U.S. Cup

US Cup
Status cancelled
Genre sporting event
Date(s) mid-year
Frequency biannual (men)
annual (women)
Country U.S.
Inaugurated 1992 (1992) (men)
1995 (1995) (women)
Most recent 2000 (2000) (men)
2002 (2002) (women)

U.S. Cup (also known as the USA Cup, United States Cup and Nike U.S. Cup) was a soccer competition held annually in the United States from 1992 to 2000, except for the World Cup years of 1994 and 1998. The tournament, hosted by the United States Soccer Federation, was contested between the United States and three guest teams.

The cup was created to train the American soccer team and to popularize the sport in the US before the men's 1994 FIFA World Cup.[1] Originally known as the U.S. Cup, the name was changed to the Nike U.S. Cup after Nike, Inc. signed a ten-year, $120 million contract with the United States Soccer Federation to sponsor the U.S. national teams in October 1997. As part of the contract, USSF added Nike's name to the U.S. Cup title.[2]

In 1995, USSF added a women's competition which ran every year until 2002. The 2001 edition was abandoned after three matches due to the September 11 attacks.

Format

The cup was traditionally played in a single round-robin format between the four participating national teams.

The 1999 edition of the men's and 2000 edition of the women's tournaments, were played in single elimination format. The first round was the semifinals. The losers of the semifinals played for third place, and the winners of the semifinals played the Final match.

List of champions

Men's Tournament

Year Champion Runner-up Third place Fourth place
1992
details
 United States Italy Republic of Ireland Portugal
1993
details
 Germany Brazil United States England
1995
details
 United States Colombia Mexico Nigeria
1996
details
 Mexico Republic of Ireland United States Bolivia
1997
details
 Mexico Denmark Peru United States
1999
details
 Mexico United States Guatemala Bolivia
2000
details
 United States Republic of Ireland Mexico South Africa

Women's tournament

Year Champion Runner-up Third place Fourth place
1995
details
 United States Norway Australia Chinese Taipei
1996
details
 United States China PR Japan Canada
1997
details
 United States Italy Australia Canada
1998
details
 United States Brazil Russia Mexico
1999
details
 United States Brazil Finland South Korea
2000
details
 United States Canada Mexico South Korea
2001
details
abandoned due to September 11 attacks
2002
details
 United States Australia Italy Russia

Titles by country

Men's tournament

Women's tournament

National team appearances

Men’s

Rank Team Appearance
1
 United States (hosts)
7
2
 Mexico
5
3
 Republic of Ireland
3
4
 Bolivia
2
5
 Brazil
1
 Colombia
 Denmark
 England
 Germany
 Guatemala
 Italy
 Nigeria
 Peru
 Portugal
 South Africa

Women’s

Number of appearance excludes the abandoned 2001 edition.

Rank Team Appearance
1
 United States (hosts)
7
2
 Australia
3
 Canada
3
 Brazil
2
 Italy
 South Korea
 Mexico
 Russia
4
 China PR
1
 Finland
 Japan
 Norway
 Chinese Taipei

Venues

References

  1. Filip Bondy (4 March 1992). "Soccer; US Cup Might Raise Americans' Game". New York Times. Retrieved 9 November 2015.
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