The Rous Cup was a short-lived football competition in the second half of the 1980s, contested between England, Scotland and, in later years, a guest team from South America.

Initially, the competition (which was named after Sir Stanley Rous, a former secretary of The Football Association and president of FIFA) was merely a replacement for the annual England v Scotland match that had been lost due to the end of the British Home Championship.

After two years under this format, it was decided to invite a different South American team to compete each year to create more excitement and to fulfil England and Scotland's desire to regularly play stronger teams, which had been one of their reasons for leaving the British Home Championship in the first place.

In 1989, major disturbances across Glasgow were reported as significant numbers of English hooligans appeared at this fixture for the first time.

In 1989, it coincided with the end of the English domestic season, which had been extended after fixtures were postponed following the Hillsborough disaster.