Super cup

A super cup is a competition, usually but not exclusively in football, which often forms the "curtain-raiser" to a season. Most super cups are contested between the league champions and major cup winners of the previous season. Sometimes these are two-legged ties, with a match played at each side's stadium, but increasingly they are one-off fixtures at a neutral venue, such as a national stadium. Some Super Cups have even been staged in venues outside their home country, such as the Italian, French and Turkish games.

Super Cups are generally not considered as important as longer competitions, and are seen more as prestige matches.

Football

National level

Most nations have a super cup in football:

• Albanian Supercup
• Algerian Super Cup
• Argentinian Super Cup
• Armenian Supercup
• Austrian Supercup (defunct)
• Super Cup (Bangladesh)
• Belarusian Super Cup
• Belgian Supercup
• Bulgarian Supercup
• Croatian Supercup
• Czech Republic Football Supercup
• Danish Supercup (defunct)
• Egyptian Super Cup
• LTV Super Cup
• Estonian SuperCup
• Faroe Islands Super Cup
• Trophée des Champions
• FA Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield)
• Super Cup (1986)
• German Supercup (from 1997 to 2007, this was superseded by a league cup called DFB Ligapokal.)
• Greek Super Cup
• Honduran Super Cup (defunct)
• Hungarian Super Cup
• Indonesian Community Shield
• Iranian Super Cup
• Israel Super Cup (defunct)
• Top Four Cup (defunct), Irish FA Charity Shield (defunct)
• Top Four Cup (defunct), Football Association of Ireland Super Cup (tournament for European qualifiers) (defunct)
• Supercoppa Italiana
• Japanese Super Cup
• Kenyan Super Cup and the KPL Top 8 Cup (top 8 teams from previous season)
• Lebanese Super Cup
• Libyan SuperCup
• Lithuanian Supercup
• Macedonian Super Cup
• Malaysia Charity Shield
• Mexican Super Cup (Campeón de Campeones)
• Johan Cruijff Schaal
• Polish SuperCup
• SuperCup Cândido de Oliveira
• Romanian Super Cup
• Russian Super Cup
• San Marino Federal Trophy (top two from League, finalists from Cup)
• Singapore Charity Shield
• Slovenian Supercup
• MTN 8 (top 8 teams from previous season)
• Korean Super Cup (defunct)
• Supercopa de España
• Suriname President's Cup
• Supercupen
• Kor Royal Cup (League champions and cup winners), Thai Super Cup (Top 4 places in last season)
• Trinidad and Tobago Charity Shield
• Turkish Super Cup
• Cumhurbaşkanlığı Kupası
• Ukrainian Super Cup
• USSR Super Cup (defunct)
• Vietnamese Super Cup

International level

Most of the continental football federations also have their own super cups:

• AFC: Asian Super Cup (defunct)
• CAF: CAF Super Cup
• CONMEBOL: Recopa Sudamericana
• UEFA: UEFA Super Cup
• CIS: Super Cup of Champions

Similar competitions

The FIFA Confederations Cup can be considered a super cup of sorts, albeit contested every four years between the national team winners of their respective confederation championships, the last FIFA World Cup champion and the host country of the upcoming tournament. The FIFA Club World Cup follows a similar concept, contested annually between the winners of each confederation's primary club competition and the domestic league champion of the host nation.

Other sports

• A number of European countries have football-style Super Cups available for basketball. Examples include:
  • Spain – Supercopa de España de Baloncesto
  • Italy – Supercoppa Italiana di Pallacanestro
• FIBA Europe SuperCup Women, contested between the winners of EuroLeague Women and EuroCup Women.
• IIHF Super Cup, a defunct ice hockey competition.
• The Super Powers Cup was an annual international rugby union competition contested by national teams from Canada, Japan, Russia and United States. In 2005, its name was changed to the Super Cup.
• The ADAC Supercup, commonly known as Supercup; a German sportscar racing series held between 1985 to 1989.
• Porsche Supercup, an international one make racing series for Porsche 911 Carreras