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{{short description|Former association football event 1985–1989}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2011}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}
{{refimprove|date=February 2013}}
{{Infobox football tournament
| name                 = Rous Cup
| logo                 = 
| caption              = 
| organiser            = {{fba|ENG|name=FA}}<br>{{fba|SCO|name= SFA}}
| founded              = 1985
| abolished            = {{start date and age|1989}}
| region               = Great Britain
| number of teams      = 1985–86: 2<br>1987–89: 3
| current champions    = {{fb|ENG}} ([[1989 Rous Cup|1989]])
| most successful team = {{fb|ENG}}<br>(3 titles)
| related comps        = [[Umbro Cup]]
| broadcasters         = 
| motto                = 
| website              = 
| current              = 
}}
The '''Rous Cup''' was a short-lived [[association football|football]] competition hosted in the second half of the 1980s, contested between [[England national football team|England]], [[Scotland national football team|Scotland]] and, in later years, a guest team from South America.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rsssf.org/tablesr/rous.html |title=Rous Cup |publisher=[[Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation]]|first=Neil |last=Morrison |date=10 July 2004 |access-date=17 February 2013}}</ref> It was named after [[Sir Stanley Rous]], an English football administrator.

==Overview==
{{see also|England–Scotland football rivalry}}
The Rous Cup arose from the ashes of the [[British Home Championship]], which had been discontinued in [[1984 British Home Championship|1984]]. Initially, the competition (which was named after [[Stanley Rous|Sir Stanley Rous]], a former secretary of [[The Football Association]] and president of [[FIFA]]) was merely a replacement for the annual [[England and Scotland football rivalry|England v Scotland]] match that had been lost due to the end of the British Home Championship. Thus, the competition consisted of just one game between England and Scotland (with home advantage alternating annually) with the winner claiming the Cup (a format identical to the [[Calcutta Cup]] in [[rugby union]]).

After two years under this format, it was decided to invite a different South American team to compete each year to create more excitement and to fulfil England and Scotland's desire to regularly play stronger teams, which had been one of their reasons for leaving the British Home Championship in the first place. As there were now three teams competing, a league system, just like the one used in the British Home Championship, was introduced. Each team would play the other two once, receiving two points for a win, one for a draw and none for a loss, with [[goal difference]] being used to differentiate between teams level on points. England and Scotland continued to play each other home and away in alternating years, but the guest South American team would play both their games away.

Though large numbers of travelling Scots to London had been a feature of England-Scotland games for many years, travelling English support to Glasgow was negligible in comparison until 1987 when minor scuffles broke out on the [[Hampden Park]] terracing. In 1989, major disturbances across Glasgow were reported as significant numbers of English hooligans appeared at this fixture for the first time. With English club sides banned from European football at the time, the FA were anxious not to see the national side banned too and the Scotland-England match was a high-profile game that brought interest from across the world. This was a major factor in the demise of the fixture.
  
The cup was discontinued, after five years, in 1989. The annual England vs Scotland fixture was also abandoned at this point. For many years since then, the oldest rivalry in world football was only renewed when the two nations were drawn together in the [[1996 European Football Championship|Euro 96]] group stage and in a two-match qualification play-off for [[2000 European Football Championship|Euro 2000]]. In the 21st century, the teams have only played each other in three friendly matches (August 2013, November 2014, and September 2023), in two [[2018 FIFA World Cup qualification - UEFA Group F|2018 World Cup qualifying group]] matches, and in the group stage of the [[UEFA Euro 2020|UEFA Euro 2020 finals]] tournament.

In 1986, the England vs Scotland match was played in April, restoring it to the time of the year when it had generally been played in the post-war years before the Home Internationals were concentrated in May from 1969. In every other year, the Rous Cup was played in May. This usually fell just after the domestic seasons in each country had finished. In 1989, it coincided with the end of the English domestic season, which had been extended after fixtures were postponed following the [[Hillsborough disaster]].

==Results==
{|class="wikitable sortable" style= text-align:center
|-
! width= px| Ed.
! width= px| Year
! width= 100px| {{gold1}} Winner
! width= px| Score
! width= 100px| {{silver2}} Runner-up
! width= 100px| {{bronze3}} Third
|-
| {{center|1}} || [[1985 Rous Cup|1985]]
|'''{{fb-big|Scotland}}''' || 1–0
|{{fb-big|England}}
| –{{refn|Two-teams format.|group=n|name= two}}
|-
| {{center|2}} || [[1986 Rous Cup|1986]] 
|'''{{fb-big|England}}''' || 2–1
|{{fb-big|Scotland}}
| –{{refn|group=n|name=two}}
|-
| {{center|3}} || [[1987 Rous Cup|1987]]
|'''{{fb-big|Brazil|1968}}''' || –{{refn|[[Round-robin tournament]] format.|group=n|name=round}}
|{{fb-big|England}}
|{{fb-big|Scotland}}
|-
| {{center|4}} || [[1988 Rous Cup|1988]]
|'''{{fb-big|England}}''' || –{{refn|group=n|name=round}}
|{{fb-big|Colombia}}
|{{fb-big|Scotland}} 
|-
| {{center|5}} || [[1989 Rous Cup|1989]]
|'''{{fb-big|England}}'''  || –{{refn|group=n|name=round}}
|{{fb-big|Scotland}}
|{{fb-big|Chile}}
|}
;Notes
{{reflist|group=n}}

==All-time table==
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable" style="text-align: center;"
|-
!width=100|Team
!width=20|{{Tooltip|T|Tournaments}}
!width=20|{{Tooltip|Pld|Played}}
!width=20|{{Tooltip|W|Won}}
!width=20|{{Tooltip|D|Drawn}}
!width=20|{{Tooltip|L|Lost}}
!width=20|{{Tooltip|GF|Goals for}}
!width=20|{{Tooltip|GA|Goals against}}
!width=20|{{Tooltip|GD|Goal difference}}
!width=20|{{Tooltip|Pts|Points}}
!width=20|{{Tooltip|%|Points percentage}}
|-
!scope=row|{{Fb|ENG}}
|5||8||3||4||1||7||4||+3||'''10'''||62.50%
|-
!scope=row|{{Fb|SCO}}
|5||8||2||2||4||4||7||−3||'''6'''||37.50%
|-
!scope=row|{{Fb|BRA|1968}}
|1||2||1||1||0||3||1||+2||'''3'''||75.00%
|-
!scope=row|{{Fb|COL}}
|1||2||0||2||0||1||1||0||'''2'''||50.00%
|-
!scope=row|{{Fb|CHI}}
|1||2||0||1||1||0||2||−2||'''1'''||25.00%
|}
:''Note: Two points for win, one for a draw''

==Records==
*Most appearances: '''[[Chris Waddle]]''', '''[[Roy Aitken]]''' and '''[[Alex McLeish]]''' (8 appearances)
*Most goals: '''[[Gary Lineker]]''' (2 goals)
*Highest attendance: '''92,000''' (England vs Brazil, 1987)
*Lowest attendance: '''9,006''' (Scotland vs Chile, 1989)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Rous Cup}}
{{Football in the United Kingdom}}
{{Friendly association football tournaments in England}}
{{Friendly association football tournaments in Scotland}}
{{British Home Championship}}

[[Category:Rous Cup| ]]
[[Category:Defunct international association football competitions in Europe]]
[[Category:Defunct international association football competitions]]
[[Category:Recurring sporting events established in 1985]]
[[Category:Recurring events disestablished in 1989]]
[[Category:England–Scotland football rivalry]]
[[Category:1985 establishments in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:International men's association football invitational tournaments]]