The Balkans Cup
Reading about slavia sofia's victories in the Balkans Cup (see below) mad me interested in finding out more about this now discontinued cup. It was started in 1961 for clubs in Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Turkey and the former Yugoslavia. Strangely enough it was not taken that seriously by all the clubs at the time, although the also discontinued Balkan Cup, which compromised of the national teams of the aforementioned countries was. The cup was last played in 1994 when Samsunspor of Turkey beat PAS Giannina of Greece over 2 legs. It was played every year from 1961 to 1994, apart from in 1989 when it was postponed due to the Romanian Revolution. The most succesful team in the tournament was Beroe Stara Zagora of Bulgaria, who won the trophy 4 times. The first winners were Steagul Rosu Brasov of Romania, who won the competition in the only year that the title was decided by a league rather than a 2 leg knock out format. The chances of the cup being reinstated seem to be a lo...