View source for Mediterranean Cup

{{Short description|Sports competition}}
{{for|the darts competition|Mediterranean Cup (darts)}}
{{more citations needed|date=December 2024}}
{{Infobox rugby league football competition
| name           = Aus-Med Shield
| current_season =
| logo           =
| pixels         =
| caption        =
| formerly       = Mediterranean Cup
| founded        = 
| inaugural      = 1999
| folded         = 
| replaced       = 
| teams          = 4
| country        = Australia
| gov_body       = [[Rugby League International Federation|RLIF]]
| championtag    = Champions
| champion       = {{rl|Lebanon}}
| season         = 2016
| most_champs    = {{rl|Lebanon}}
| count          = 6
| website        = 
| TV             = 
| qualification  = 
| related_comps  = [[Rugby League European Cup|European Cup]]| related_comps2  =[[Rugby League European Shield|European Shield]]| related_comps3  =[[Rugby League European Bowl|European Bowl]]| related_comps4  =[[RLEF Euro Med Challenge|Euro-Med Challenge]]
}}
On 11 July 1998 the first ever 13 a side rugby league match was played between Italia and Lebanon, which took place at Leichhardt Oval - Sydney - Australia, the match was known as ''''The Mediterranean Cup''''. A crowd of almost 10,000 watched as these two emerging nations battled it out in a torrid affair. Former first grade players such as Frank Napoli, Chris St Clair, John Elias, David Baysarri and Darren Maroon represented their country of origin. The match was refereed by Tony Archer and Lebanon defeated a gallant Italy. The Mediterranean Cup was played before the Balmain Tigers and North Queensland Cowboys 1st grade match.

The '''Mediterranean Cup''' was an annual [[rugby league]] football tournament that was held in [[Lebanon]] although it also has been held in France. It was contested by [[Lebanon national rugby league team|Lebanon]], [[France national rugby league team|France]], [[Serbia national rugby league team|Serbia]] and [[Morocco national rugby league team|Morocco]] with the competition first conceived as a qualifying tournament for the [[2000 Rugby League World Cup]], and in 1999 was contested by Lebanon, Morocco and [[Italy national rugby league team|Italy]]. As the 2000 World Cup was not financially successful the tournament was cancelled for a number of years.

The Mediterranean Cup was resurrected in 2002 as a one-off match between Lebanon and France. It was played at Tripoli International Stadium on 2 November 2002, in front of a crowd of 9,713. Lebanon defeated France 36–6. In 2003 and 2004, it was expanded to again become a four team tournament.

On 2 October 2005 it was announced that the 2005 tournament was cancelled. According to Lebanon Rugby League official Danny Kazandjian: ''"It is with a sense of profound disappointment that we have had to face harsh reality and cancel the Mediterranean Cup, just one day before our official launch press conference at the Searock Hotel in [[Raouché]], Beirut, and just nine days before Lebanon was due to take on Serbia in the Olympic Stadium, Tripoli. The Lebanese rugby league feels extremely let down by certain parties."''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lebrl.com/news/news41.php |title=2005 Mediterranean Cup Cancelled |publisher=Lebanon Rugby League Official Site |date=2005-10-07 |access-date=2005-12-19 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070311042743/http://www.lebrl.com/news/news41.php |archive-date=11 March 2007 }}</ref>

France, Serbia, Morocco and Lebanon have all moved on to other tournaments in the [[RLEF]] developmental scheme.  Serbia and Lebanon have been moved up to the [[2009 European Nations Cup|2009 European Cup]] and France will be playing in the [[2009 Four Nations (rugby league)|2009 Four Nations]]. [[Maroc Rugby League]] are currently restructuring the game in [[Morocco]] and the revamped Moroccan team played in and won the [[RLEF Euro Med Challenge]].

In 2016, the RLEF confirmed that the Mediterranean Cup would return and announced that [[Italy national rugby league team|Italy]] would host a one-off match against Lebanon in Catania.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.loverugbyleague.com/news_22071-italy-and-lebanon-to-revive-mediterranean-cup.html|title=Italy and Lebanon to revive Mediterranean Cup|publisher=loverugbyleague.com|access-date=14 June 2016}}</ref>

==Mediterranean Cup summaries==
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%; width: 99%; text-align: center;"
|- bgcolor=#bdb76b
! Year !! Host !! Winner !! Final score !! Runner-up !! Final venue
|-
|1999||France||{{rl-big|Lebanon}}||104–0 ||{{rl-big|Morocco}}||[[Stade d'Albert Domec]], [[Carcassonne]]
|-style="background: #D0E6FF;"
|2002||[[Lebanon]]||{{rl-big|Lebanon}}||36–6||{{rl-big|France}}||[[International Olympic Stadium]], [[Tripoli, Lebanon|Tripoli]]
|-
|2003||[[Lebanon]]||{{rl-big|Lebanon}}||26–18||{{rl-big|France}}||[[International Olympic Stadium]], [[Tripoli, Lebanon|Tripoli]]
|-style="background: #D0E6FF;"
|2004||[[Lebanon]]||{{rl-big|Lebanon}}||42–14||{{rl-big|France}}||[[International Olympic Stadium]], [[Tripoli, Lebanon|Tripoli]]
|-
|2016||[[Italy]]||{{rl-big|Lebanon}}||26–22||{{rl-big|Italy}}||[[Catania University Stadium]], [[Catania]]
|-style="background: #D0E6FF;"
|2017||[[Lebanon]]||{{rl-big|Lebanon}}||6–4||{{rl-big|Italy}}||[[International Olympic Stadium]], [[Lebanon]]
|}

==See also==
{{Portal|Sports}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071109234719/http://www.lebrl.com/med-cup/2004/index.html 2004 Competition results]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071109234714/http://www.lebrl.com/med-cup/2003/index.html 2003 Competition results]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071109234709/http://www.lebrl.com/med-cup/2002/results2002.html 2002 Competition results]

{{Rugby League in Europe}}
{{International rugby league}}

[[Category:Rugby league international tournaments]]
[[Category:European rugby league competitions]]