An overview and history of the Europa League

Originally called the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, which was created in 1955 to promote international trade fairs. The Europa League has changed formats a few times to keep up with the times and to try and make it a prestigious European competition to compete in.

The Fairs Cup was originally played over three years to avoid any clashes with domestic fixtures, and to coincide with the trade fairs taking place at the time.10 teams competed in the first ever tournament, with Barcelona beating a London XI team 8-2 in the final.

The number of competitors increased to 16 for the next competition, and again rose to 32 by 1962; with Spanish teams dominating the competition in the early years, withBarcelonaandValenciawinning it 5 times between them in the first 7 years.

English teams then went on to win the competition 4 times on the run, with Leeds United picking the trophy up twice. Tottenham Hotspur won it in 1972, the first season it had become the UEFA Cup.

UEFA Cup years (1972-2009)

From 1972 onwards, the UEFA Cup became a two legged knockout style tournament, apart from the final which was played as a one off game. The tournament was re-branded as it was no longer associated with the trade fairs; instead it was purely a UEFA organised competition. To qualify for the competition, clubs had to win their domestic cup tournaments (such as the League Cup in England), while additional places were awarded for 11 Intertoto Cup winners, and 3 places for the Fair Play awards – given to teams with the best disciplinary record.

Only three teams have won the UEFA Cup competition three times: Juventus, Inter Milan and Liverpool, while the likes of Porto, Sevilla, Feyenoord,Parma, IFK Goteburg and Real Madrid have won the trophy twice. In 1999, UEFA abandoned the Cup Winner’s Cup, meaning more participants in the UEFA Cup instead. Liverpool were the last English team to win the UEFA Cup as part of a treble cup winning season in 2001, beating Deportivo Alaves 5-4 in Dortmund.

In the 04/05 season, a group stage format was introduced similar to the Champion’s League format, with 40 teams playing four games each before progressing to the knockout stages.

If teams are knocked out of the Champion’s League, they fall into the knockout stages of the Europa League, which is what the UEFA Cup was rebranded to in 2009. The Intertoto Cup was also abandoned, meaning more entrants to the qualifying rounds of the Europa League.

Europa League

In a bid to keep up with the Champion’s League reputation, the UEFA Cup was renamed the Europa League, and it now follows a similar format toEurope’s premier competition. In recent years, teams have started taking it seriously again after seeing it as a final chance to win a bit of silverware. Liverpool got to the semi final in 2010, losing to AtleticoMadridin extra time; ultimately costing Rafa Benitez his job (coupled with a 7th place finish in the league).

In 2011, Andre Villas Boas led Porto to victory overBraga; his last act before taking over the reigns atChelsea. Porto were dumped out of this season’s competition afterManCityemphatically beat them 4-0 at the Etihad stadium.

Manchester United have promised to take the competition seriously, and are one of the favourites to win the competition alongsideValenciaandManCity.

While it will never have the same prestige as the Champion’s League, those who are knocked out of the European Cup can help raise the profile of the competition by fielding full strength sides rather than their reserves; something Harry Redknapp did earlier in the season, and as a result saw his side knocked out of the tournament earlier than expected.

If a few big name teams compete it the Europa League over the next couple of seasons, there’s no reason why the Europa League can’t become one of the more desired tournaments to win.