European Champion Clubs Cup Cross Country


The European Champion Clubs Cup Cross Country is an annual cross country running competition between the European running clubs that are the reigning national champions for their country. It is often abbreviated to the name ECCC Cross Country. It is traditionally held on the first Sunday of February.
Organised by the European Athletics Association, it was first held in 1962, making it the second oldest regional cross country event in the world. Only the International Cross Country Championships and World Military Cross Country Championships are older than these two events. It also pre-dates the European Cross Country Championships by over thirty years.
The competition was initially launched as a senior men only event, with a senior women's race being added to the programme twenty years later in 1982. Junior races for both men and women were initiated in 2006. Historically, the women's race was typically held at a separate location from the men's race. The two events have been held in conjunction since 2005 and each edition now features all four races at the same venue. Reflecting the early roots of the tournament, until 2002 the United Kingdom sent four teams – one from each of its constituent countries. The event garners wide participation: in 2015 a total of 287 athletes competed across four races and clubs from 21 nations were present. The men's race is the most contested, with the field typically reaching 100 runners.
It is one of three annual athletics club competitions held by the European Athletics Association, alongside the European Champion Clubs Cup and European Champion Clubs Cup for Juniors in track and field.
The competition was staged in Belgium on all but one occasion up to 1980. Thereafter, it has been mostly held in the Iberian Peninsula and Italy, reflecting the prominence of the region in hosting elite level cross country meetings.

Rules and format

The eligible clubs for each race differ as each needs to have qualified through the respective national level competition – for example, only national junior women's club champions compete in the junior women's race. The men's senior race is over, the senior women's and junior men's races are over, and the junior women's race is. Each team race is scored by combining the finishing positions of a team's top four athletes. The team with the lowest cumulative score is the winner. Teams with fewer than four finishers are declared non-finishers. Medals are awarded for both the individual and team element of the competition. Non-point-scoring members of winning teams are recognised in the team ceremonies.
As a club-level competition, athletes of any nationality may compete in the competition as long as they are registered with an eligible European running club. However, athletes whose nationality is different from that of the country that their club is based in must be entered as a "Declared Foreign Athlete" in order to compete. This applies equally to non-European athletes and European athletes competing for a club of a different European nation.
The host venue for the event is decided by a host bidding process. The tournament has been held as a one-off sporting event for the host venue and also as an element to be incorporated into a long-standing cross country meeting – the annual Almond Blossom Cross Country race in Portugal has been host to the clubs cup competition on numerous occasions.

Editions

Men

Women

Ed.YearCityCountryDateTeam winnerIndividual winner
19th1982FormiaItaly31 January
20th1983ViterboItaly30 January
21st1984CassinoItaly4 January
22nd1985FuenlabradaSpain3 February
23rd1986AlbufeiraPortugal2 February
24th1987ClusoneItaly1 February
25th1988CardiffWales7 February
26th1989AlbufeiraPortugal5 February
27th1990BragaPortugal3 February
28th1991—San Marino9 February
29th1992CassinoItaly1 February
30th1993AlbufeiraPortugal7 February
31st1994CassinoItaly6 February
32nd1995MaiaPortugal5 February
33rd1996LancianoItaly3 February
34th1997NewportWales9 February
35th1998IstanbulTurkey8 February
36th1999LancianoItaly7 February
37th2000SalamancaSpain6 February
38th2001VilamouraPortugal4 February
39th2002OrtuellaSpain3 February
40th2003JaénSpain2 February
41st2004LancianoItaly31 February

Combined

Ed.YearCityCountryDateMen's team winnerMen's individual winnerWomen's team winnerWomen's individual winner
42nd2005MantuaItaly5 Feb
43rd2006CáceresSpain5 Feb
44th2007IstanbulTurkey4 Feb
45th2008AlbufeiraPortugal2 Feb
46th2009IstanbulTurkey1 Feb
47th2010BilbaoSpain7 Feb
48th2011San Vittore OlonaItaly6 Feb
49th2012CastellónSpain5 Feb
50th2013CastellónSpain3 Feb
51st2014AlbufeiraPortugal2 Feb
52nd2015GuadalajaraSpain1 Feb
53rd2016KastamonuTurkey7 Feb
54th2017AlbufeiraPortugal5 Feb
55th2018MiraPortugal4 Feb
56th2019AlbufeiraPortugal3 Feb

Junior winners

YearJunior men's teamJunior men's individualJunior women's teamJunior women's individual
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019

Statistics

;Most successful clubs
;Most successful athletes