In May 2006 Scotland won an international trophy. And no, not the World Cup and not the Euros either, but the Kirin Cup. A trophy picked up by the likes of Graeme Murty, Neil Alexander and Davie Weir, today we'll go through the history of the Kirin Cup and Scotland's time participating in it.
The History of The Kirin Cup -
The Kirin Cup was founded 43 years ago, in 1978, by Japanese company, Kirin Brewing. The tournament was then known as the Japan Cup.
As for the most common format of the tournament, it features 3 teams in a group. Each team plays each other once and whoever finishes on the most points from the 2 games (each) wins the tournament. Simple! Although in the event of a points tie, it goes to Goal Difference and if that's a tie too, then the title is shared. In 2011 in a group between Japan, Czech Republic and Peru, all 3 games ended in a 0-0 draw. So in turn, all 3 teams were given the joint title.
From 1978 to 1992, the tournament was a club and country competition. For example in 1984, the group for the tournament was China, Japan and French club, Toulouse. But eventually in 1992 the tournament was changed to international football sides exclusively, with the first nation to win the tournament since the reformat being Argentina. Japan currently hold the record for the most titles with eleven, followed by Peru with three.
Since the re-format of the tournament, there has been sides from every corner of the globe (South America, Europe, Asia and Africa). As well as Scotland winning, Hungary, France, Czech Republic (twice), Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovakia all European winners of the competition too.
Scotland's History in The Kirin Cup -
Now it's time to get into Scotland's history in the competition. The Scots have played twice in the tournament, 1995 and 2006. Let's see how they faired in both them years.
1995 -
In the 1995 edition of the Kirin Cup, Scotland were matched with Japan and Ecuador. In Scotland's 2 games, they beat Ecuador 2-1, with Ex-Dunfermline Athletic manager, Stevie Crawford and ex-Inverness manager, John Robertson scoring both of Scotland's goals. And the game against Japan ended 0-0, and due to Japan's 3-0 hammering of Ecuador that meant they were the 1995 Kirin Cup winners. Leaving Scotland in second only just 2 GD points off of them.
Although it was a 'friendly' competition, it was a hit amongst the Japanese, with Japan's 2 fixtures gaining attendances of 24,556 people against Scotland and 53,438 against Ecuador.
2006 -
11 years later, and the Scotland squad finally got their hands on the coveted trophy. This time the group obviously consisting of Japan and tournament newcomers, Bulgaria.
In Scotland's first game they faced off against the Bulgarian side including ex-Celtic star, Stiliyan Petrov. The game ended 5-1 to Scotland, with Rangers duo, Kris Boyd and Chris Burke both netting braces and a single goal for then Everton forward, James McFadden.
Starting XI Vs Bulgaria -
Neil Alexander
Graeme Murty
Russell Anderson
David Weir
Gary Caldwell
Gary Naysmith
Darren Fletcher
Scott Severin
Lee McCulloch
Gary Teale
Kris Boyd
Substitutes -
Iain Turner
Graeme Smith
Steven Caldwell
David McNamee
Chris Burke
Ian Murray
Gavin Rae
James McFadden
Lee Miller
And now the game that won Scotland the competition for that year, the Japan game, with a fairly similar team sheet going out. The final result was 0-0 like the previous time they played one another and it was Davie Weir who stepped up to lift the trophy for the Scots.
In terms of trophies, this is Scotland's second most recent, with the most recent being the Qatar Airways Cup from back in 2015.
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