Premier Cup
The Premier Cup was a one-off football tournament held to mark the coronation of Queen Alexandra on 1 August 2019. Contested between sixteen football clubs, the tournament lasted for over four weeks, beginning on 18 May 2019 and ending on 30 May 2019.
Consisting of a total of sixteen clubs, in alphabetical order, the teams that competed in the tournament were:
- Aberdeen
- Atlético Madrid
- Bayern Munich
- Barcelona
- Borussia Dortmund
- Celtic
- Chelsea
- Liverpool
- Manchester City
- Manchester United
- Motherwell
- Rangers
- Real Madrid
- Valencia
- Werder Bremen
- Wolfsburg
In total, the tournament consisted of four stages, namely the round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals, and finals, all of which are one-legged occasions. Meanwhile, the clubs that compete in the tournament are drawn against one another at random via a televised lucky draw, and their fixtures in the round of 16, quarter-finals, and semi-finals are played simultaneously. Meanwhile, the finals were held at Wembley Stadium, London.
Similar to most football tournaments, penalty shootouts were used to break any potential deadlocks. Meanwhile, a player who has picked up two cumulative yellow cards or simply a red card is declared ineligible for the next match and must therefore wait out the suspension period before being allowed to return.
Venue
For the tournament, a total of ten stadiums across England were used, namely Wembley Stadium, Old Trafford, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London Stadium, Anfield, Emirates Stadium, City of Manchester Stadium, St James' Park, Stadium of Light, and Villa Park.
Draw
For the round of 16, the clubs competing in the tournament were randomly paired against each other via a lucky draw held on 14 May 2019. The results of the draw, which was televised live on multiple channels including BBC Sport, Sky Sports, and beIN Sports, are as follows:
- Manchester City v Chelsea
- Bayern Munich v Atlético Madrid
- Celtic v Wolfsburg
- Valencia v Liverpool
- Rangers v Aberdeen
- Werder Bremen v Real Madrid
- Motherwell v Borussia Dortmund
- Manchester United v Barcelona
Round of 16
On 18 May 2019, the first four matches of the round of 16 took place. In this, a shock 3-1 loss saw Manchester City dealt an early exit by Chelsea. Meanwhile, defending Spanish champions Atlético Madrid, who suffered a red card in the process, were otherwise eliminated by German champions Bayern Munich in a 1-2 loss whereas Scottish champions Celtic prevailed by narrowly defeating Wolfsburg 1-0 in extra time with Valencia following suit by staging a shock 3-2 win over English giants Liverpool late into injury time to also advance.
On 19 May 2019, the last four matches of the round of 16 took place. In this, Rangers swiftly eliminated Aberdeen via a 2-0 win in an all-Scottish contest. Meanwhile, despite an unexpectedly strong resistance, Werder Bremen were ultimately eliminated at the hands of Spanish giants Real Madrid in a 1-2 loss. Otherwise, Borussia Dortmund defeated Scottish minnows Motherwell 1-0 to also advance with English giants Manchester United following suit by defeating Barcelona 2-1.
Quarter-finals
On 22 May 2019, all four matches of the quarter-finals simultaneously took place. In this, against initial expectations, Borussia Dortmund were eliminated in a 1-3 loss to Valencia. Otherwise, Real Madrid easily met expectations by defeating Rangers 3-0. Meanwhile, two own-goals from Chelsea saw Bayern Munich dramatically defeat their English opponents 4-2 in a penalty shootout following a 2-2 draw with Scottish champions Celtic also requiring a penalty shootout to eliminate English giants Manchester United in a close 4-3 win following an otherwise goalless draw.
Semi-Finals
On 26 May 2019, both semi-final matches took place. In this, Celtic's time in the tournament was ultimately cut short by a 0-3 loss to Valencia while a lone goal from Casemiro late into extra time helped Real Madrid defeat Bayern Munich 1-0 in a dramatic affair, thereby setting an all-Spanish final at Wembley Stadium.
Final
On 30 May 2019, the all-Spanish finals took place at Wembley Stadium, London between Real Madrid and Valencia. In this, goals from Marco Asensio and Isco saw Real Madrid meet most expectations by defeating Valencia 2-0 with the latter unable to record a single shot on target against their more dominant opponents.
Aftermath
In the aftermath of the match, with three goals scored, Real Madrid's Marco Asensio was named as the tournament's top goalscorer with fellow clubmate Marcelo and Borussia Dortmund's Raphaël Guerreiro instead sharing the designation of the tournament's top assister with two assists each. Meanwhile, having only conceded once throughout the entire tournament, namely in his club's 2-1 win over Werder Bremen, Real Madrid's Thibaut Courtois was named as the tournament's best goalkeeper.
In overall terms, both the tournament's reception and assessment were judged to be overwhelmingly positive with pundits particularly praising the nerve-wracking and dramatic nature of some of the matches.