1989 Rous Cup

The 1989 Rous Cup was the fifth and final staging of the Rous Cup international football competition, based around the England–Scotland football rivalry.

1989 Rous Cup

Tournament details
Dates	23–30 May 1989
Teams	3 (from 2 confederations)
Venue(s)	2 (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	England
Runners-up	Scotland
Third place	Chile
Tournament statistics
Matches played	3
Goals scored	4 (1.33 per match)
Attendance	87,916 (29,305 per match)

As in the previous two years, a South American team was also invited to compete in a triangular tournament, with Chile being this year's entrant.[1] World champions Argentina had been originally invited but declined, citing domestic fixture congestion.[2] Their invitation had been disapproved of by the British government, given the cut relations between the two nations following the 1982 Falklands War.[3]

England won the competition for the second year running, and third time in its five years of existence. This marked the final time any England vs Scotland matches would be arranged besides a friendly played in August 2013. To date, the countries have only met six times since, five times when drawn together – during Euro '96 group stage and in qualification for Euro 2000 and FIFA World Cup 2018.

Due to the English First Division being extended to enable Liverpool to complete their fixtures that had been postponed following the Hillsborough disaster on 15 April 1989, England were unable to select any players from Liverpool or Arsenal (Liverpool's final opponent) for the tournament.