The UEFA Europa League is an annual football club competition organised by UEFA for eligible European football clubs. It is now the second-tier competition of European club football, ranking below the UEFA Champions League. The most successful club in the competition is Sevilla, with six titles. Sevilla are also the reigning champions, having beaten Inter Milan 3–2 in the 2020 final. The winner of the competition qualifies for the UEFA Super Cup and, since the 2014–15 season, the following season’s UEFA Champions league.
About UEFA Europa League in brief
The UEFA Europa League is an annual football club competition organised by UEFA for eligible European football clubs. It is now the second-tier competition of European club football, ranking below the UEFA Champions League. The most successful club in the competition is Sevilla, with six titles. Sevilla are also the reigning champions, having beaten Inter Milan 3–2 in the 2020 final. The winner of the competition qualifies for the UEFA Super Cup and, since the 2014–15 season, the following season’s UEFA Champions league, entering at the group stage. The UEFA Cup was first played in the 1971–72 season, with an all-English final of Wolverhampton Wanderers against Tottenham Hotspur. The competition grew from 11 teams during the first cup to 64 teams by the last cup which was played in 1970–71. It had become so important on the European football scene that in the end it was taken over by UEFA and relaunched the following year as the UEFA Cup. The title has been won by 28 clubs, 13 of which have won it more than once. During the 1980s, IFK Göteborg and Real Madrid won the competition twice each, with Anderlecht reaching two consecutive finals, winning in 1983 and losing to Tottenham Spurs in 1984. In 2004, Porto returned to the cup victorious, and then succeeded on two consecutive occasions in 2006 and 2007, the latter in a final against fellow Spanish side Sevilla.
In 2013, Chelsea would become the first Champions League holders to win the UEFA Europa Cup. In 2009, Shakhtar Donetsk became the first Ukrainian side to do so in 2009, the first club to win three consecutive tournaments. In 2010, Atlético Madrid would win twice in three seasons in 2010 and 2012. In 2012, Zenit Saint Petersburg won the cup for the second time in club history by defeating Borussia Dortmund in the final played in their own stadium, De Kuip in Rotterdam. The cup returned to Spain in 2004, with Valencia being victorious in 2003 and 2011, with the latter victory against fellow Portuguese side Braga in 2007. In 2002, Feyenoord became winners of the cup by defeating Club Brugge 4–2 on aggregate. In 2008, Chelsea won the tournament by beating Schalke 04 3-2 on penalties. The final was played at the Allianz Arena in Berlin, with Chelsea winning 3-1 on penalties after a 0-0 draw. In 2011, Chelsea defeated Borussia Dortmund 3-0 on aggregate to win their first European title. In 2014, Chelsea beat Athletic Bilbao 2-1 in the all-Spanish final between them and Athletic Bilboo. In 2015, Chelsea’s Chelsea team beat Borussia Borussia Dortmund 3-3 on penalties to claim their second European title of the season. In the final, Chelsea defeated Bosnia and Herzegovina 1-0 in a penalty shoot-out.
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This page is based on the article UEFA Europa League published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 30, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
