UEFA Europa League

Background

The forerunner of the UEFA Cup is the Fairs Cup , which was organized on April 18, 1955 . The tournament was held from 1955 to 1971. The idea of ​​creating this tournament belongs to Ernst Tomman, together with Ottorino Barrazi and Stanley Rose ^[10] . In the first draw, the principle " One city - one team ." It was attended by the teams of Barcelona , Basel , Birmingham , Copenhagen , Frankfurt , Lausanne , Leipzig , London , Milan and Zagreb ^[11] . The first draw lasted three years from 1955 to 1958, since the matches were held during fairs ^[11] . 10 teams participated in the Fairs Cup of the 1955/58 season , between which 23 matches were played ^[11] . The Barcelona national team is the first owner of this cup, having defeated the London national team in the final with a total score of 8: 2 according to the results of two matches.

In the second draw of the Fairs Cup of the 1958/60 season, the organizers decided to use only professional clubs, and the teams still had to represent the cities where the fairs were held ^[12] . The number of teams increased to 16, after which the tournament began to be held every year. By 1962, the number of participants increased to 32 ^[13] , and in the 1968/69 season 64 teams participated in the draw ^[14] . Initially, teams from southern Europe dominated the Fairs Cup. Barcelona won 3 times, Valencia 2 times. In 1968, Leeds United was the first club from northern Europe to win a trophy, after which English teams won the Fairs Cup for five years ^[15] . This tournament reached such importance in the European football arena that it was eventually “captured” by UEFA , and the next season it began to be held under a new name, the UEFA Cup ^[16] . The UEFA does not officially recognize the fairs cup only because the tournament was not held under their auspices.

From 1972 to 2009

The first UEFA Cup was held in the 1971/72 season . The winner of the tournament was London 's Tottenham Hotspur , having beaten another English club Wolverhampton Wanderers with a total score of 3: 2 ^[7] . The tournament changed its name because it was now held under the auspices of UEFA and was no longer associated with fairs. In the 70s, as part of this tournament, clubs from Germany , the Netherlands , Belgium and Sweden successfully competed with the English teams. From 1968 to 1984, only one Italian club, Turin Juventus , managed to break the hegemony of clubs from the north by winning the UEFA Cup of the 1976/77 season ^[17] .

After two consecutive victories of Real Madrid in 1985 and 1986, Italian clubs came to the fore ^[18] . The Napoli victory in 1989 marked the beginning of eight triumphs and six more finals of the Italian teams in the UEFA Cup for 11 seasons, with the Internationale winning the cup three times ^[19] , however, after 1999, the representatives of Italy never reached the final. In 2000, Galatasaray won, which was the first Turkish club to win a tournament in the European arena ^[20] . The first 25 years of the tournament, with the exception of 1964 and 1965, the winner was determined by the results of two matches, one at the stadium of each participating club, but in 1998 a single-match final was introduced in a neutral field. The Internazionale defeated Lazio at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris ^{[21] [22]} . Juventus , Internazionale and Liverpool are record holders for the number of victories in the tournament, having won it three times ^[16] .

Starting from the 1999/00 season , the winners of national cups began to take part in the UEFA Cup, as the UEFA Cup Winners Cup was canceled. In addition, clubs that failed in the third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League and those who took third place in their groups began to get into the UEFA Cup. In the 2004/05 season , a group stage for 40 clubs appeared in the UEFA Cup, each of which held four games at this stage.

Four teams won the UEFA Cup, as well as their domestic championship and national cup in one season, these are Gothenburg in 1982 ^[23] , Galatasaray in 2000 ^[24] , Porto in 2003 ^[25] and 2011 ^{[26 ]} , and CSKA Moscow in 2005 ^[27] . This achievement is called treble, and Galatasaray also won the UEFA Super Cup ^[28] . In addition, Tottenham Hotspur ^[29] , Borussia Mönchengladbach ^[30] , Gothenburg (twice) ^{[31] [32]} , Ajax ^[33] , Galatasaray and Feyenoord ^[34] are teams that won the cup without a single defeat in the winning campaign. Espanyol is the only finalist who reached the final without any defeats, but lost in the final. Gothenburg ^[23] played 25 matches in a row in the UEFA Cup from 1980 to 1987 without a single defeat, including.

