1985 Kirin Cup

Kirin Cup 1985

(Japan, West Ham, Santos, Yomiuri, Malaysia, Uruguay)

The eighth Kirin Cup tournament was held in Japan from 26 May to 4 June 1985 and featured Japan, Uruguay, West Ham (England), Santos (Brazil), Malaysia and Yomiuri (Japan). The format for this tournament was changed again with all of the teams playing each other in a single group, before the top two placed teams played off in a Final. Santos defeated West Ham 2-1, Malaysia 8-1, Japan 4-1, Yomiuri 4-0 and drew with Uruguay 1-1 to top the group, with Uruguay in second place. In the Final Santos continued their good form to defeat Uruguay 4-2 with two goals each from Mirandinha and Ze Sergio to win the 1985 Kirin Cup.

The official 1985 Kirin Cup programme has 36 x A4 pages and is in Japanese. The programme includes details of the fixtures, the Kirin Cup, and details of the competing teams together with small photos of each of their players and further details on some of the star players including Enzo Francescoli, Rodolfo Rodriguez and Alan Devonshire. Finally the programme included details of previous Kirin Cup tournaments.

The 1985 Kirin Cup programme in my collection has been autographed on the front and back by several of the Santos players including Gersinho, Paulo Robson and Paulo Roberto.

Ticket - West Ham v Santos