A DEEPER DIVE INTO THE THREE PRESTIGIOUS DOMESTIC COMPETITIONS:

The Champions League. Something every player competing in Europe wants to win, classing themselves as a Champions League winner whilst achieving one of the world’s finest domestic trophies. But, there are also other domestic trophies up for grabs- The Europa League and the Europa Conference League. Both are very prestigious competitions with big expectations. Both contain teams that you would expect to play in the Champions League. Today, I am diving into the history of these three prestigious domestic competitions, going through their origins and detailing how they were formed.

(Image Credits: pt.uefa.com)

UEFA Champions League:

First, I’m talking about the oldest and most recognizable competition in the world- The UEFA Champions League. This competition was formally introduced in the 1955-56 season and was known as the European Cup. UEFA created this competition as they saw how successful the competition Championship of Champions was. In the inaugural season of this competition, Real Madrid and Stade de Reims came head-to-head in an intense match of football. But eventually, Real Madrid came out on top and beat Stade de Reims 4-3. This was only the start of their 4-season consecutive winning streak until Benfica came along in the 1960-61 season and beat the 4-time reigning champions. Over the next 30 years, 17 different teams etch their names into history by lifting the trophy and calling themselves the winners of this prestigious cup competition. In the 1992-93 season, UEFA officially announced that they were changing the name from the 1993-94 season onwards. They decided to change it from the “European Cup” to “The Champions League”. And that name has still stuck with this competition including this current season. In the inaugural season of the UEFA Champions League, Marseille came out victorious and were the first-ever winners of the Champions League. Marseille beat AC Milan 1-0 to become victorious and winners. In the 2024-25 Champions League season, UEFA announced a structural change to the group stage. Instead of the normal group stages, UEFA created a league-style format instead of the traditional group stages. The top 8 in this league-style format will go automatically through whereas the next 8 will go into play-off style rounds. 

The UEFA Europa League 

The UEFA Europa League is a well-known competition that has taken place annually each season since 1971. This competition offers a very aggressive and entertaining play and acts as an alternative for teams that did not receive enough points to qualify for the UEFA Champions League. All teams that participate in the Europa League must undergo correct qualification by obtaining enough points in their domestic leagues OR their performance in the league’s domestic cups. When one of the 48 allocated teams eventually wins the competition, it allows that team to gain an automatic place in the following season's UEFA Champions League. From 1971 all the way up until 2009, this prestigious competition was referred to as the UEFA Cup but from 2009 onwards, it was classed as the UEFA Europa League. The UEFA Europa League, when it was first formed, used to allow 64 teams into the competition and would work on a second-leg basis (like how they do in the Champions League) to battle out aggressively until it is down to two European teams fighting over two legs to determine the winner. However, now, it only works on a one-leg basis and if a draw is present, the teams will go through an extra 30 minutes on top of the 90 minutes plus added time. If a draw is still present from exceeding 120 minutes, the teams will go through the process of penalties, each team gets 5 penalties and if there is still a draw of penalties scored, it will move on to whoever scores after the opposition misses the penalty. Even though the competition and rules have changed, the teams still need to go through the same processes of elimination (group stages, round of 32, round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals and the big final) to qualify for the final to win an automatic spot in the Champions League. And that is a small overview of this competition’s history.

Europa Conference League:

Now time for the least recognized and youngest competition of them all. The UEFA Conference League. The competition was founded in 2021 and it features teams from lower-ranked nations and gives the teams in that nation the chance to thrive in a European competition. This competition primarily features middle and lower-ranked clubs from lower-ranked nations (however this season featured Chelsea, Real Betis and Fiorentina) all fighting competitively to win this competition. In 2015, UEFA initially thought about bringing this competition into 

place but did not introduce this competition until 2019. On the 24th of September 2019, UEFA announced the official name of this competition which we all know as the UEFA Europa Conference League. Another historic date for the UEFA Europa Conference League was the 24th of May 2021. This was when UEFA officially announced the trophy and brand identity despite many different rumours of what colours it would be and what the trophy would look like. The 6th of July 2021 was another very historic and memorable day due to Evo Chris scoring the first-ever Conference League goal which came against Spartak Trnava. However, the first hat trick came over two months later against NS Mura, Harry Kane continues to make his name in history as the first person to ever score a conference league hat-trick. Feyenoord and AS Roma both also etch their names into the history of this competition by becoming the first teams ever to make their way into the final of this domestic competition. On the 28th of June 2023, UEFA officially announced they were changing the name of this competition from “UEFA Europa Conference League” to “UEFA Conference League”. And that is a small overview of this competition’s history.

Article written by Alannah W