The trophy is a silver bowl weighing 15 kilograms. The original cup on a marble stand was made in the Milan workshop of Bertoni for the 1972 finale. It has no pens, so the trophy looks simple and elegant. The figures of the players fighting for the ball at the base have not only a decorative function, but also give stability to the structure - an octagonal cup with the UEFA emblem rests on their shoulders.

An interesting fact is that the UEFA Cup vessel itself is not airtight, and therefore it is impossible to pour any liquid into it, so the players of the winning team of this competition are deprived of the opportunity to traditionally drink champagne from the won trophy.

The UEFA Europa League trophy is a challenge cup. Before the reform of the competition, in accordance with UEFA rules, the winner of the tournament received the original cup after three victories in the tournament in a row or after the fifth victory, regardless of whether they were won one after another. The cycle of victories was counted from the moment of the previous transfer of the trophy to eternal storage. After that, a new cycle began. Until now, only the Spanish Sevilla have been able to fulfill the specified requirements on May 19, 2016, having won the third final in a row. The club, which won the UEFA Europa League and does not meet the criteria listed above, had the right to keep the trophy at home for the next season and had to return it to UEFA two months before the next final. The winner of the tournament also received a copy of the trophy in the size of 4: 5 of the original. ^[35] Under the new rules, which entered into force on the 2009/10 season , the trophy is kept in UEFA forever, each winner is awarded a full-size copy of the cup. The club, which won the tournament for three consecutive seasons or won only five victories, is especially noted in the recognition of merit, the original trophy, in contrast to the previously existing rules, is not left to the club. ^[36]

From March to May 2009, at the Paris Opera, under the direction of composer Johan Zweig, the UEFA Europa League Anthem was recorded. This composition for the updated tournament was first officially presented at the Grimaldi Forum on August 28, 2009 before the group stage draw.

The anthem is played in the stadium before each game of the UEFA Europa League, as well as before every television broadcast of the Europa League matches as a musical element of the opening of the tournament.

Johan Zweig himself hopes that his anthem will achieve, from the point of view of world recognition, the same successes as the UEFA Champions League anthem ^{[37] [38]} .

In connection with the rebranding of the competence of the tournament, from the season 2015-2016 a new anthem has been used, recorded in Berlin by Michael Kadelbach.

Qualification

The qualification for participation in the competition is based on the UEFA odds table , the start of the tournament from the higher rounds is given to teams from countries that are rated more successful. But in fact, each association has a standard number of qualified teams, in the number of three clubs, with the exception of countries in the ranking from 7th to 9th place, which had four representatives in the seasons 2009-2015, countries from 52th to 53rd place, exhibiting two clubs , and the country that closes the rating (54th place), which along with Liechtenstein delegates one club each. The representation of one of the associations with a rank of 1-3 in the UEFA odds table can increase to 4 teams in a situation where both the previous season's Eurocup winners representing this association enter the Champions League but do not qualify for Eurocups through national tournaments of this association, leading to the transfer of the 4th championship team of this association to the group stage of the UEFA Europa League from the UEFA Champions League. As a rule, tickets to the UEFA Europa League are awarded to clubs that have taken places in the domestic championship after teams qualifying for the UEFA Champions League and winners of national cups. In some countries, winners of national League Cups , for example, England and France, get tickets to the Europa League .

The current winner of the tournament until the start of the 2014/2015 season had the right to qualify for the next draw if he could not qualify for the season in the national championship or cup.

There may be situations when one of the teams has the right to participate in two tournaments at once - in the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League, for example, when the club wins the “golden double” in the domestic championship. In such cases, priority is given to participation in the UEFA Champions League. If the club won the national championship and cup, then until the 2014/2015 season, the “final ticket” to the UEFA Europa League was received by the second finalist of the national cup, and starting from the 2015/2016 season in this case, all places in the UEFA Europa League are distributed among the teams that won in the domestic league championship after teams qualifying for the UEFA Champions League .

