International Challenge Trophy
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The International Challenge Trophy, originally known as the European Challenge Trophy, is an international association football competition. It is open to national teams featuring semi-professional U-23 footballers who have not yet won senior international caps.[1] While the competition rules allow squads to select foreign-based players, some teams, including the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and Italy, have opted to restrict selection to footballers playing in their home national leagues.[2][3] The European Challenge Trophy was contested in 2005–06 and featured just four teams - England C, Netherlands Amateurs U-23, Belgium U-21 and Italy Lega Pro U-21. England C won the inaugural competition. [4] The competition was then relaunched as the International Challenge Trophy for the 2007-09 edition. This time the number of participants doubled. [5] The 2009-11 third edition was contested by eleven teams.
Tournaments
| Year | Winners | Score | Runners-up | Number of teams | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005–06 Details |
 England C |
No final |  Belgium U-21 |
4 | ||
| 2007–09 Details |
Belgium U-21 |
1–0 | England C |
8 | ||
| 2009–11 Details |
 Portugal U-23 |
1–0 | England C |
11 | ||
| 2011–13 Details |
 Turkey A2 |
1–0 |  Norway U23 |
8 | ||
| 2013–15 Details [6][7] |
 Slovakia |
2–2 3–2 pen. |
Turkey |
8 |
References
- ↑ kassiesa.nl
- ↑ www.fai.ie
- ↑ bbc.co.uk
- ↑ 2005–06 results at www.rsssf.com
- ↑ 2007–09 results at www.rsssf.com
- ↑ IC Trophy official page at the Wayback Machine (archived September 5, 2015)
- ↑ Final match report (in Slovak) at the Wayback Machine (archived May 22, 2016)
