The Union of European Football Associations is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach football in Europe and the transcontinental countries of Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Kazakhstan, as well as the West Asian countries of Cyprus, Armenia and Israel. UEFA consists of 55 national association members. Since 2022, due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, FIFA and UEFA suspended all Russian national teams and clubs from any FIFA and UEFA competitions.
The UEFA Champions League is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competition winners through a round robin group stage to qualify for a double-legged knockout format, and a single leg final. It is the most-watched club competition in the world and the third most-watched football competition overall, behind only the UEFA European Championship and the FIFA World Cup. It is one of the most prestigious football tournaments in the world and the most prestigious club competition in European football, played by the national league champions of their national associations.
Futebol Clube do Porto, MHIH, OM, commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football.
Football Club Zenit, also known as Zenit Saint Petersburg or simply Zenit, is a Russian professional football club based in Saint Petersburg. Founded in 1925, the club plays in the Russian Premier League. Zenit are the reigning champions of the Russian Premier League. Previously they won the 2007, 2010, 2011–12, 2014–15, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2020–21 and the 2021–22 seasons of the Russian Premier League, as well as the 2007–08 UEFA Cup and the 2008 UEFA Super Cup. The club is owned and sponsored by the Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom. The team play its home matches at the Gazprom Arena. In March 2022, the club was expelled from all European and international club competitions by FIFA and the UEFA due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In addition, the European Club Association suspended the team. On 24 May 2023, Zenit became the first Russian sports club with 10 million followers on social media.
The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, sometimes referred to as the European Fairs Cup, Fairs Cities' Cup, or simply as the Fairs Cup, was a European football competition played between 1955 and 1971. It is considered the predecessor to the UEFA Cup. The competition was the idea of FIFA vice-president and executive committee member Ernst Thommen, Italian Football Federation president and FIFA executive committee member Ottorino Barassi, and the English Football Association general secretary, Stanley Rous, who later became an executive committee member and vice-president of UEFA (1958–1961) and president of FIFA (1961–1974). As the name suggests, the competition was set up to promote international trade fairs. Friendly games were regularly held between teams from cities holding trade fairs and it was from these games that the competition evolved. Initially, the competition was only open to cities that hosted trade fairs, and where the cities' clubs finished in their national league had no relevance. Early competitions also featured a "one city, one team" rule, with some teams selected from multiple clubs.
The history of the European Cup and UEFA Champions League spans over sixty years of competition, finding winners and runners-up from all over the continent.
The 1998–99 UEFA Champions League was the 44th season of the UEFA Champions League, Europe's premier club football tournament, and the seventh since it was renamed from the "European Champion Clubs' Cup" or "European Cup". The competition was won by Manchester United, coming back from a goal down in the last two minutes of injury time to defeat Bayern Munich 2–1 in the final. Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjær scored United's goals after Bayern had hit the post and the bar. They were the first English club to win Europe's premier club football tournament since 1984 and were also the first English club to reach a Champions League final since the Heysel Stadium disaster and the subsequent banning of English clubs from all UEFA competitions between 1985 and 1990. It was the first time since 1968 that Manchester United won the Champions League, giving them their second title.
The 2003–04 UEFA Champions League was the 12th season of UEFA's premier European club football tournament, the UEFA Champions League, since its rebranding from the European Cup in 1992, and the 49th tournament overall. This was the first UEFA Champions League edition to feature a new format with a 16-team knockout round instead of a second group stage.
The 1992–93 UEFA Champions League was the 38th European Cup, the premier European club football tournament, and the first season with the UEFA Champions League branding.
The 1993–94 UEFA Champions League was the 39th season of the UEFA Champions League, UEFA's premier club football tournament, and the second season with the UEFA Champions League logo. The competition was won by AC Milan, their fifth title, beating Barcelona 4–0 in the final. Marseille were the defending champions, but were not allowed to enter the competition due their involvement in a match-fixing scandal in Division 1 the season prior. This saw them stripped of their league title and demoted to Division 2 at the end of 1993–94. This was the first and only time which the defending champions did not participate in the following season of the competition. Third-placed Monaco took the vacated French berth.
