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Peace Cup
Organising body	Sunmoon Peace Football Foundation ; (Unification Church)
Founded	2003
Abolished	2012
Region	International
Most successful club(s)	PSV Eindhoven; Tottenham Hotspur; Lyon; Aston Villa; Hamburger SV; (1 title each)
Website	peacecup.com

The Peace Cup was an invitational pre-season friendly football tournament for club teams which was held every two years by the Sunmoon Peace Football Foundation.^[1] It was usually contested by eight clubs from several continents, though 12 teams participated in 2009. The first three competitions were held in South Korea, and the 2009 Peace Cup was held in Madrid and Andalusia, Spain.^[2]^[3] Previous winners are PSV, Tottenham Hotspur, Lyon, Aston Villa, and Hamburger SV, who were the final champions.

The tournament was originally organised and held in South Korea and contested in 2003, 2005, and 2007 between eight clubs from various countries, including the Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma, which is owned by the organizing company.

A corresponding event featuring women's national teams, the Peace Queen Cup, began in 2006.^[4]

History and format

Since 2003, the Peace Cup is being held every two years, the Sunmoon Peace Football Foundation invites football clubs from various nations. South Korea's Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma participates in every tournament as both the club and foundation are sponsored by the same organization, the Unification Church.

From 2003 to 2007, the Peace Cup was played between eight clubs, divided into two groups of four teams. The winner of each group qualified for the final, which was played in a single match. 2009 Peace Cup Andalucia was held in Spain, and 12 teams participated in the competition.

The fifth competition took place again in South Korea in July 2012, and four teams which had South Korean players entered.^[5] In October 2012, it was announced that the Peace Cup will no longer be held, following the death of Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon.^[6]

Prize

From 2003 to 2007, the prize money of the tournament was approximately €2 million for the winning team,^[7]^[8] and €500,000 for the runners-up.^[7]

Results

Finals

Year	Host	Champions	Score^[9]	Runners-up	Teams
2003	South Korea	PSV Eindhoven	1–0	Lyon	8
2005	South Korea	Tottenham Hotspur	3–1	Lyon	8
2007	South Korea	Lyon	1–0	Bolton Wanderers	8
2009	Spain	Aston Villa	0–0 (a.e.t.) (4–3 p)	Juventus	12
2012	South Korea	Hamburger SV	1–0	Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma	4

Titles by club

Team	Champions	Runners-up
Lyon	1 (2007)	2 (2003, 2005)
PSV Eindhoven	1 (2003)	—
Tottenham Hotspur	1 (2005)	—
Aston Villa	1 (2009)	—
Hamburger SV	1 (2012)	—
Bolton Wanderers	—	1 (2007)
Juventus	—	1 (2009)
Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma	—	1 (2012)

Awards

The "Golden Ball" is awarded to the player on the basis of a vote taken among the media accredited to each Peace Cup tournament. There are also "Silver Ball" and "Bronze Ball" for the second and third best players respectively.^[10]^[11]

Year	Golden Ball	Golden Shoe
2003	Park Ji-sung	Mark van Bommel (2)
2005	Robbie Keane	Robbie Keane (4)
2007	Karim Benzema	Kim Källström (2)
2009	Ashley Young	Hulk (3)
2012	Marcus Berg	Mitchell Schet (2)

Controversy

The original name of the competition was to be Sunmoon Peace Cup, named after Sun Myung Moon, the founder of the Sunmoon Peace Football Foundation. However, after being criticized that it was too religious, the organization changed its name to World Peace King Cup and started preparation for its first tournament. Before the inauguration of the cup, the Asian Football Confederation warned that the term "world" can only be used by competitions organized by FIFA, and "king" can be used by competitions held by a kingdom.^[12]