The Peace Cup was an invitational pre-season friendly

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 ...

tournament for club teams which was held every two years by the Sunmoon Peace Football Foundation. It was usually contested by eight clubs from several continents, though 12 teams participated in 2009. The first three competitions were held in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

, and the

2009 Peace Cup The 2009 Peace Cup Andalucia was an invitational friendly football tournament. It was the fourth edition of Peace Cup and was held in Spain from 24 July to 2 August in the cities of Madrid, Seville, Málaga, Jerez and Huelva. It was the first ti ...

was held in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

and

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a "historical nationality". The ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

. Previous winners are PSV,

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of ...

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park, ...

, and

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its football section. Though the current HSV was founded in June 1919 from a merger of three ...

, who were the final champions. The tournament was originally organised and held in South Korea and contested in 2003, 2005, and 2007 between eight clubs from various countries, including the

Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma Seongnam () is the fourth largest city in South Korea's Gyeonggi Province after Suwon and the 10th largest city in the country. Its population is approximately one million. Seongnam is a satellite city of Seoul. It is largely a residential city ...

, which is owned by the organizing company. A corresponding event featuring women's national teams, the

Peace Queen Cup The Peace Queen Cup was an invitational women's association football tournament for national teams organized by the Sunmoon Peace Football Foundation. Its three editions were all been hosted by South Korea. The foundation also organized the Peace ...

, began in 2006.

History and format

Since 2003, the Peace Cup is being held every two years, the Sunmoon Peace Football Foundation invites football clubs from various nations. South Korea's

participates in every tournament as both the club and foundation are sponsored by the same organization, the

Unification Church The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, widely known as the Unification Church, is a new religious movement, whose members are called Unificationists, or " Moonies". It was officially founded on 1 May 1954 under the name Holy Sp ...

. From 2003 to 2007, the Peace Cup was played between eight clubs, divided into two groups of four teams. The winner of each group qualified for the final, which was played in a single match.

Andalucia was held in Spain, and 12 teams participated in the competition. The fifth competition took place again in South Korea in July 2012, and four teams which had South Korean players entered. In October 2012, it was announced that the Peace Cup will no longer be held, following the death of Unification Church founder

Sun Myung Moon Sun Myung Moon (; born Yong Myung Moon; 6 January 1920 – 3 September 2012) was a Korean religious leader, also known for his business ventures and support for conservative political causes. A messiah claimant, he was the founder of the Un ...

Prize

From 2003 to 2007, the prize money of the tournament was approximately

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...

2 million for the winning team, and €500,000 for the runners-up. Copa de la Paz

Results

Summary

Titles by club

Awards

Golden Ball

The "Golden Ball" is awarded to the player on the basis of a vote taken among the media accredited to each Peace Cup tournament. There are also "Silver Ball" and "Bronze Ball" for the second and third best players respectively.

Golden Shoe

Controversy

The original name of the competition was to be Sunmoon Peace Cup, named after

, the founder of the Sunmoon Peace Football Foundation. However, after being criticized that it was too religious, the organization changed its name to World Peace King Cup and started preparation for its first tournament. Before the inauguration of the cup, the

Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in some countries/territories in Asia and Oceania. It has 47 member countries most of which are located in Asia. Australia, formerly ...

warned that the term "world" can only be used by competitions organized by

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

, and "king" can be used by competitions held by a

kingdom Kingdom commonly refers to: * A monarchy ruled by a king or queen * Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy Kingdom may also refer to: Arts and media Television * ''Kingdom'' (British TV series), a 2007 British television drama s ...

References

External links

Official website
{{Football in South Korea South Korean football friendly trophies Spanish football friendly trophies Defunct international club association football competitions in Europe