The UEFA Europa League known as is a long-standing, prestigious in 2nd tournament in Europe. This event has been held since 1971 and is organized annually by the European Football Federation. Up to now, the process of forming and developing the competition has changed a lot. To learn what it is, please follow Jiliko to analyze it and share it in the following article!
What is the UEFA Europa League?
The UEFA Europa League is an annual club football tournament that has been organized by UEFA since 1971. Previously, the event was only for qualified teams, but many changes have occurred since then.
Accordingly, the UEFA Europa League is suitable for clubs ranked high in the national championship, not participating in the C1 Cup. Although it is not the biggest stadium, many teams participate. This not only helps players practice themselves but also effectively hone their skills.
Since its inception, only Sevilla has successfully defended the championship trophy. Starting in the 2014-2015 season, the club that wins the Cup Winners’ Cup is allowed to participate in the UEFA Champions League.
In the 1999-2000 season, C2 officially ceased operations, merged with Cup C3 but still kept the name UEFA Cup. According to the regulations, the domestic champion team won a ticket to participate in the UEFA Cup.
History of the UEFA Europa League
In fact, the European Cup Winners Cup was created by the idea of 3 people from Europe, including Ottorino Barrasi (Italy), Sir Stanlay Rous (England) and Ernst Thornmen (Switzerland). The tournament officially launched in 1971, replacing the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.
On April 18, 1955, the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup was held with 10 clubs from 10 cities. Accordingly, the tournament lasted 3 years from 1955 – 1958 and the club that won the cup was none other than FC Barcelona.
The following tournaments were held annually and in 1971-1972, were renamed the UEFA Cup. In the 1999-2000 season, the Cup Winners’ Cup merged with the C3 to retain the UEFA Cup title. At this time, the club that won the domestic cup had the right to participate in the event.
The format has changed as follows: Group play has been applied since 2004, with the team eliminated in the third round and the 8 clubs ranked 3rd in the group stage moving on to compete, and the teams that won the League Cup also have the right to participate.
In the 2009-2012 season, UEFA increased the number of participating teams to 48. At that time, the event was renamed Europa League but shortened to Cup C2. Through many stages, the competition changed its name many times and even merged with other tournaments, but true fans still know what C2 is.
Information about Cup C2 you need to know
Winning the Europa League has conditions and information surrounding it that you should learn to understand better. Specifically:
Conditions of participation
The competition format is similar to the Champions League, with each competition having 3 places to participate in C2. However, some other special cases include:
- The 52nd – 53rd ranked tournament last season only had 2 places to participate.
- The 54th-ranked tournament has only 1 spot.
- In the match, the two clubs ranked immediately below the teams will participate in the Champions League. Accordingly, the remaining spot will be given to the Nations Cup champion club.
Competition format
Through the development process, many European clubs have now participated in the competition. As the event continues to expand in scale, the organizers have to introduce common rules. These rules become mandatory conditions for participating clubs to strictly comply with. Specifically:
General competition format
According to the general rules, each country in the European Football Federation has 3 participating teams. However, members of the top 42-54 are only allowed to have 2 clubs participating. For the club ranked 55, Liechtenstein only has 1 team competing.
Which clubs get direct entry to the group stage or qualifying round without winning the championship depends on their performance in the previous season. Currently, the C2 tournament has: Qualifying round, group stage, 32 teams, 16 teams, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final.
Teams that do not participate in the C1 qualifying round can still participate in the Europa League. At the same time, the 8 clubs that finished 3rd in the group stage of the European Cup C2 will go straight to the 32 teams.
Additional Competition
Starting the 2018-2019 season, the UEFA Cup added more competition formats. Clubs that won the domestic league were relegated to C2. In particular, the 55 members of the Federation were ranked according to the national coefficient as follows:
- Clubs ranked 52-54 have 2 teams participating.
- Members 1 – 51 have 3 teams excluding Liechtenstein.
- 55 clubs from member countries eliminated from the Champions League are eligible to participate in C2, but not the teams eliminated from the third qualifying round, play-off.
Europa League titles
The Europa League tournament title was previously called the UEFA Cup, UEFA Coupe. Since the 2009-2010 season, the winning club will keep the Cup for 1 year and receive a permanent 4/5 copy. In case of receiving 3 consecutive times or a total of 5 times, the Cup will be owned forever.
The trophy is about 67cm high, weighs 15kg and is silver-plated with a gold-tone marble pedestal, especially on the UEFA Flag Cup of most member countries. The part below is a stylized, meticulously carved image of the striker.
In addition, clubs participating in the Europa League C2 also receive bonuses with corresponding values for each round as follows:
- The first round received 3.63 million Euros.
- Win 1 match in the group stage and receive 0.63 million Euros.
- Draw 1 group stage match and receive 0.21 million Euros.
- The top spot gets 1.1 million Euros.
- Second place receives 0.55 million Euros.
- The play-off round immediately receives 0.5 million Euros.
- Round of 16 teams receive 1.2 million Euros.
- Quarter-finals receive 1.8 million Euros.
- Semi-finalists receive 2.8 million Euros.
- Runner-up receives 4.6 million Euros
- The champion received a prize of 8.6 million Euros.
However, the rewards will change over time, depending on the tournament. Therefore, please update regularly to understand better.
Outstanding clubs participating in Cup C2
Many clubs have won the Europa League Winners Cup. However, some teams have done it in an unimaginable way, specifically:
- Sevilla is the most successful club, having lifted the trophy 7 times. In the Champions League or La Liga, the team does not have many outstanding performances, often receiving defeats. However, in C2, the club has excellently defeated its opponents, winning the trophy since 2006.
- Atletico Madrid won the championship 3 times in 2010, 2012, and 2018. This shows the superior strength in the football tournament at that time.
- Porto is not very prominent but has won the championship twice in 2002 and 2011. Although not rich in achievements or tradition, the club makes fans admire its solid playing style.
Conclude
It can be said that C2 is a grand event for the club to show off its spirit and strength. At the same time, it becomes a professional, quality playground for players to compete.
Above is the article Jiliko shares information to help you better understand the Europa League. Hopefully, with the strong support of fans, this event will become more and more exciting.