Until the season 2015/2016 inclusive, three more “tickets” to the UEFA Europa League are received by the national associations that are leaders in the Fair Play ranking . Three associations automatically get places in the draw if their rating is at least 8. The rating criteria are: commitment to attacking football, respect for the opponent and referees, behavior of spectators and team representatives, as well as the number of yellow and red cards received. The National Association provides a "ticket" to the club, which in the national Fair Play ranking takes the highest place. If the leader in the national ranking of Fair Play is a club that has already qualified for European cups, then the club gets a “ticket” that does not fall into the European cup zone.

Recently, clubs that have failed in the Third Qualifying and Playoff Rounds of the UEFA Champions League , as well as taking third places in their groups, have joined the UEFA Europa League at various stages.

Historical Formats

The tournament was traditionally held according to the playoff system . All rounds were held according to the results of two matches, including the final. Starting from the 1997/98 season , the one-match final in a neutral field began.

Until the 2004/05 season, the tournament consisted of one qualifying round and a series of playoffs. 16 losing teams in the third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League entered the first round of the UEFA Cup, and later teams that took third place in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League were added to the tournament.

From the 2004/05 season, the tournament began with two qualifying rounds that were held in July and August. Clubs from national associations that ranked below 18th in the UEFA odds table participated in the first qualifying round, then clubs from 9th to 18th countries were added to the second qualifying round. In addition, three places in the first qualifying round were reserved for the winners of the Fair Play ranking and eleven places in the second qualifying round were reserved for the winners of the third round of the Intertoto Cup .

To the winners of the qualifying rounds were added teams of countries from 1st to 13th, which performed in the first round. In addition, clubs that lost in the third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League and the current holder of the UEFA Cup, if he did not receive the right to participate in the UEFA Champions League, joined at this stage. A total of 80 teams participated in the first round.

After the first round, 40 winners were divided into eight groups of five teams each. Unlike the UEFA Champions League, in the group stage of the UEFA Cup, clubs played one game with each opponent, while each club plays two home games and two away games. The first three teams in each of the eight groups qualified for the playoffs, as well as eight teams that finished third in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League. After that, 32 clubs played in the 1/16 finals, where the winner of each round was determined by the results of two matches, and the final was held on Wednesday May just before the final of the UEFA Champions League.

Current format

Since the 2009/10 season, the tournament has been renamed the UEFA Europa League in an attempt to expand the tournament ^[4] . UEFA Europa League matches are played on Thursdays in the Champions League game weeks and on Wednesdays and Thursdays in the weeks when no matches are scheduled in the Champions League. Depending on the venue of the match, it will start either at 19:00 or at 21:05 European time. The format of the draw is as follows: ^[39]

• At the group stage, there are 12 groups of four teams. Each club holds three matches at home and away, and the first and second places winners in the 1/16 finals.
• Ten teams that were unable to overcome the 4th qualifying round (playoffs) of the UEFA Champions League fall directly into the group stage of the Europa League. In addition, starting from the 2012/13 season, the holders of the national cups of 6 leading associations according to the UEFA rating will start from the group stage, and from the 2015/16 season - twelve along with four teams, one from each of the four leading associations, the first to qualify for the Europa League through his national championship.
• Before the group stage, four qualifying rounds are held, the number of starting teams in each of which has changed since 2009, twice in 2012 and 2015, according to the UEFA approval of the tournament rules for the next three-year cycle. In the fourth qualifying round (playoffs), 15 teams are added who were unable to overcome the 3rd qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League.
• Starting from the 2015/16 season, 22 winners of the playoff round go to the group stage.
• In the 1/16 finals, two best teams from 12 groups, as well as eight clubs that finish third in their groups of the UEFA Champions League, fall. The 16 strongest teams are in the 1/8 finals, after which quarter-finals and semi-finals are held.
• The final consists of one match, which is played in a neutral stadium on Wednesday at 20:45 European time.

