Several players scored their first goals for new clubs in the 2009 Peace Cup competition, though these goals do not impact their regular season statistics. These players included Cristiano Ronaldo scoring his first goal for Real Madrid,[4]Diego scored his first goal for Juventus in the Peace Cup, and Marc Albrighton scored his first goal for Aston Villa in the Peace Cup. Aston Villa's Stiliyan Petrov suffered a dislocated shoulder in the competition's group stages that forced him to miss significant time with injury.[5]
Teams
The following 12 teams confirmed to play in the tournament.[6]
After the previous three tournaments were held in South Korea, the Peace Cup Committee decided that the tournament would be hosted by another country. In 2007, the Peace Cup organizers were connected with Sports Ministry of Andalucia and Andalucia Football Federation, after the discussion with the Autonomous Community of Andalucia, they suggested the cities of Seville, Málaga, Huelva and Jerez to host the 2009 Peace Cup.[7]
On 19 December 2007, it was announced in a press conference in Seville that the number of teams would be increased to 12. It was also confirmed that Real Madrid and Sevilla would be playing in the tournament.[8] The Peace Cup committee continued to negotiate with other "big" clubs, by 13 April 2009, eight more participating clubs such as Juventus, Málaga, Lyon, Aston Villa, Celtic, Porto, Fenerbahçe and LDU Quito, were announced.[9] Celtic and Fenerbahçe, however, were forced to pull out due to conflicts with UEFA Champions League qualifying ties; they were replaced by Atlante and Beşiktaş,[10][11] respectively.
The official venue for the tournament was Andalucia, however some matches were played in Madrid.[12]
The champions and the runners-up received trophies as well as the corresponding cash prizes.[13]
Champions: €2,000,000
Runners-up: €1,000,000
Third and Fourth places: €500,000
Group stage
The 12 teams were divided into four groups of three teams. Each team played two matches in the group stage,[14] and each group winners qualified to the knockout stage. The draw for the 2009 Peace Cup was staged in Seville on 16 April 2009.[15]