1951 FIFA Youth International Tournament Very Rare VIP Ticket - included England and Northern Ireland

Originally, FIFA ran a tournament format that was small and highly localised to the European continent.  This season was hosted by France and ran from March 22nd until March 26 with just 8 invited nations participating.  The nations were: Austria Belgium, England, France, the Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Switzerland, and Yugoslavia.

Yugoslavia won its first title defeating Austria 3-2 in the final in Cannes with future legendary striker Milos Miluntiovic named best player and top goalscorer. In 1955 UEFA took over the running of the competition as it was predominantly European and the tournament shifted away from invitational to a merit based system.  It became the UEFA European Under-18 Championship in 1981 and later the UEFA Under 19 Championship in 2002.

FIFA came back into the arena in 1977 when it created the U-20 World Cup which played under the name of the FIFA World Youth Championship before changing its name in 2005 to the FIFA U-20 World Cup.  U-17's and Women's World Cup followed on later.

Gordon Jago who became a pioneering manager managing Rangers, Millwall, Queens Park Rangers and Tampa Bay Rowdies and was inducted into the US Soccer Hall of Fame, Chelsea's Frank Blunstone and Vic Groves who became Arsenal's Club Captain all played in the tournament.

This ticket came from a delegate who was at the tournament and allowed access into all 3 stadiums Nice, Cannes and Monaco. It is in mint condition and very rare indeed.