The 1972 Intercontinental Cup was an

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

tie held over two legs in September 1972 between the winners of the 1971–72 European Cup,

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Gree ...

, and the winners of the

1972 Copa Libertadores The 1972 Copa Libertadores was the 13th edition of the Copa Libertadores, CONMEBOL's the annual club tournament. Independiente of Argentina defeated Universitario de Deportes of Peru in the finals, and became the second team in the tournament's ...

, Independiente. The first leg was held on 6 September 1972 at Independiente Stadium (''La Doble Visera''), home of Independiente, and ended in a 1–1 draw, with goals from

Johan Cruyff Hendrik Johannes Cruijff (, internationally known as Johan Cruyff; 25 April 1947 – 24 March 2016) was a Dutch professional football player and manager. As a player, he won the Ballon d'Or three times, in 1971, 1973 and 1974. Cruyff was a ...

and

Francisco Sá Francisco Pedro Manuel Sá (born 25 October 1945, in Las Lomitas, Formosa) is a retired Argentine football defender. Sá holds the record for the most Copa Libertadores titles, he won six; 4 consecutive titles with Club Atlético Indepe ...

. The return leg was held on 28 September 1972 at the

Olympic Stadium ''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games. An Olympic stadium is the site of the opening and closing ceremonies. Many, though not all, of these venues actually contain the words ''Olympic Stadium'' as ...

, which was won by Ajax 3–0. Therefore the Dutch side won their first Intercontinental Cup trophy.1972 Intercontinental Cup
at the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation

Qualified teams

Venues

Overview

The match was notable for being the first and only time

played in Argentina, as he would not join the trip with the Netherlands national team to the 1978 FIFA World Cup where the Dutch team reached the final.La única vez de Cruyff en Argentina, lo molieron a patadas
on Infobae, 15 Sep 2013 Ajax arrived in Argentina bringing their own cook and food. Some Dutch supporters had previously arrived not only to watch the match but on a tourist trip to known

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

sites.

The early goal by Cruyff (who might have fouled Independiente defender Miguel Angel López and or might have been fouled by Miguel Angel López before scoring) dictated the direction of the match. Since that, Independiente's style of play turned towards toughness to stop Ajax players. As a result, Cruyff had to leave the field after a hard tackle by defender Dante Mírcoli. At the end of the first half, the Ajax players were so angry at Independiente players' violence that they refused to take to the field for the second half. Their coach

Ștefan Kovács Ștefan Kovács ( ro, Ştefan Covaci; hu, Kovács István; 2 October 1920 – 12 May 1995) was a Romanian football player and coach. By winning 15 major titles he is one of the most successful association football coaches in the history of th ...

had to implore them to play on.Intercontinental Cup 1972
on FIFA.com (archived, October 2007) After the match, the Ajax players complained about the violence shown by their rivals. Forward

Sjaak Swart Jesaia Swart (born 3 July 1938), commonly known as Sjaak Swart, is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a winger for Ajax. During his career at Ajax, he amassed a total of almost 600 matches, a record for the club. Biography Swa ...

defined rival defender

Ricardo Pavoni Ricardo Elvio Pavoni Cúneo (born August 8, 1943 in Montevideo) is a Uruguayan former football defender who played the majority of his career for Club Atlético Independiente in the Argentine First Division. Career Club Pavoni began his fo ...

as "a gangster", also stating "he believes he is

Carlos Monzón Carlos Roque Monzón (7 August 1942 – 8 January 1995), nicknamed Escopeta (''Shotgun'' in Spanish), was an Argentine professional boxer who held the undisputed world middleweight championship for 7 years. He successfully defended his title 14 ...

" to describe the Uruguayan's stiffness. In the same line, Ajax manager Kovacs added his testimony saying: "This was not football but war.... In Amsterdam, Independiente will have serious troubles. One of them, our magnificent pitch so they are not used to play on those surfaces. This pitch (Independiente Stadium) is not suitable to play football" Some football personalities attended the match in Avellaneda, being president of

Real Madrid CF Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

Santiago Bernabéu one of the most notable visitors. Once the match ended, Bernabéu said: In the second leg held in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

, Ajax made a great performance, showing all their virtues to easily defeat Independiente 3–0, therefore winning their first Intercontinental trophy 3–1 on points (4–1 on aggregate).

Match details

First leg

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Second leg

Match details

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References

{{Club Atlético Independiente matches Intercontinental Cup Intercontinental Cup Intercontinental Cup Intercontinental Cup

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using mean solar tim ...

Intercontinental Cup 1972 Intercontinental Cup 1972 Intercontinental Cup 1972 Intercontinental Cup 1972 Intercontinental Cup, 1972 1970s in Amsterdam September 1972 sports events in Europe Football in Avellaneda

Qualified teams

Venues

Overview

Match details

First leg

Second leg

Match details

See also

References