2008: Stuttgart have last word
Monday 28 July 2008
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Cirprian Marica's extra-time goals helped Stuttgart to their third Intertoto win (©Getty Images)
The 50 teams which began the 2008 UEFA Intertoto Cup knew they would be making a little bit of history as it was to be the competition's last season ahead of the expansion of UEFA Cup qualifying in 2009/10.
Early start
As in the previous two campaigns, eleven UEFA Cup second qualifying round berths were on offer and while the UEFA EURO 2008™ quarter-finals were still being played on the third weekend of June, the first Intertoto games commenced. And of the 28 teams in action, four survived to the third and final round – IF Elfsborg, Budapest Honvéd FC, FK Rīga and PFC Neftçi.
Elfsborg success
Two of those ended up matched in the deciding stage. Rīga, whose European experience before 2008 was a 5-0 aggregate defeat by Helsingborgs IF in the 1999/00 UEFA Cup, were striving to earn Latvia's maiden Intertoto success but their Swedish curse struck again as they lost 1-0 at Elfsborg and the return was goalless. Neftçi hoped to add Azerbaijan to the roll of honour but Romania's SC Vaslui starred in their first-ever European tie, triumphing 3-2 on aggregate following a 2-0 home victory in the second leg. Honvéd had high hopes after a first-leg 0-0 draw at SK Sturm Graz but the Austrian side prevailed 2-1 in Hungary.
Norwegian first
Latvia and Azerbaijan may have been thwarted in their attempt to add to the list of 16 successful nations before the last competition, but Rosenborg BK brought their European experience to bear against NAC Breda, recovering from a 1-0 loss in the Netherlands with a 2-0 victory in Trondheim. France was already the Intertoto's most successful nation and its tally was increased to 16 wins by 14 different clubs as Stade Rennais FC edged out SC Tavriya Simferopol 10-9 on penalties in Ukraine after two 1-0 home wins.
Stuttgart record
VfB Stuttgart set a record themselves as their 3-1 aggregate extra-time triumph against FC Saturn Moskovskaya Oblast made the German side the only three-time Intertoto winners, while Ciprian Marica, who struck twice in the additional 30 minutes, was the competition's last goalscorer. Aston Villa FC and Grasshopper-Club both secured second Intertoto successes while the other winners were RC Deportivo La Coruña, SC Braga and SSC Napoli, who were ending a 14-year exile from European competition.
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