To some it provided a last-gasp opportunity to enter the UEFA Cup via the back door. To others it was merely a chance to fill the summer void with a handful of vaguely testing fixtures while giving their success-starved fans a rare chance to travel abroad to witness their heroes in European competition.

Regardless of its dubious merits, the Intertoto Cup will be no more once this year's tournament is completed and 11 lucky teams have earned their place in the second qualifying round of the UEFA Cup. For those who fail to make it through, all that will likely remain is the nagging sensation that maybe it wasn't really worthwhile cutting short their summer break.

The Intertoto Cup was founded in 1961/62 as a means of generating extra income for sports lotteries and pools companies during the close season before coming under UEFA's jurisdiction in 1995 when UEFA Cup qualification places were granted; two at first, then three, and now 11 since 2006.

The opportunity to make some cash on the back of the event did not stop there, however. Angus Loughran, better known as Statto from the BBC's Fantasy Football show, netted around £40,000 in 1995 by betting against Wimbledon, Sheffield Wednesday, and Tottenham Hotspur. "I don't drink, but when I saw the coupon I felt I needed the largest scotch you've ever seen," he said. "I knew that not one of the English teams was going to field anything like a reserve side. I worked out that the treble for those three to lose was 80/1."

If anything, Scottish interest in football's answer to the Stella Artois tennis tournament - the warm-up before the real thing begins - has been even more derisory. Only three clubs have ever participated in the Intertoto, with Hibernian returning for their third stab at qualification this weekend when they take on Elfsborg of Sweden. In 2004, the Edinburgh side failed to get past Vetra Vilnius of Lithuania and fared only marginally better two years later, thrashing Dinaburg of Latvia 8-0 on aggregate before being knocked out in the next round by Odense in front of an impressive, but not impressed, 10,640 at Easter Road.

Partick Thistle had been the pioneers in 1995, winning one of their four matches, before Dundee's entry in 2001 resulted in a humiliating 6-2 aggregate thumping by Sartid of Serbia. Inverness Caledonian Thistle's hopes of competing last summer were scuppered by Elton John, whose concert at Caledonian Stadium clashed with the second round.

From season 2009/10, the Intertoto Cup will be scrapped in favour of an expanded UEFA Cup competition. Scotland will have five representatives in European competition, one more than the current campaign unless Hibernian make it through two rounds to join Rangers, Celtic, Motherwell, and Queen of the South. Whoever finishes fourth in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League will take the extra UEFA Cup place although the abolition of the Intertoto will not signal the end of competitive summer football, with the second qualifying round scheduled for early July.

"The UEFA Cup will start in June and participation is mandatory, whereas the Intertoto had previously been voluntary," SPL secretary Iain Blair said: "If a team don't want to start their season in June or early July, they no longer have a choice." Happy holidays.