Beginnings The first theoretical idea of a sole pan-European Football Championship for clubs, dubbed "European Football League Championship" was from the UEFA
general secretary Hans Bangerter, who proposed a competition with a format based in a group and knockout stages in 1968 that would eventually replace the European Champions Cup and the Cup Winners' Cup. From 1971 to 1991, there were three seasonal European competitions, solely based on knockout rounds (double-legged
single-elimination tournament), whose access was based on three distinctions (title holders not included): • The
European Champions Cup, reserved only to the league champions. • The
Cup Winners' Cup, reserved generally to the national association cup winners. • The
UEFA Cup, which was reserved to the a maximum of the four best-placed teams of the best competing leagues, according to the
confederation coefficient score, not qualified in either of the other two competitions and the
league cup winners in the countries which held. Although the European Champions Cup was regarded as the most prestigious, as its title holders were paired with their
South American counterparts in the
Intercontinental Cup for the
inter-club world title and the UEFA Cup was the tournament that gained the most commercial
revenue and the highest TV share, as well as described as the most difficult European competition to win due its unpredictability, its contestants' level and having different winning teams each season; the general level of the three competitions was even. Additionally, the European Champions Cup winners faced with the Cup Winners' Cup winners for the then-two-legged
UEFA Super Cup. Unlike the European Champions Cup and the UEFA Cup, the Cup Winners' Cup did not take into account the clubs' results in the national top league, so it eventually allowed the participation of clubs from lower division leagues should they won the national association cups; they could even qualify by just advancing to the final in the national association cups should the opponent
had won the league title and entered the European Champions Cup.
Georges UEFA presidency (1983–1990) In 1987, then
AC Milan owner
Silvio Berlusconi,
Real Madrid president
Ramón Mendoza and
Glasgow Rangers secretary
Campbell Ogilvie concluded the European Champions Cup format "obsolete" and would give them more possibilities to progress through it for "economical and management guarantees". It would run parallel to the then three
European competitions since the 1991–92 season. In 1990, Mendoza officially presented the project to the confederation and, according to an article published by
Scotland on Sunday, UEFA was to agree with it after reach a deal with
Bayern Munich, Madrid and Milan, among other clubs; but the confederation rejected that project in 1991 and, after being punished in economic terms, Berlusconi and Mendoza and announced sporting sanctions
sine die for both clubs, reformed the competition introducing a group stage
in that season, increasing the overall number of matches, and
rebranding it as the UEFA Champions League in
1992 for
commercial and
media purposes. significantly increasing the number of clubs involved in international competitions – representing up to 22 of its former
constituent states – although all of them with a lower sporting level than that shown by
Eastern European clubs until the early 1990s, as well as a second competition for 96 other teams, called the "ProCup", to replace the Cup Winners' Cup and the UEFA Cup. Both planned tournaments, based on the
North American sports system, would be sponsored by Italian corporation Media Partners, but that project was abandoned after FIFA, UEFA and its affiliated national associations announced sanctions against all involved clubs in it. mainly during the decade, a period in which the format of its qualification system was frequent and was therefore not considered attractive for
sponsorship, thus affecting the prestige of the domestic cups. That same year, Media Partners seriously investigated the idea of a closed European Super League. The plan died after UEFA moved to expand the Champions League and decided the Cup Winners' Cup would be absorbed by the UEFA Cup in order to better accommodate clubs that were considering defecting in order to join the proposed Super League in an attempt to redesign of confederation competitions, in 1999. By the year 2000, the Champions League gathered the best-placed teams of the best competing leagues – to a maximum of four according each
country's coefficient score –, in which the most powerful leagues of the continent (
English,
French,
German,
Italian and
Spanish) would gradually benefit the most, while the remaining competition, the UEFA Cup, was fought by the next-best-placed league teams and the national cup winners. was strongly criticized by mass media and fans), Also, a summer competition, the
UEFA Intertoto Cup (1995–2008), provided access to the UEFA Cup to the next willing teams of each country (by league position) not qualified.
Platini UEFA presidency (2007–2015) In 2007,
Michel Platini was elected
president of UEFA with the support of many of the nations with the lowest UEFA coefficient, to whom he promised a fairer access list and various reforms to tackle the influence of big money. Platini tried to curtail the influence of the G-14 lobbying group, which had to open up and merge with ECF to become the
European Club Association in 2008. Nonetheless, the two-tier structure was not fundamentally altered by the reforms: • In
2003–04, the Champions League second group stage is replaced by a double-legged
Round of 16. • In
2009–10, the Champions League access list is wholly revised, with 3 third-placed gaining direct entry; on the other hand, to make sure that a broader number of leagues could be represented in the group stage, a "Champions Path" is created. • That same season, the UEFA Cup was
rebranded for resolving its sporting and economic crisis as consequence of be during the 21st century until then mediaticly overshadowed by the Champions League, as the
Europa League, with a centralized broadcasting regime, a proper
brand identity and prize allocation. 48 clubs took part in the group stage. Also, since the 2014–15 season, the competition winner qualified for the following season's Champions League. • The
UEFA Financial Fair Play Regulations is agreed to in 2009 and is implemented beginning in
2011–12. • In
2015–16, Europa League title holders are given a direct berth in the Champions League group stage.
Čeferin UEFA presidency (2016–present) In 2016,
Aleksander Čeferin became President of UEFA. Also, in that year, the confederation again discussed the possibility of creating a closed league containing the 16 best clubs in European football from the highest ranked national leagues. These 16 clubs would have been divided into two groups of eight teams each. After 56 games in each group under the
round-robin tournament system, the teams finishing in places 1–4 would qualify for the quarter-finals. That plan was finally rejected and UEFA, in order to avoid the creation of a Super League, made changes to the structure of the Champions League for the 2018–21 trade cycle: • Since
2018–19, due to pressure from the bigger clubs, the fourth-placed teams from the top 4 leagues are given direct access to the group stage, reducing the number of berths granted through the qualifying rounds to six. • Since
2021–22, a new competition called the
UEFA Europa Conference League was created to give the teams of the
leagues with the lowest coefficient score with a proper competition to allow more media attention and to facilitate the commercialization of TV rights to the 2021–2024 confederation's competitions cycle with a "stronger"
Europa League group stage reducing from 48 to 32 the number of participating clubs. Similar to the former UEFA Intertoto Cup, its winner will qualify to the Europa League the next season. The tournament has also a centralized broadcasting regime,
brand identity and prize allocation. UEFA has been criticised by having created the competition for political purposes and gaining support of the lowest confederation ranked leagues, which their teams take part in, against the 2021
European Super League project. Also, it was criticised for its complicated qualification system, being regarded by the mass media, as well a group of football personnel and fans as a "
consolation trophy" for the teams who finished in third place in the Europa League group stage and for its minor income compared with the offered by the other two seasonal confederation competitions. However, UEFA considered the competition to "reflect" an all-inclusive European football system, in contrast of a, at the time, a close "elitist" Super League. By the 2021–22 season, there were three European competitions composed each of a 32-team group stage and a
knockout system that included the relegation of some eliminated clubs to the immediate lower tournament and the
qualification of the winning team to the immediate higher tier the successive season, creating for the first time since the disbanding of the Cup Winners Cup a three-tier
pyramidal structure in the European competitions. However, as of the 2024–25 season, there are three European competitions composed each of a 36-team league phase and a knockout system that does not include the relegation of eliminated clubs to the immediate lower tournament since the competitions' league phase, but the "relegation" system remains in the qualification rounds and the "promotion" to the competitions winner remains. ==History==