Club | Birmingham City |
---|---|
Seasons played | 5 |
First entry | 1955–58 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup |
Latest entry | 2011–12 UEFA Europa League |
Birmingham City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Birmingham. The club's involvement in European competition dates back to the 1950s.
Invitations to enter the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, a football tournament set up to promote industrial trade fairs, were extended to the city hosting the trade fair rather than to clubs. Some cities entered a select team including players from more than one club, but Aston Villa, the other major club based in the city of Birmingham, rejected the opportunity to field a combined team.[1] Thus Birmingham City became the first English club side to play in European competition when they played their first match in the 1955–58 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup on 15 May 1956. They were also the first English club side to reach a European final, the 1960 Fairs Cup final, in which they met Barcelona. The home leg, a goalless draw, was played on 29 March 1960 and the away leg, which Barcelona won 4–1, some six weeks later.[A] In the semifinal of the 1961 Fairs Cup Birmingham beat Internazionale home and away; no other English club beat them in a competitive match in the San Siro until Arsenal did so in the Champions League more than 40 years later.[3]
Victory in the 2011 Football League Cup Final earned Birmingham qualification for the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League, which they entered at the play-off round.[4] A 3–0 aggregate victory over C.D. Nacional of Portugal[5] qualified Birmingham for the group stage, in which they were drawn alongside last season's finalists, S.C. Braga of Portugal, Slovenian champions NK Maribor, and fourth-placed Belgian team Club Brugge. They finished third in group H, one point behind Club Brugge and Braga, so failed to qualify for the knockout rounds.[6]
Season | Competition | Round | Opponent | Home leg | Away leg | Play- off |
Notes | Refs | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Country | Club | ||||||||
1955–58 | Inter-Cities Fairs Cup | GS | Italy | Internazionale | 2–1 | 0–0 | [B] | [8] | |
GS | Yugoslavia | Zagreb XI | 3–0 | 1–0 | [8] | ||||
SF | Spain | Barcelona | 4–3 | 0–1 | 1–2 | [C] | [8] | ||
1958–60 | Inter-Cities Fairs Cup | 1R | Germany | Cologne XI | 2–0 | 2–2 | [D] | [10] | |
2R | Yugoslavia | Zagreb XI | 1–0 | 3–3 | [10] | ||||
SF | Belgium | R. Union Saint-Gilloise | 4–2 | 4–2 | [10] | ||||
F | Spain | Barcelona | 0–0 | 1–4 | [10] | ||||
1960–61 | Inter-Cities Fairs Cup | 1R | Hungary | Újpesti Dózsa | 3–2 | 2–1 | [D] | [11] | |
2R | Denmark | KB | 5–0 | 4–4 | [11] | ||||
SF | Italy | Internazionale | 2–1 | 2–1 | [11] | ||||
F | Italy | A.S. Roma | 2–2 | 0–2 | [11] | ||||
1961–62 | Inter-Cities Fairs Cup | 2R | Spain | RCD Espanyol | 1–0 | 2–5 | [D] | [12] | |
2011–12 | UEFA Europa League | PO | Portugal | C.D. Nacional | 3–0 | 0–0 | [5] | ||
GS | Portugal | S.C. Braga | 1–3 | 0–1 | [6] | ||||
GS | Slovenia | NK Maribor | 1–0 | 2–1 | [6] | ||||
GS | Belgium | Club Brugge | 2–2 | 2–1 | [6] |