Last season saw the debut of the UEFA Europa League knockout round playoffs. There are 16 teams total, including the eight Europa League stage runners-up and the eight UEFAChampions League group stage third-place clubs. The eight play-off match winners join the eight group winners in the Europa League round of 16 in March.
The UEFA Europa League, originally known as the UEFA Cup, is an annual club football tournament run by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) since 1971 for qualified European football teams. It Is sometimes referred to as UEFA EL or UEL. It is the second-tier European tournament, above the UEFA Europa Conference League and below the UEFA Champions League.
Before the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup’s discontinuation in 1999, the third-tier tournament was the UEFA Cup, which is why it is still frequently referred to as the “C3”. Based on their results in their respective national leagues and cup tournaments, clubs earn a spot in the competition.
It replaced the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup when it was first introduced in 1971 as the UEFA Cup. The UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup was disbanded as a distinct tournament in 1999 and combined with the UEFA Cup. Before the knockout stage, a group stage was added starting with the 2004–05 season. As a result of a format change, the tournament has been known as the Europa League since the 2009–10 campaign.
In 2009, the tournament underwent a rebranding that featured a merger with the UEFA Intertoto Cup, resulting in an enhanced competition structure with an extended group stage and modified qualification standards. The victor of the UEFA Europa League advances to the UEFA Super Cup and, as of the 2014–15 campaign, also advances to the group stage of the UEFA Champions League for the next year.
Spanish clubs have the most victories (13), followed by English and Italian teams (9 wins each). 29 clubs have claimed the trophy, and 14 of those have done it more than once. With six trophies, Sevilla is the most successful team in the league. The current winners are Eintracht Frankfurt, who defeated Rangers in the 2022 championship game 5-4 on penalties.
The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, a European football competition played between 1955 and 1971, came before the UEFA Cup. The tournament expanded from 11 teams in the inaugural season (1955–58) to 64 teams in the last season (1970–71). The UEFA Cup, a new seasonal confederation tournament with a different rulebook, structure, and disciplinary panel, took its place.
The 1971–72 season saw the inaugural UEFA Cup competition, culminating in an all–English final between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Tottenham Hotspur, with Spurs winning the first trophy. Since then, the competition has garnered more media attention and reputation than the Fairs Cup. Another English team, Liverpool, won the championship in 1973 after defeating Borussia Monchengladbach in the championship match.
Gladbach made it to the final in 1980 and won the competition in 1975 and 1979. Feyenoord defeated Tottenham Hotspur 4-2 on aggregate to win the cup in 1974. (2–2 in London, 2–0 in Rotterdam). After beating Club Brugge in the championship game, Liverpool won the competition for the second time in 1976.
In the 1980s, the competition was won twice each by IFK Goteborg (1982 and 1987) and Real Madrid (1985 and 1986), while Anderlecht had two consecutive final appearances, winning in 1983 and falling to Tottenham Hotspur in 1984. The dominance of Italian clubs began in 1989 with Napoli’s victory over VfB Stuttgart under Diego Maradona.
Two all-Italian finals occurred at the beginning of the 1990s, and Torino lost the 1992 final against Ajax based on away goals. In 1993, Juventus took first place for a third time. In 1994, Internazionale retained the trophy in Italy.
After two straight Cup Winners’ Cup finals, 1995 witnessed a third all-Italian final, with Parma demonstrating their stability. In the 1990s, 1996 was the only final in which there were no Italians.
The next two years, Internazionale made it to the championship game; they lost on penalties to Schalke 04 in 1997, but they prevailed in an all-Italian final in 1998 to win the trophy for the third time in as few as eight years.
The final victory in the Italian dominance era came in 1999 when Parma won the cup. Up until Internazionale’s presence in the 2020 final, it was the last time an Italian club competed in a UEFA Cup or Europa League final.
Galatasaray, the first Turkish team to win the trophy, marked the start of the decade of the 2000s with victory. In 2001, Liverpool took first place for the third time. Feyenoord defeated Borussia Dortmund in 2002 to earn their second victory. Porto won the competitions in 2003 and 2011, the latter success coming over Braga, another Portuguese team.
Valencia won the cup in 2004, bringing it back to Spain. In 2005, CSKA Moscow won. In 2006 and 2007, Sevilla won twice in a row, the last time in a matchup with Espanyol, a Spanish team. In 2008, Zenit Saint Petersburg triumphed. Shakhtar Donetsk of Ukraine won in 2009, becoming the first Ukrainian team to accomplish it.
the ultimate matchup between Athletic Bilbao and them. [46] Chelsea made history in 2013 as they became the first Champions League winners to also take home the UEFA Cup and Europa League. Sevilla beat Benfica on penalties in 2014 to win their third cup in eight years. Sevilla won the UEFA Cup/Europa League for the fourth time and the Europa League for the third time in 2015, becoming the most successful team in the competition’s history with five championships.
In 2016, Sevilla defeated Liverpool in the competition’s final. Following their victory over Inter Milan in 2020, they gained a sixth triumph. The inaugural UEFA Cup/Europa League final between two clubs from the same city took place in 2019 between Chelsea and Arsenal, who were both from London.
The league was renamed the UEFA Europa League starting with the 2009–10 season. The third-tier UEFA tournament, the UEFA Intertoto Cup, was also terminated and combined into the new Europa League at the same time.
Trophy:
The trophy given by UEFA to the football team that wins the UEFA Europa League is referred to as the UEFA Cup, sometimes known as the Coupe UEFA. Before the 2009–10 campaign, the trophy and the competition were both referred to as the “UEFA Cup.”
The rules of UEFA stipulated that a team may keep the old trophy for a year before returning it to UEFA, however, that was before the competition was renamed the UEFA Europa League in the 2009–10 season. The club was allowed to keep a scaled-down duplicate of the original trophy once it was returned. A club might keep the trophy permanently after winning three games in a row or five times total.
The trophy is always kept by UEFA following the current rules. Each competition winner receives a replica trophy that is the same size as the original. A multiple-winner badge will be awarded to a club that triumphs three times in a row or five times in total. Only Sevilla has received the privilege to wear the multiple-winner badge as of 2016–17, having accomplished both prerequisites in 2016.
Silvio Gazzaniga, who worked for Bertoni and previously designed the FIFA World Cup Trophy, created the trophy for the 1972 UEFA Cup Final. It is silver, sits on a pedestal made of yellow marble, and weighs 15 kg (33 lb). The cup is 67 centimetres (26 in) tall and is made of a base with two onyx discs in which a band of flags is embedded.
The trophy is always kept by UEFA following the current rules. Each competition winner receives a replica trophy that is the same size as the original. A multiple-winner badge will be awarded to a club that triumphs three times in a row or five times in total. Only Sevilla has received the privilege to wear the multiple-winner badge as of 2016–17, having accomplished both prerequisites in 2016.
Silvio Gazzaniga, who worked for Bertoni and previously designed the FIFA World Cup Trophy, created the trophy for the 1972 UEFA Cup Final. It is silver, sits on a pedestal made of yellow marble, and weighs 15 kg (33 lb). The cup is 67 centimetres (26 in) tall and is made of a base with two onyx discs in which a band of flags is embedded.