This page indexes the individual year in association football pages. Each year is annotated with one or more significant events as a reference point.
Kepler Laveran de Lima Ferreira, known as Pepe, is a professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Primeira Liga club Porto, which he captains. Born in Brazil, he plays for the Portugal national team. He is widely regarded as one of the best centre-backs of his generation.
With 48 continental trophies won, English football clubs are the third-most successful in European football, behind Italy (49) and Spain (65). In the top-tier, the UEFA Champions League, a record six English clubs have won a total of 15 titles and lost a further 11 finals, behind Spanish clubs with 19 and 11, respectively. In the second-tier, the UEFA Europa League, English clubs are also second, with nine victories and eight losses in the finals. In the former second-tier UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, English teams won a record eight titles and had a further five finalists. In the non-UEFA organized Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, English clubs provided four winners and four runners-up, the second-most behind Spain with six and three, respectively. In the newly created third-tier UEFA Europa Conference League, English clubs have a joint-record one title so far. In the former fourth-tier UEFA Intertoto Cup, England won four titles and had a further final appearance, placing it fifth in the rankings, although English clubs were notorious for treating the tournament with disdain, either sending "B" squads or withdrawing from it altogether. In the one-off UEFA Super Cup, England has ten winners and ten runners-up, the second-most behind Spain with 16 and 15, respectively. Similarly to the Intertoto Cup, English teams did not take the former Intercontinental Cup seriously enough, despite its international status of the Club World Championship. They made a total of six appearances in the one-off competition, winning only one of them, and withdrew a further three times. English clubs have won the FIFA-organized Club World Cup four times, tied for the second-most with Brazil and behind only Spain, with eight.
The 2010–11 UEFA Europa League was the second season of the UEFA Europa League, Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 40th edition overall including its predecessor, the UEFA Cup. It began on 1 July 2010, with the first qualifying round matches, and concluded on 18 May 2011, with the final at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, between Porto and first-time finalists Braga. This was the first all-Portuguese final of a European competition and only the third time that two Portuguese teams faced each other in Europe, following Braga's elimination of Benfica in the semi-finals. Porto defeated Braga 1–0, with a goal from the competition's top goalscorer Radamel Falcao, and won their second title in the competition, after victory in the 2002–03 UEFA Cup. Atletico Madrid were the defending champions but were eliminated in group stage.
The 2011 UEFA Europa League Final was the final match of the 2010–11 UEFA Europa League, the 40th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the second season since it was renamed from UEFA Cup to UEFA Europa League. The match was played at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, on 18 May 2011, between two Portuguese teams – Porto and Braga – for the first time in UEFA competition finals.
Futebol Clube do Porto, an association football team based in Porto, is the most decorated Portuguese team in international club competitions. They have won two UEFA Champions League titles, two UEFA Europa League titles, one UEFA Super Cup, and two Intercontinental Cups, for a total of seven international trophies. In addition, they were Cup Winners' Cup runners-up in 1984 – their first European final – and lost three other UEFA Super Cup matches, in 2003, 2004, and 2011.
Proposals for a European Super League in association football consist of recurring attempts by individual teams or consortiums of association football clubs to advocate for the creation of an additional tier of European football outside of the traditional footballing pyramids of each national football association.
The NextGen Series was a European football club cup competition for under-19 footballers. It was designed to provide players with the opportunity to match themselves against other elite European footballers of their agegroup in a competitive environment. The competition was created by sports TV producer Justin Andrews, Mark Warburton and current Brentford F.C. owner Matthew Benham.
The 2021 UEFA Champions League final was the final match of the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League, the 66th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 29th season since it was renamed from the European Cup to the UEFA Champions League. It was played at the Estádio do Dragão in Porto, Portugal on 29 May 2021, between English clubs Manchester City, in their first European Cup final, and 2012 winners Chelsea. This was the third all-English final in the competition, after the 2008 and 2019 finals.
The 2021–22 UEFA Champions League was the 67th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 30th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League.
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2023–24 Premier League International Cup 
