Information AboutUefa Cup |
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The UEFA Cup is a Football competition for European club teams. It was founded on April 18 , 1955 as the '''Inter-Cities Fairs Cup'''. It is the second most important competition for European club teams, the first being the UEFA Champions League . HISTORY The first Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, which lasted from 1955 to 1958 , was a tournament open to cities that had hosted Trade Fair s, and not necessarily clubs - cities with more than one club sent representative teams (e.g. London ). A second tournament took place between 1958 and 1960 , all tournaments since have been held on a yearly basis. As time progressed, the competition saw more clubs and fewer representative sides enter, so that by the mid- 1960s , it was exclusively for clubs, who usually qualified by being a runner-up in their domestic league. However, a rule that only one club per City could enter was applied. The competition completely dropped its link with the trade fairs and was renamed the UEFA Cup in 1971 . Tottenham Hotspur F.C being the first winner of the UEFA Cup. However, the 'one club per city' rule was only rescinded in 1975 ; Everton had finished fourth in the English League and could thus qualify, but were barred from entry because Liverpool had also qualified by coming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 the Cup Winners' Cup . Since then the winners of domestic cup competitions have also entered the UEFA Cup. QUALIFICATION 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 send their secondary cup winners to the UEFA Cup 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 through two different ways at once. For example in England, the team finishing 5th in the Premiership and the winners of the FA Cup and League Cup qualify. If the FA Cup winner has qualified for the Champions League by its league position, the runner-up goes to the UEFA Cup; however, the League Cup runner-up does not receive this privilege. It is possible for the teams in 6th and even 7th place in the Premiership to enter the UEFA Cup under the following circumstances:
If only one of the above occurs, the 6th-place team in the Premiership gets a UEFA Cup entry, but not the 7th-place team. If ''both'' occur, the 6th- and 7th-place teams both earn UEFA Cup berths. Both occurred in 2004-05 , as champions Chelsea won the League Cup, and second-place Arsenal defeated third-place Man United in the FA Cup Final. Qualification for the UEFA Cup can also be attained in two other ways:
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). COMPETITION FORMAT 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 current competition format was introduced in 2004 - 05 . Two qualifying rounds were introduced instead of one, and losers in the third qualifying round of the Champions League are still placed in the first round proper of the tournament. 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. From this point, knockout play resumes, with two-legged ties leading to the one-off final. TRIVIA
UEFA CUP RECORDS
(tie for record for all European Cups)
UEFA CUP FINALS Main article: UEFA Cup Finals PERFORMANCE BY NATION SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINK |
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