique Rodriguez (born 29 July 1989) is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Burnley. Rodriguez began his career with his hometown club Burnley, for whom he scored 41 goals in 128 appearances across all com ...

netted on his debut for the club in the 31st minute, although the lead proved short-lived when Gervinho equalized a few minutes later, causing the game to end in a tie, and despite Arsenal losing 5–4 on

penalties Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

, it was them who won the second Memorial Cup and joined

on the honours list. *Each match lasted 45 minutes each. Drawn matches were resolved by extra-time and then penalities.

Final Standings

References

External links

{{Friendly association football tournaments in England English football friendly trophies Defunct football cup competitions in England Sports competitions in Southampton Football in Hampshire 2011–12 in English football 2011–12 in German football 2011–12 in Spanish football 2012–13 in English football 2012–13 in Belgian football Recurring sporting events established in 2011 Recurring sporting events disestablished in 2012 2011 establishments in England 2012 disestablishments in England Southampton F.C.