Andalucia Peace Cup
Summer 2009 brought one of the world's most exciting and important pre-season international football competitions to Andalucia. The main stages for the 2009 Peace Cup were Seville, Málaga, Jerez and Huelva, as well as Madrid, and the tournament was expanded from eight to twelve teams, from 10 different countries all around the world.
The Peace Cup originated in South Korea as an initiative of the Sunmoon Peace Football Foundation (sponsored by Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church). This international football tournament has been played every other year in South Korea since 2003, and this was the first time it was hosted outside Asia. There is also a women's tournament, which has taken place in 2006 and 2008, and is called the Peace Queens Cup.
The 12 teams which participated in 2009 were:
- Al-Ittihad (Saudi Arabia)
- Aston Villa (UK) - winners
- Atlante (Mexico)
- Besiktas (Turkey)
- FC Porto (Portugal) - semi-finalists
- Juventus (Italy) - runners-up
- LDU Quito (Ecuador)
- Real Madrid (Spain) - semi-finalists
- Málaga (Spain)
- Olympique Lyonnais (France)
- Seongnam Ilwah Chunma (South Korea)
- Sevilla (Spain)
The Peace Cup 2009 was held from 24 July to 2 August. The winning team, Aston Villa, was awarded two million euros in prize money. The runners-up were Juventus, taking one million euros, and the semi-finalists (Real Madrid and Porto) each won 500,000 euros. Trivia: Cristiano Ronaldo scored his first goal for his new club, Real Madrid, at the Peace Cup.
Previous winners are PSV Eindhoven, Spurs and Lyon.
The 2011 Peace Cup, was held in London.
