UEFA Cup Winners' Cup

The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a special European football competition for club teams. Each year, the winners of the main cup tournaments from different countries in Europe would come together to compete.

This competition started in 1960–61 but wasn’t officially recognized by UEFA, the group that runs European football, until 1963.

From 1972, the team that won the Cup Winners' Cup would go on to play the winner of the European Cup, which is now known as the UEFA Champions League, in the European Super Cup. This tradition continued for many years.

The Cup Winners' Cup was held for 39 seasons, with the last tournament taking place in 1998–99. After that, it was stopped, and the spot in the European Super Cup was given to the winner of the UEFA Cup, now called the UEFA Europa League.

Format

The Cup Winners' Cup was a straight knockout tournament. Teams played two matches at each stage, one at each opponent’s home ground. If the total goals were tied, the team that scored more away goals would win. The tournament usually started in September and ended in May. It had 32 teams playing four rounds before the final match.

Usually, only one team from each country could join the tournament. However, the team that had just won the Cup Winners' Cup could join again to try to keep their title. If that team also qualified for the Champions League, they would not join the Cup Winners' Cup instead. In some years, if a team won both their league and their domestic cup, they would go to the Champions League instead, and the next best cup team would take their place in the Cup Winners' Cup. In its last year, a team named Heerenveen from the Netherlands joined even though they had not won their domestic cup the year before, because the two teams that did win it both went to the Champions League instead.

History

The first meetings between cup winners from different countries happened in friendly games in the late 1800s. These games were called "world championships" and were played between teams from England and Scotland.

The idea for a European cup competition for domestic cup winners started from sports journalists. The first official Cup Winners' Cup began in the 1960–61 season. It was a small tournament with only 10 teams, and Fiorentina from Italy won the first final against Rangers from Scotland. The competition grew, and by 1968, all countries in Europe had their own cup competitions.

As more teams joined the Champions League in the 1990s, the Cup Winners' Cup lost some of its importance. Finally, after the 1998–99 season, the competition was stopped and merged into what is now the UEFA Europa League. The trophy for the Cup Winners' Cup stayed with UEFA and was not kept by any team. Different versions of the trophy were used over the years.

Records and statistics

Winners

Main article: List of UEFA Cup Winners' Cup finals

By nation

Notes

• A. ^{^} West German clubs played 3–3 in 6 appearances; former West German clubs had a 1–1 record in 2 appearances after reunification with East Germany in 1990.
• B. ^{^} The four Soviet appearances were by clubs from the Ukrainian SSR (2–0), Georgian SSR (1–0), and Russian SFSR (0–1).
• C. ^{^} No appearances by clubs from the former Czechoslovakia after its dissolution in 1993.

By manager

Main article: List of UEFA Cup Winners' Cup winning managers

• Four managers won the competition twice:
  • Nereo Rocco: (/wiki/1968_European_Cup_Winners'_Cup_Final) and (/wiki/1973_European_Cup_Winners'_Cup_Final) (Milan)
  • Valeriy Lobanovskyi in (/wiki/1975_European_Cup_Winners'_Cup_Final) and (/wiki/1986_European_Cup_Winners'_Cup_Final) (Dynamo Kyiv)
  • Johan Cruyff: (/wiki/1987_European_Cup_Winners'_Cup_Final) (Ajax) and (/wiki/1989_European_Cup_Winners'_Cup_Final) (Barcelona)
  • Alex Ferguson: (/wiki/1983_European_Cup_Winners'_Cup_Final) (Aberdeen) and (/wiki/1991_European_Cup_Winners'_Cup_Final) (Manchester United)

By player

• Most UEFA Cup Winners' Cup titles: Lobo Carrasco (3)
  • FC Barcelona (3): (1978–79, 1981–82, 1988–89)