Since 1997, the
Catalan national team has played an international
friendly match nearly every year, coinciding with the
Christmas holidays. In 2009, in the context of Catalan aspirations to participate in official
FIFA or
UEFA competitions, the president of the
Catalan Football Federation, Jordi Casals, announced the conversion of friendlies into an annual tournament, named the
Catalonia International Trophy. The artist
Joan Mora donated a sculpture symbolising the four bars of the
Catalan flag as a prize for the winner. On 22 December 2009, the first edition,
Johan Cruyff's Catalonia won 4–2 against
Diego Maradona's
Argentina. After that, four more games were held against
Honduras,
Tunisia twice,
Nigeria and
Cape Verde. == Results ==