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Champions League The UEFA Champions League is UEFA’s most prestigious club competition. Originally created as the European Champion Clubs’ Cup prior to the 1955/56 season, the competition changed format and name in time for the 1992/93 season. Eligibility The UEFA Champions League is open to each national association’s domestic champions, as well as clubs who finish just behind them in the domestic championship table. The number of clubs that can be entered by an association and their entry point in the competition depends on the association’s position in UEFA’s coefficient ranking list.
UEFA The UEFA Cup, which was introduced for the 1971/72 season, comprises a wide range of clubs across Europe that have qualified for the competition from a selection of differing routes. The UEFA Cup is open to teams finishing in leading positions behind the champions in their domestic top divisions, the winners of the national Cup competition, the winners of the League Cup competition in certain countries, the three winners of the final matches in the UEFA Intertoto Cup, and three clubs from UEFA’s annual Fair Play assessment.
Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup is UEFA’s summer competition which allows clubs which do not qualify for the UEFA Champions League or UEFA Cup to sample the unique atmosphere of European club football – with three participants actually going on to take part in the UEFA Cup. Replacement This competition was introduced in 1995 to replace the former International Football Cup (IFC), and not only gives teams a taste of European action, but also allows many of them to fine-tune their preparations for the winter domestic season.
Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup has evolved over the years to become the event which heralds the start of a new European club competition season as it is played in Monaco at the end of August to coincide with the draws for the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup. Competition winners clash The competition was first staged in the 1973/74 season, and until 1999 brought together the winners of the previous season’s European Champion Clubs’ Cup/UEFA Champions League and their counterparts in the European Cup Winners’ Cup. Since 2000, the match has featured the winners of the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup, following the abolition of the Cup Winners’ Cup after the 1998/99 final.
Intercontinental Cup The winners of the UEFA Champions League in Europe and the Copa Libertadores in South America contest the European/South American Cup. Tokyo final Initially set up in 1960 to be played over two legs home and away, since 1980 the competition has been played as one match in Japan. Until 2001 it was held at Tokyo’s National Stadium, but is now played at the Yokohama International Stadium, venue of the 2002 FIFA World Cup final.
UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup The UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup was UEFA’s third most important club competition until it was abolished after the 1998/99 season. The inaugural Cup Winners’ Cup competition was held in the 1960/61 season. Eligibility UEFA member associations were entitled to enter their senior domestic cup winners, or, in certain circumstances, the domestic cup runners-up (eg. if the cup-winners were also domestic champions). The competition was held on a knockout basis, and the 1960/61 and 1961/62 finals were staged over two legs, before the final reverted to a single-match format on a definitive basis from the 1962/63 campaign.
Copa Libertadores The Copa Libertadores is undoubtedly South America’s premier club event. The competition was started in 1960 after a proposition from UEFA that the champions of South America should play against the European champions for the world title. Normally each country will enter two teams, one of them the national champion. The holders receive a bye until the second round.
Copa Mercosur Tournament set up in 1998 to generate TV money for the traditional South American top clubs. Clubs were entered along the lines of trade oragnizations. It was abolished after the 2001 edition and replaced by a Copa Pan-Americana 2002, which later was restricted to South America only.
Copa Merconorte Tournament set up in 1998 in response to the Copa Mercosur. Clubs were entered along the lines of trade oragnizations. It was abolished after the 2001 edition and replaced by a Copa Pan-Americana 2002.
South American Recopa Played between the winners of the Copa Libertadores and the Supercopa. Since São Paulo won both in 1993, the winner of the Copa Conmebol was invited (Botafogo). The 1997 edition, which was to be played in 1998, was postponed and played as part of the Copa Mercosur 1999. The competition was revived as a match between the Copa Libertadores holders and the winners of the Copa Sudamericana 2002. (Later the Copa Panamericana winners will replace the latter.) Five editions are scheduled, all to be played in Los Angeles (2003-2007). A competition called “Recopa Sudamericana de Clubes” was also played in 1970,
Supercopa Played between past winners of the Copa Libertadores. Starting from the 1997 edition, also Vasco da Gama was admitted, as winners of the 1948 South American Champions Cup, played in Santiago de Chile. In 1998, the tournament was to be replaced by a cup contested by former winners of the Supercopa, which was eventually scratched. Tournament has essentially been replaced by the Copa Mercosur.
