The UEFA Plaque

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The UEFA Plaque
UEFA special plate.svg
Digital reproduction of The UEFA Plaque presented to Juventus in 1988
SportProfessional association football
Competition UEFA club competitions
Disciplinemen's senior association football
Awarded forclubs' outstanding sporting merits
Local nameUEFA-Abzeichen (German), Plaque UEFA (French)
NicknameUEFA set award [1]
European set award [1]
CountrySwitzerland
Presented by Union of European Football Associations
(though its president)
History
First award1988;38 years ago (1988)
Final award2025;1 year ago (2025)

The UEFA Plaque is an honorific award given by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) to clubs that had won, at least once, the title in each of the three major international competitions organised by the confederation, namely the European Champions Cup, the Cup Winners' Cup and the UEFA Cup. [2] [3] It was officially established in late 1987 [4] being regarded "an accomplishment of clubs' excellence and consistency in the confederation competitions". [4] [5]

Contents

UEFA awarded the prize for first time in the second half of 1988, prior of the 1988–89 European tournaments draw, with Italian Juventus being the club to be honoured. A second award was initially scheduled for the second half of 1992 in favour of Dutch side Ajax, but it was not conferred for unclarified reasons by the confederation [6] after Spanish team Barcelona—who did not comply with the requirement imposed by UEFA as they had won the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup as opposed to the UEFA Cup—; at the same time unsuccessfully applied to European football's governing body for such recognition, [6] while then UEFA chairman Lennart Johansson proposed strongly to unify the three seasonal competitions into a unique élite pan-continental championship with the best clubs of the continent, [7] a kind of Super League ante litteram . [7]

A similar award was relaunched in 2025 after English team Chelsea won its first Conference League–instituted four seasons ago—and added this feat to the three major seasonal confederation competitions to has won in past. [8] [1] As of January 2026, there are 27 former Cup Winners' Cup winners to can achieve this feat if won the Champions League and the Europa League, while there are 13 teams what need won at least one of the aforementioned trophies for complete the UEFA set.

Background

Between 1971 and 1999, UEFA organised three major competitions —the European Cup, Cup Winners' Cup and UEFA Cup— which were played as part of the international fixture calendar. [9] [a] While all three carried prestige in their own right, [12] the European Cup, which was the competition for clubs that had won their own domestic league title, was considered the most prestigious, while the UEFA Cup, in which the four teams that finished just below the national league champion were generally entered, was regarded as the hardest to win. [13]

HK CWB Tong Luo Wan Causeway Bay Shi Dai Guang Chang Times Square mall void exhibition Juventus Football Club September 2021 SS2 007.jpg
HK CWB Tong Luo Wan Causeway Bay Shi Dai Guang Chang Times Square mall void exhibition Juventus Football Club September 2021 SS2 004.jpg
HK CWB Tong Luo Wan Causeway Bay Shi Dai Guang Chang Times Square mall void exhibition Juventus Football Club September 2021 SS2 005.jpg
The European Champions' Cup (left), the Cup Winners' Cup (middle), and the UEFA Cup (right) trophies, assembling the original European Treble (2021). [14]

At the start of the 1984–85 season, two clubs —Juventus and Hamburg SV— had won two of the three European competitions each, and each was competing that season in the competition that they needed to win to complete the set; Juventus in the European Cup and Hamburg in the UEFA Cup. Hamburg were eliminated in the third round of the UEFA Cup, while Juventus reached the 1985 European Cup final, winning the game 1–0 to become the first club in history to have won all three of UEFA's major competitions. [15]

In December 1987, the UEFA organising committee proposed in Zürich the institution of a special award for clubs that had won all three competitions. [14] Having been ratified, it was announced it would be awarded for the first time to all eligible clubs at the UEFA meeting planned for May 1988. [16] While Anderlecht in European Champions' Cup and Milan AC in UEFA Cup during the 1987–88 season were potentially in a position to match Juventus' achievement, being both eliminated in the quarter-finals and in the second round, respectively; [17] when the new UEFA Plaque was finally conferred in July 1988, it was to Juventus alone that it was awarded. [18] [19] [20] In a similar situation were both Ajax and Bayern Munich, which unsuccessfully participated in the 1988–89 UEFA Cup. [21]

Description

The award consists of a rectangular silver plaque on which are superimposed silhouettes of three trophies that represent the tournaments mentioned, above a golden laurel wreath and the European football government body badge, also in gold. [22] [23] [5] Also, the plaque have the following inscription in French, then the confederation's leading administrative language, [b] which translated to English:

Hommage
L'UEFA au Juventus F.C.
Premier club ayant remporté les trois competitions inter-clubs de l'UEFA
Coupe des Clubs Champions Européenns
Coupe des Vainqueurs de Coupe Européenne
Coupe UEFA.

