New Name for UEFA Cup in 2009 Season
Europa League to Follow Format of Champions League
The UEFA Cup is to be known as the UEFA Europa League from the beginning of next season, 2009-2010. This decision was announced following a meeting of the European Club Association and will be put to the UEFA Executive Committee at their meeting in Bordeaux in September.
Changes to UEFA Cup
Karl-Heinze Rummenigge, the Chairman of the European Club Association, indicated that this was an effort to revitalise the UEFA Cup which in recent years has taken second place to the more lucrative and high profile Champions League competition. In re-branding the competition, UEFA will market the Europa League centrally as they already do with the Champions League. By taking control of television rights and advertising UEFA hope to provide more prize money for the winners and a greater share of the income for the clubs taking part. Currently the participating clubs can arrange their own television deals up to the semi-final stage. The additional funding available should make the competition more attractive to the clubs.
Last season the Champions League raised £468 million which was shared among the competitors while the UEFA Cup brought in only £32 million.
Inter-Cities Fairs Cup
In 1970-71, the UEFA Cup replaced the competition originally known as the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup which aimed to promote international trade fairs. It evolved from the friendly football matches played between teams from cities holding trade fairs. The first competition was organised in 1955 but took three years to complete. The cities who entered included Basle, Birmingham, Frankfurt, London, Milan and Vienna. In the first competition there was a one city, one team rule and some cities entered representative sides comprising players from the clubs within their city but other cities entered club teams. The first finalists were FC Barcelona and a London XI with the Spaniards successful.
The next tournament took place over two seasons with Barcelona retaining the trophy, defeating Birmingham City in the final. From 1960-61 season, the competition was completed over a season and from the following year the rules were amended to allow three teams from each country to enter and the one city, one team rule was temporarily dropped.
At that time there were three European competitions, the European Cup for the League Champions of each country and it became the premier competition. The European Cup Winners’ Cup was for the Cup winners from each country was regarded as UEFA’s second competition while the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup was seen as the ‘runners-up’ trophy and was less attractive to clubs and spectators.
Spanish clubs dominated the early years of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup but in 1968 Leeds United became the first English side to win the trophy. From that season the participants were determined by league position and English clubs won the last four Inter-Cities Fairs competitions.
UEFA Cup
For season 1970-71 UEFA introduced the UEFA Cup to replace the previous tournament and finally abandoned the one city, one club rule. The first winners of the UEFA Cup were Tottenham Hotspur and for many years the competition thrived and was very popular.
Expansion of Champions League
However, with the introduction of the Champions League both the UEFA Cup and the European Cup Winners’ Cup suffered being regarded as second rate competitions with clubs having little enthusiasm for either. The expansion of the Champions League meant that there were fewer of the top teams available for the other Cups and in 1999 the Cup Winners’ Cup was dropped.
Changes were made to the UEFA Cup, including the introduction of a five club group stage but it has proved unpopular and the late entry of clubs who have failed in the Champions League has added to the impression of a second-rate competition. Many clubs who enter are hoping that it will be a stepping stone to the Champions League in future years with the experience of European football benefiting the club and players.
UEFA Europa League
The proposed changes for the Europa League are expected to follow the successful format of the Champions League and with increased revenue clubs and players should find the competition more appealing as it receives a higher profile from UEFA and the media. There will be twelve groups of four with two teams qualifying for the knock-out stage where they will be joined by the clubs finishing third in the Champions League. Runners-up in the FA Cup will not be permitted to enter the new Europa League while the television rights for the competition will be negotiated centrally by UEFA, increasing revenue for the clubs.
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