The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup represented Newcastle's very first foray into European competition. They qualified via a quaint rule of "one city, one team" rather than on merit - and only went on to win the thing!
Played between 1955 and 1971 the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup was the brainchild of Swiss pools supremo, Ernst Thommen, Ottorino Barassi from Italy and the English FA general secretary, Stanley Rous. Originally set up to promote "international trade fairs", hence its name, the competition was only open to teams from cities that hosted trade fairs and was played on a "friendly" basis.
It soon became quite popular and then became a competition in its own right rather than a series of friendlies. Once it became a competition the rule regarding 'trade fairs' was dropped and entry was to be based upon League position
During the early years of the 'competition' it had a quite peculiar rule of "one city, one team" which allowed Newcastle to enter the competition - their first venture into European competition, even though they finished ninth in the league. This was at the expense of Everton who finished third, but with Liverpool finishing second could not enter, Chelsea and Spurs who finished fifth and sixth respectively but with Arsenal finishing fourth could not enter, so it was Liverpool (2nd), Arsenal (4th), Southampton (7th), and Newcastle United (9th) that got the places.
Newcastle went on to win the competition, beating Ujpesti Dozsa of Hungary 6-2 on aggregate in the two-legged final.
The following season Newcastle reached the Quarter-Finals but were eliminated on the "away goals" rule against the eventual competition winners, Anderlecht. In the final season of the competition, 1970-71 Newcastle were eliminated in the second round by Pecsi Doza who won on penalties after everything was equal after both legs and extra-time had been played in the second leg.
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