Translation:

Tribute
The UEFA to Juventus F.C.
First club to have won the three international UEFA club competitions
European Champion Clubs' Cup
European Cup Winners' Cup
UEFA Cup. [25]

Before the premiation to Juventus from UEFA, the Old Lady additionally won the 1984 European Super Cup and the 1985 Intercontinental Cup, obtaining its first worldwide title and became the first club in the world to have triumph in then all-five international competitions. [c]

Recipients

On 12 July 1988, at the beginning of the 1988–89 European competitions seeding held in Geneva (Switzerland), then UEFA president Jacques Georges presented the prize [23] to then Juventus president Giampiero Boniperti. [21]

In July 1992, after winning the European Champions' Cup, then FC Barcelona president Josep Lluís Núñez requested of UEFA a similar recognition, stating that his club had equalled Juventus' record, having won formerly the Cup Winners' Cup and the UEFA Cup. European football's governing body, now led by Lennart Johansson, rejected it because the Spanish club had never won the UEFA Cup proper, and UEFA does not recognize its predecessor, the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, previously won by the Blaugrana, as an official competition. [6] Eight months later, Johansson proposed, unsuccessfully, to merge all three seasonal competitions in a unique élite pan-European championship which the better teams in the continent would be involved. [7]

Since UEFA awarded Juventus with the European Plaque, four other clubs have won the three seasonal confederation competitions: Ajax (1992, to whom the recognition was initially scheduled after their triumph in 1991–92 UEFA Cup through the away goals rule, notwithstanding the confederation latter decision not to award them for unknown reasons), [6] Bayern Munich (1996), Chelsea (2013), [29] and Manchester United (2017).

On 28 August 2025, at Nyon, the prize was relaunched and Chelsea received a similar recognition than Juventus 38 years ago, after won its first Conference League–a competition often regarded by the specialist press as the third-tier of the newfangled European club pyramidal system instituted in 2021 by Aleksander Čeferin's initiative: separate the Europa League's lower teams from the highest in front of a new tournament [30] [31] and that include the relegation of some eliminated clubs to the immediate lower tournament and the promotion of the winning team to the immediate higher tier the successive season [32] – qualifing to it after finished sixth in 2023–24 Premier League; completing this achievement with the previous club's set of international seasonal trophies. [8] However, Čeferin presented the award to then Chelsea CEO Jason Gannon prior the 2025–26 UEFA seasonal tournaments draw.

