UEFA Europa League Replaces UEFA Cup

History, News, UEFA Europa League Comments (1)

The UEFA Europa League will debut this season in 2009/10 and is actually a replacement for the UEFA Cup, which ended its last edition in May 2009 with Ukrainian team Shakhtar Donetsk beating Werder Bremen in the final. The UEFA Europa League will now take over the mantle of the second most important European club football competition after the UEFA Champions League, and is actual fact the same thing as the UEFA Cup. However, there will be some changes to the competition structure (once again) as the organisers look to breathe new life and importance into it, as it has progressively lost its standing with many clubs and fans.

While the UEFA Europa League will now debut in 2009, its forebearers, the UEFA Cup and Inter-Cities Fair Cup actually had their beginnings in 1971. Another competition known as the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup was also removed and came together with the UEFA Cup, thus making it the biggest club football competition in the world in terms of the number of participants involved. As more European leagues sought to join, the Intertoto Cup had to be introduced as a form of qualifying exercise in the month or two before the UEFA Cup was to officially begin together with most European league calenders. The UEFA Europa League will also now include the Intertoto Cup in its restructuring and rebranding.

As the UEFA Europa League begins in July 2009, the current champions Shakhtar Donetsk will not take part despite winning it in May. This is because the club has qualified for the UEFA Champions League 2009/10. There will be no club taking its place and UEFA will accommodate the change.

As with previous seasons, the UEFA Europa League will, at one stage, include the eliminated teams from the UEFA Champions League. There will be slight changes to the qualifying structure while the final group stages will also see some modifications in order to take in more teams as well as raise the profile of the brand, which took a hit in recent seasons. Many clubs in recent seasons have fielded weakened teams as they focus more on their domestic league fortunes, in particular the English Premiership sides that were actually involved in relegation battles at home. UEFA was evidently displeased with this but in fairness have made the effort on their part to spruce up the image of the competition. Whether that will see greater interest and dedication from the major European leagues and their clubs remains to be seen.

admin @ June 30, 2009