CEE Cup
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 | |
| Founded | 2011 |
|---|---|
| Teams | 8 |
| Current champions |  Palmeiras |
| Most championships | Palmeiras (4 times) |
| Website | CEE Cup Official Website |
The Central & Eastern European Youth Football Tournament, known as the CEE Cup is an annual invitational under-19 football tournament, which takes place in Czech Republic. The tournament has taken place 10 times, initially restricted to clubs from Central and Eastern Europe - the tournament has now expanded to include teams from Western Europe, Asia, North, South and Central America and Australia.[1][2]
The tournament has become a staging ground for future footballing talent, such as English Premier League players Tomáš Souček, Dwight McNeil and Anthony Gordon.[3] And German Bundesliga player Joshua Zirkzee.[4]
The trophy is a 3D representation of the tournament's logo, designed and created by Czech blacksmith Martin Blundil - who also designed plaques given to the winners of the individual players awards at the end of each tournament.
Originally, the tournament began with 4 groups, of 4 teams - with the teams playing each other in a round-robin manner, before the top ranked teams of each group competed in a semi-final and final to determine the winner.[5] Later tournaments however, have reduced to 2 groups of 4 teams - with the group winners taking part in the semi-finals, and the runners-up taking part in matches to determine their final rankings.[6] From the 2022 edition, the competition was limited to 2 groups of 3 teams.
