In the first leg of the final, played in dreadful weather in front of a crowd of 40,524 at St Andrew's, Birmingham produced a fine defensive performance to hold Barcelona to a goalless draw.
For the second edition, of which this final was the culmination, the organising committee changed the format, removing the initial group stage in favour of a straight 16-team knockout, in order to accommodate the tournament within two normal seasons.
[1] CF Barcelona had needed a replay to defeat Birmingham City in the semi-final of the inaugural Fairs Cup, and went on to beat the London representative XI in the final.
[5] In contrast, Barcelona confirmed their second consecutive Spanish league title on the last day of the season, defeating Zaragoza by a five-goal margin to ensure parity on points with Real Madrid and increase their advantage on goal average.
[7] On a poor pitch made worse by the ground authorities scheduling an amateur match before the main event, and in persistent sleet so cold that players could not feel their feet,[8] Barcelona beat a defensively sound Basel representative eleven 2–1 with goals from Enric Gensana and Evaristo.
[10] In the quarter-final, they faced Inter Milan of Italy, whom Barcelona coach Helenio Herrera likened to his own club: a great team with a rich history and excellent imported players.
ABC's reporter suggested that had Inter's goalkeeper Enzo Matteucci not been on such good form the winning margin might have been even wider, and picked out the defence, especially Rodri, and wing-half Joan Segarra as being outstanding in blunting the attack of the Milan stars.
[17] For the second leg, the German side was depleted by injury and work commitments – they were all part-time players – and Birmingham won comfortably with goals from Bunny Larkin and Brian Taylor.
[18] Birmingham went into the away leg of their semi-final against Belgian club Union Saint-Gilloise under strict orders to respect the referee's whistle, and on a mission to "salvag[e] some shred of our Soccer reputation—so ruthlessly wrecked" by Wolverhampton Wanderers' first-leg defeat to East German team Vorwärts Berlin and Manchester United's 6–1 capitulation at home to Real Madrid.
They became the first British club side to reach a European final,[17] despite playing with ten men from the 18th minute, after Taylor suffered a badly broken leg that was to keep him out of football for a year, and finishing the match with only nine when Barrett was also injured.
[22] In the second half, Barcelona tired; El Mundo Deportivo noted that they had played a league match in Seville only 48 hours earlier and the players were not machines.
[17] Before the game, Trevor Smith had told the Daily Mirror that his team intended not to commit themselves to tackling their opponents, but rather to "funnel back" in defence, forcing the visitors to shoot from distance.
The Mirror's Bill Holden wrote that "for a team struggling against relegation and up against the greatest collection of international stars by any European club, they did a wonderful job".
After a heavy defeat to fierce rivals Real Madrid in the semi-final of the European Cup, Barcelona's directors issued a statement stressing the priority they had placed on winning that competition, in financial as well as footballing terms, and dismissed Helenio Herrera.
[28] El Mundo Deportivo's preview pointed out that Birmingham had been struggling in the league because of injuries, and had saved their best performances for cup matches, courtesy of the tough, tenacious quality of their team.
The Daily Telegraph's David Miller confirmed that Birmingham were on top form, and reported that he expected at least 100 fans to make the journey from England to support their club.
Gordon Astall had two chances at goal, the former going wide and the latter being deflected in spectacular fashion by Ramallets, before another attack down the right flank allowed Martínez to feed Coll,[32] whose "fierce right-foot drive through a crowd of players" gave Barcelona a four-goal lead.
[33] Jimeno congratulated Lucien van Nuffel on his firmness in punishing Birmingham's dangerous play;[33] in the last 15 minutes, some wild tackling had brought cautions for Brian Farmer and Johnny Watts.
[34] After Barcelona beat English champions Wolverhampton Wanderers 5–2 in the European Cup, Herrera told the assembled press that "You in England are playing now in the style that we Continentals used so many years ago, with much physical strength, but no method, no technique".
[38] The annual meeting of the Fairs Cup organising committee, held in Barcelona alongside the final, decided to run the third edition of the competition within a single playing season.
They were invited to play Third Division Atlético Baleares in honour of the opening of the club's new stadium in Palma de Mallorca, but the game was abandoned with "scuffles going on all over the field" after two Birmingham men, Peter Murphy and Dick Neal, were sent off, the former for a foul on the hosts' captain, Crespí, that broke his leg so badly that he was forced to retire from football.
[40][41] The players' reputation both footballing and behavioural was to some extent redeemed in a charity match in aid of the "Pro Suburbios" campaign against slum housing,[42] a 1–1 draw with a Sevilla XI that El Mundo Deportivo's sub-editor thought would not go down in history.