UEFA Cup
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UEFA Cup logo |
The UEFA Cup is a
football competition for
European club teams, organized by the
Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). It began in 1971 and replaced the
Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. It is the second most important European competition for club teams, after the
UEFA Champions League.
Football clubs qualify for the UEFA Cup based on their performance in national leagues and national cup competitions.
The UEFA Cup, was first played in 1971, with
Tottenham Hotspur F.C being the first winner. However, the 'one club per city', inherited from the
Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, rule was ended in 1975;
Everton F.C. from
Liverpool, England, had finished fourth in the
English league and could thus qualify, but were barred from entry because
Liverpool F.C. had also qualified by coming second. Everton appealed, saying the rule was an unfair
anachronism, and UEFA agreed to overturn it.
The competition was traditionally open to the runners-up of domestic leagues, but in 1999, the competition was merged with UEFA's third European competition, the
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. Since then, the winners of domestic cup competitions have also entered the UEFA Cup. Also, clubs eliminated in the third round of the UEFA Champions League and the third placed teams at the end of the group phase could go on to compete in the UEFA Cup. Also admitted to the competition are three
Fair Play representatives, the
UEFA Intertoto Cup ‘winners' and winners of some selected domestic league cup competitions.
The winners keep the trophy for a year, and after handing it back, they can keep a four fifths size
replica permanently. The regulations also states that the original trophy is handed to any club that wins the UEFA Cup three times in a row, or five times overall, though this has not happened yet.
Qualification for the competition is based on
UEFA coefficients, with more places being offered to the more successful nations. Usually places are awarded to teams who finish in various runners-up places in the top-flight leagues of Europe, and the winners of the main cup competitions. A few countries have secondary cup competitions, but the only countries which grant a UEFA Cup place to their secondary cup winners are
England and
France.
First of all, if the previous UEFA Cup title-holders are not eligible to take part in either of the current UEFA club competitions (UEFA Champions League or UEFA Cup), the UEFA Administration may, at the request of the association of the club concerned, admit this club to the current UEFA Cup competition. Its participation will not be at the expense of the contingent of its association.
Qualification can be quite complicated if one team qualifies for European competition through two different routes. In all cases, if a club is eligible to enter the UEFA Champions League, then the Champions League place takes preference and the club do not enter the UEFA Cup, and the UEFA Cup place is then granted to another club. If a team qualifies for European competition through both winning a cup and league placing, the "spare" UEFA Cup place will go to either the cup runners-up or the highest placed league team which has not already qualified for European competition, depending on the rules of the national association.
Qualification for the UEFA Cup can also be attained in two other ways:
*The eleven winners in the third round of the
UEFA Intertoto Cup enter the UEFA Cup at the second qualifying round stage from the
2006-
07 season.
*Three more berths are given to federations that finish above a certain level in
UEFA's Fair Play table. The top-placed federation automatically receives a Fair Play entry, and two other federations gain berths via a draw among all other federations that meet qualifying criteria. In all cases, the recipient of a country's Fair Play entry is the highest-placed team in the Fair Play table of that country's top league that has not already qualified for Europe.
More recently, clubs that are knocked out of the qualifying round and the group stage of the Champions League can also join the UEFA Cup, at different stages (see below).
The current competition format was first adopted for the
2004-05 season. The major change was the introduction of a group stage and two qualifying rounds instead of one. Additional changes were introduced for
2006-07 season due to the changes in the
UEFA Intertoto Cup format.
Current format
The UEFA Cup starts with two knockout qualifying rounds held in July and August. Participants from associations ranked 18 and lower enter the first qualifying round, and participants from associations ranked 9-18 join them in the second qualifying round. In addition, three places in the first qualifying round are reserved for the
Fair Play winners, and eleven places in the second qualifying round are reserved for the
UEFA Intertoto Cup winners.
Winners of the qualifying rounds join teams from the associations ranked 1-13 in the first round proper. In addition, losers in the third qualifying round of the Champions League also enter this round, and another place is reserved for the title-holders. There are 80 teams total in this round.
After the first round proper, the 40 survivors enter a group phase, with the clubs being drawn into eight groups of five each. Unlike the Champions League group phase, the UEFA Cup group phase is played in a single round-robin format, with each club playing two home and two away games. The top three teams in each group advance, where they are joined by the eight third-place teams in the Champions League group phase.
After the group stage there is a winter break. From this point, knockout play resumes, with two-legged ties leading to the one-off final, which is held at a neutral ground meeting UEFA's criteria for a
four star stadium.
Seeding is used to protect stronger teams in the qualifying rounds, first round and group stage.
Historical formats
The competition was traditionally a pure knockout tournament. All ties were two-legged, including the final. Starting with the
1998 event, the final became a one-off match, but all other ties remained two-legged.
Before the 2004-05 season, the tournament consisted of one qualifying round, followed by a series of knockout rounds. The 16 losers in the third qualifying round of the
Champions League entered at the first round proper; later in the tournament, the survivors would be joined by third-place finishers in the group phase of the Champions League.
The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup and UEFA Cup finals were played over two legs until
1997. The first final was played on
5 March 1958 in London and
1 May 1958 in Barcelona. The first leg between
London XI and
FC Barcelona was drawn 2-2, but in the return match
Barça triumphed 6-0.
The one-match finals in pre-selected venues were introduced in 1998. Only 4-star stadiums can host UEFA Cup finals. On two occasions the final was played at a finalist's home ground:
Feyenoord defeated
Borussia Dortmund at
De Kuip,
Rotterdam in
2002, and
Sporting Lisbon lost to
CSKA Moscow at
José Alvalade Stadium,
Lisbon in
2005.
The 2006/2007 UEFA Cup Final will be played on
16 May 2007 at
Hampden Park,
Glasgow.
The following table lists countries by number of winners and runner-up in the UEFA Cup (Inter-Cities Fairs Cup also included). England, Italy, and Spain are leading the field with 10 titles each. 30 of 48 editions were won by teams from these three countries. Teams from a total of 12 countries have won the UEFA Cup.
*
UEFA Champions League and
Adidas Finale*
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup*
UEFA Club Football Awards*
List of sporting events*
Official UEFA Cup website*
UEFA European Cup Football - independent site with regularly updated statistics including club and country rankings, tournament seedings, and match results.