Conmebol Cup A club cup tournament introduced as a pendant to the UEFA Cup, featuring the next-best clubs in domestic championships (except that teams qualified for the Libertadores could also participate in this tournament). The “bigger” countries, like Argentina and Brazil, have more entries. Currently not taken very seriously yet; matches are often played between virtual “reserve teams”, especially in the earlier rounds. Was discontinued in 2000, after the Copa Libertadores was extended to 32 teams.
Copa Sudamericana or Copa Pan-Americana Successor tournament of the Copa Mercosur and the Copa Merconorte when the originally planned Copa Pan-Americana failed. Copa Pan-Americana competition was sponsored by an Argentine sports marketing company, and organised in the 2nd half of the calender year in order to provide a finalist for the revived Recopa (against the Copa Libertadores 2002 winners, Olimpia, who were excluded from entering this competition). It was originally planned for 2002 but was then postponed to 2003. As replacement, a Copa Sudamericana was played in 2002. It was later cancelled entirely due to financial differences between CSF and Football Confederation and a Copa Sudamericana was held in 2003 as well (and will become an annual tournament).
CONCACAF Champions Cup The premier club competition for teams from Central American and Caribbean regions, known now as the American Airlines Cup. The tournament has been played since 1962 although it was abandoned in 2001 over tournament format disputes and had to be revived in 2002.
Inter-American Cup The Inter-American Cup pits the club champions of CONCACAF and South America against each other. Played over two legs, the Cup has only been won by CONCACAF on four occassions, and three were Mexican clubs.
African Champions Cup The African Champions Cup is similar to its European equivalent, with the champions of each country plus the defending champions playing on a home-and-away knock-out basis.
African Cup Winners Cup Encouraged by the success of the African Champions Cup, the CAF decided to launch a competition for each nations Cup winners, mirroring the UEFA Cup Winners Cup.
CAF Cup The CAF Cup began in the light of the success of the other two continental competitions. The CAF Cup is Africa’s answer to the UEFA Cup, involving the best clubs not involved with the other two competitions, and runs along similar lines.
Arab Champions League This is a new tournament replacing the former Arab Champions Cup (played as Prince Faysal bin Fahad Tournament for Arab Clubs in 2003). It is sponsored by Sheikh Saleh Kamel, owner of the Pan-Arabic cable television network ART. The winners receive 6 million Saudi rials (USD 2 million) while free transportation and accommodation for the teams are provided.
AFC Cup The AFC Cup is a competition for so-called ‘developing’ countries, as per the ‘Vision Asia’ paper of AFC President Mohamed Bin Hammam. There are 14 eligible countries and they are: Central and West Asia (6): Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Syria, Turkmenistan, Yemen East Asia (8): Bangladesh, Hongkong, India, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, North Korea, Singapore Of these, Jordan, Myanmar and North Korea decided not to enter any teams at all, while Hongkong and Oman both allocated only one of their two slots, meaning only 20 teams enter instead of 28. Of these 20, two more (one each from Bangladesh and Yemen) withdrew before the start of the competition, reducing participation to 18 teams.
Presidents Cup The following 17 AFC members were denied participation of their clubs in the Champions League and AFC Cup, apparently on the grounds of not being considered either ‘mature’ or ‘developing’ in the so-called ‘Vision Asia’ paper: Afghanistan, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor, Guam, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Macao, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Palestine, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and Tajikistan. These ’emerging’ nations will be invited to enter their national team in the bi-annual AFC Challenge Cup starting in 2006.