4 Associations' Tournament

2011 Nations Cup

Tournament details
Host country	Republic of Ireland
City	Dublin
Dates	8 February – 29 May 2011
Teams	4
Venue(s)	Aviva Stadium
Final positions
Champions	Republic of Ireland (1st title)
Runners-up	Scotland
Third place	Wales
Fourth place	Northern Ireland
Tournament statistics
Matches played	6
Goals scored	18 (3 per match)
Attendance	74,867 (12,478 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Robbie Keane (3)

The 2011 Nations Cup (also known as the Carling Nations Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the round-robin football tournament between the Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales national teams.

The first set of two games were played in Dublin in February, with the remaining four games played in May 2011. It was won by the Republic of Ireland, who won all three of their games without conceding a goal.

The tournament was initially proposed by then Northern Ireland manager Lawrie Sanchez in 2006. On 18 September 2008, the national football associations of Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland announced plans to hold an international tournament in 2011. The tournament was due to start in 2009, but was delayed until 2011 due to 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying fixtures already being in place.

It was announced on 12 August 2010, that the tournament would be sponsored by brewing company Carling, and known for sponsorship reasons as the Carling Nations Cup. The inaugural tournament was played at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin in February and May 2011, and won by the Republic of Ireland. A second tournament was provisionally scheduled to take place in Wales in 2013. After the first tournament, which attracted some small attendances, there was a dispute about the division of revenues between the four associations. Jim Shaw, the president of the Irish Football Association, said in January 2012 that he did not envisage a second tournament being staged.

...
Wikipedia