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By the time it was scrapped in 2008, the Intertoto Cup had little respect. In 1995, when English sides were first made to enter, it had even less. Owen Amos looks back at that first season

From 1961 to 1995, the Intertoto Cup was a summer tournament for mid-ranking, mainland European clubs. It offered pre-season football, modest prize money and – most importantly – kept the pools companies happy (Australian state league games having the same function here). By the mid-1990s, according to the November 1994 Intertoto newsletter – yes, there was one – the tournament was stagnating. The pools companies wanted better games, and bigger names. The organisers asked UEFA for help and, after some discussion, the Intertoto was made the fourth UEFA club competition.

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Glenn Hoddle seems an unlikely saviour, but one struggling club has survived due to a deal with his academy. Steve Wilson reports

The Spanish region of Andalucía, with its year-round sunshine, unspoiled beaches and sprawling vista of manicured golf courses, is long accustomed to English visitors. Some recent arrivals, however, are here for more than just a two-week getaway and the chance to improve their handicap. An unlikely alliance between a former England manager, a group of young players deemed surplus to requirement at British clubs and a lower league Spanish side has seen Los Ingleses welcomed with open arms in the unassuming town of Jerez.

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Ed Wilson looks at Coventry fans’ reactions to the signing of Marlon King, recently released from jail

It’s an understatement and a platitude to say that most football supporters identify strongly with our club. If that club is successful, we claim a little reflected glory for ourselves. And if it fails, or behaves in a way that’s embarrassing, or shameful, that shame seems to rub off on us a little, too.

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Ian Rands looks at the mixed results of the extensive efforts to export the Sheffield United brand around the world

If I was to tell you that there is an English football club developing a global brand that currently encompasses five clubs on three continents, including the first foreign investment in a Chinese team, I suspect that Sheffield Utd will not be the first club that comes to mind. You might also be surprised to hear that other interests include sponsorship of an Indian football academy and an advisory role with the Syrian FA. Over the last four years this “global Blades family” has developed apace, but not without a few problems along the way and a lingering degree of cynicism among United fans.

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James Calder recalls a time when the Colombian championship was dominated by well-paid foreign players

The long-term significance
The beginning of the end of El Dorado, the great Colombian gold rush. Blacklisted by FIFA following its foundation in 1948, the national professional league attracted some of the world’s leading players, lured by high wages funded by the country’s economic boom, massive attendances and a conservative government anxious to divert attention away from widespread and bloody political and social unrest.

Angered by the continuing exodus of its stars, the Argentinian FA complained of “piracy”, leading FIFA to expel Colombia in 1951. The dispute was ended shortly afterwards by the Pacto de Lima, an agreement by which an increasingly cash-strapped league agreed to let its well-paid imports return to their clubs of origin by October 15, 1954, in return for readmission to the international fold. The Colombian free-for-all also had an impact on the English game, the defection of a handful of players resulting in two sizeable increases in the maximum wage, which was eventually abolished in 1961.

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