The UEFA Executive Committee in September 2009 adopted additional rules for refereeing in the UEFA Europa League. According to the rules, a total of six officials must be present at matches: a referee, two assistants, a fourth referee on the sideline and two additional assistants (one next to each goal).

As in the UEFA Champions League , clubs receive fixed prize payments based on participation and results, which depend on the cost of broadcast matches ^[40] .

For participation in the group stage of the Europa League, the club receives € 640,000, a bonus of € 60,000 for each match is added to them. For the victory in the group stage, the club receives 140,000 €, and for a draw - 70,000 €. Achieving the playoffs entails additional bonuses: € 200,000 for the 1/16 finals, € 300,000 for the 1/8 finals, € 400,000 for the 1/4 finals, and € 700,000 for the 1/2 finals. The finalist receives € 2,000,000, and the winner € 3,000,000 ^[41] . For comparison, any team that reaches the group stage of the UEFA Champions League receives 3,900,000 € ^[42] .

According to Marko Vetrovich, spokesman for Belgrade Partizan , as well as a member of the Association of European Clubs , the fixed prize payments for the 2016/2017 season were as follows: ^{[43] [44]}

• 1st qualification round: 90 000 €
• 2nd qualification round: 90 000 €
• 3rd qualification round: 90 000 €
• 4th qualification round: 90 000 €
• Group round: 2 600 000 €
• Winning the group round: 360,000 €
• Draw in group round: 120,000 €
• 1/16 finals: 500 000 €
• 1/8 finals: 750 000 €
• 1/4 finals: € 1,000,000
• 1/2 finals: 1,600,000 €
• Finalist: € 3,500,000
• Winner: € 6,500,000

The Europa League is sponsored by five multinational companies, the current sponsors of the tournament are:

• FedEx (primary sponsor)
• Enterprise Rent-A-Car
• Hankook tire
• Amstel (company)
• UniCredit

Adidas is a secondary sponsor and supplies official balls, as well as for all other competitions under the auspices of UEFA . FIFA's games company Electronic Arts is also a secondary sponsor as the official publisher of computer games.

Clubs can also have advertisements on football uniforms, but it is allowed to have only the image of one sponsor, not counting the logo of the equipment manufacturer. If clubs play a match in a country where the corresponding sponsor category is limited (for example, advertising of sponsors producing alcohol drinks and gambling is prohibited in France ), then clubs must remove this logo from their T-shirts.

The UEFA Europa League attracts an extensive television audience, not only in Europe but throughout the world.

The first 25 years of the tournament, the winner was determined by the results of two matches, one at the stadium of each participating club. The first final was held in 1972 , according to the results of two matches, the London winner Tottenham Hotspur , having beaten another English club Wolverhampton Wanderers with a total score of 3: 2. In the first match, Wolverhampton Wanderers suffered a home defeat with a score of 1: 2, and in the return game the teams drew 1: 1 ^[7] .

In 1998, a single-match final in a neutral field was introduced. The stadium for the finals is pre-selected by the UEFA commission, which must meet all the necessary requirements. In two cases in the history of single-match finals, the stadium host club reached the final: in 2002 Feyenoord defeated Borussia Dortmund at the Feyenoord stadium in Rotterdam , and in 2005 Sporting Lisbon lost to CSKA at its own stadium “ Jose Alvalade ” in Lisbon .

The winner of the last UEFA Cup draw, before it was renamed the Europa League, was Shakhtar Donetsk , who won the Bremen Werder Bremen 2-1 at the Shukru Sarajoglu stadium in Istanbul on May 20, 2009 ^[45] .

The first ever winner of the renewed UEFA Europa League was Atletico Madrid , who beat the English Fulham in the 2010 final with a 2-1 score in extra time at the Hamburg Arena stadium.

By Club

By country

• List of head coaches to win the UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League

• The history of the Europa League on the UEFA website (Neopr.) . UEFA . Date of treatment November 19, 2008. Archived March 19, 2012.
• UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League (Neopr.) . RSSSF . Date of treatment February 1, 2016. Archived March 19, 2012.