As of January 2026, there are 27 former Cup Winners' Cup winners to can achieve this feat if won the Champions League and the Europa League, while there are 13 teams what need won at least one of the aforementioned trophies for complete the UEFA set.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ From 1955 to 1971 each seasonal competition was regulated by its own committee. From 1972 onwards a single committee assumed responsibility for the three competitions. [10] The Intercontinental Cup and the UEFA Super Cup not have a defined date in the international calendar until 1980 and 1998, respectively, and so in some cases these didn't carried out. [11]
  2. ↑ At the time, UEFA's administrative languages were French, English and German, being the first cited the most widely used. [24]
  3. ↑ Since 1992 to 1995, that record was reached by Dutch Ajax. In 1999, Juventus revalided its own record after win the UEFA Intertoto Cup, becaming also the first team in Europe to having won six different confederation competitions. [26] [27] [28]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Banerjee, Ritabrata (28 August 2025). "Chelsea to be handed special UEFA award before Champions League draw in honour of completing 'European set' with last season's Conference League triumph". goal.com. Chelsea are set to receive a special award from UEFA just before the Champions League draw in honour of completing a 'European set'. With their triumph over Real Betis in the Conference League final last season, the Blues became the first club in history to win every single UEFA club competition. They have now won the Champions League, Europa League, UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and the Conference League.
  2. ↑ "Stakes high for Advocaat's Rangers reunion". Union of European Football Associations. 14 May 2006. Archived from the original on 17 October 2008. Retrieved 15 November 2009.
  3. ↑ "UEFA club competitions" (PDF). Union des Associations Européennes de Football. 25 August 2006. p. 23. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 April 2008. Retrieved 15 November 2009.
  4. 1 2 "Un premio UEFA per i bianconeri". La Stampa (in Italian). 16 December 1987. p. 23.
  5. 1 2 "Juventus: Unica squadra premiata dall'UEFA". Hurrà Juventus (in Italian). Vol. 1. January 1988. pp. 42–43. ISSN   1594-5189.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Aguilar, Francesc (12 July 1992). "El Barça, gran atracción del sorteo" (PDF). El Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). p. 34.
  7. 1 2 3 "El precedente de la Superliga europea que generó la actual Champions League". El desmarque (in Spanish). Mediaset España. 19 April 2021.
  8. 1 2 "Chelsea complete set of UEFA club trophies". Union of European Football Associations. 20 May 2025.
  9. ↑ Vieli (2014), p. 52.
  10. ↑ Vieli (2014), p. 49.
  11. ↑ Vieli (2014), pp. 50, 68.
  12. ↑ Richelieu, André (28 March 2012). How can former successful European football teams capitalise on the Europa League in order to (re-)establish their brands? (PDF) (Final report submitted to UEFA). Nyon: Union des Associations Européennes de Football. p. 95. Archived (PDF) from the original on 25 August 2021.
  13. ↑ "UEFA Europa League Competition Book 2009—12" (PDF). Union des Associations Européennes de Football. pp. 27–28. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 December 2013. Retrieved 4 June 2010.
  14. 1 2 "Chelsea join illustrious trio". Union of European Football Associations. 15 May 2013. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  15. ↑ "Il calcio europeo già si riprende". La Stampa (in Italian). 4 July 1984. p. 20.
  16. ↑ Monti, Fabio (12 July 1988). "Gullit e van Basten alla roulette russa". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). p. 30.
  17. ↑ "Juventus e Inter, i pericoli vengono dall'Est". La Stampa (in Italian). 9 July 1987. p. 24.
  18. ↑ "Per me i miliardi valgono ancora, non li butto". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). 13 July 1988. p. 28. it: [...] ha ricevuto una targa dell'UEFA, destinata alla Juve, unica squadra in Europa ad aver vinto tutte le coppe.[[...] he received a UEFA plaque for Juve, the only team in Europe to have won all the cups.]
  19. ↑ "Tutto iniziò con un po' di poesia". La Gazzetta dello Sport (in Italian). 24 May 1997. it: La Targa UEFA (prima squadra a vincere le tre coppe europee).[The UEFA Plaque (first team to win the three European competitions).]
  20. ↑ "Boniperti Giampiero" (in Italian). Associazione Nazionale Atleti Olimpici e Azzurri d'Italia. 2016.
  21. 1 2 "Sorteo de las competiciones europeas de fútbol: el Fram de Reykjavic, primer adversario del F.C. Barcelona en la Recopa" (PDF). La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 13 July 1988. p. 53. Retrieved 15 November 2009.
  22. ↑ "Boniperti si fa audace". Tuttosport (in Italian). 13 July 1988.
  23. 1 2 Viglino, Giorgio (13 July 1988). "Boniperti e Futre, è la volta buona". La Stampa (in Italian). p. 22. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
  24. ↑ Georges, Jacques (2 May 1986). "Bienvenue à Lyon". Finale de la Coupe des Vainqueurs de Coupe Européenne (PDF) (Programme officiel) (in French). Lyon: Union des Associations Européennes de Football. Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 April 2016.
  25. ↑ "La Juventus in cifre". Hurrà Juventus (in Italian). Vol. 7/8. July–August 1988. p. 48 sqq. ISSN   1594-5189.
  26. ↑ Saffer, Paul (10 April 2016). "Paris aim to join multiple trophy winners". Union des Associations Européennes de Football. Archived from the original on 3 June 2017.
  27. ↑ Caroli, Angelo (9 December 1985). "Juve, Grande Slam". La Domenica Sport (in Italian). Stampa Sera. p. 3.
  28. ↑ "1985: Juventus end European drought". Union of European Football Associations. 8 December 1985. Retrieved 14 February 2012.
  29. ↑ Chelsea was declased in the 2012–13 Europa League groups stage after finished in third place in the Champions League in the same season's groups phase, a confederation competitions committee's resolution introduced in 2000s.
  30. ↑ Johnson, Dale (6 July 2021). "UEFA Europa Conference League: All you need to know". ESPN . It is the new third-tier of European competition, below the Champions League and the Europa League. [...] And the UEFA Europa Conference League is the minor competition primarily for those who qualify by league place though it will also include the cup winners from lower-ranked leagues.
  31. ↑ Pacheco, Jorge (16 September 2021). "La Conference League, el último invento de Ceferin y la UEFA: dudas sobre la Champions de los 'pobres'". El Español (in Spanish).
  32. ↑ Olivari, Stefano (12 September 2018). "Dalla Coppa delle Coppe alla Serie C". Guerin Sportivo (in Italian).

Bibliography

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