2010–11 UEFA Europa League
The 2010–11 UEFA Europa League was the second season of the UEFA Europa League, Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, the 40th edition overall including its predecessor, the UEFA Cup. It began on 1 July 2010, with the first qualifying round matches, concluded on 18 May 2011, with the final at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, between Porto and first-time finalists Braga; this was the first all-Portuguese final of a European competition and only the third time that two Portuguese teams faced each other in Europe, following Braga's elimination of Benfica in the semi-finals. Porto defeated Braga 1–0, with a goal from the competition's top goalscorer Radamel Falcao, won their second title in the competition, after victory in the 2002–03 UEFA Cup. A total of 194 teams from 53 UEFA associations participated in the 2010–11 UEFA Europa League. Associations were allocated places according to their 2009 UEFA country coefficient, which took into account their performance in European competitions from 2004–05 to 2008–09.
Below is the qualification scheme for the 2010–11 UEFA Europa League: Associations 1–6 each have three teams qualify Associations 7–9 each have four teams qualify Associations 10–51 each have three teams qualify, except Liechtenstein, which have one team qualify Associations 52–53 each have two teams qualify The top three associations of the 2009–10 UEFA Fair Play ranking each gain an additional berth Moreover, 33 teams eliminated from the 2010–11 UEFA Champions League are transferred to the Europa League. Notes: Additional fair play berth: Additional teams transferred from the UEFA Champions League The winners of the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League, Atlético Madrid, were guaranteed a place in the group stage as the title holder, since they did not qualify for the 2010–11 UEFA Champions League. However, they qualified for the Europa League third qualifying round through domestic performance, as they were the runners-up of the 2009–10 Copa del Rey to Champions League-qualified Sevilla; as a result, this place in the third qualifying round was vacated, which in turn led to the following changes to the default allocation system in order to compensate for this vacant spot: The domestic cup winners of association 28 have been promoted from the second qualifying round to the third qualifying round.
The domestic cup winners of associations 52 and 53 have been promoted from the first qualifying to the second qualifying round. A Europa League place is vacated when a team qualifies for both the Champions League and the Europa League, or qualifies for the Europa League by more than one method; when a place is vacated, it is redistributed within the national association by the following rules: When the domestic cup winners qualify for the Champions League, their Europa League place is vacated, the remaining Europa League qualifiers are moved up one place, with the final place taken by the domestic cup runners-up, provided they do not qualify for the Champions League or the Europa League. Otherwise, this place is taken by the highest-placed league finishers that have not yet qualified for the Europa League; when the domestic cup winners qualify for the Europa League through league position, their place through the league position is vacated, the Europa League qualifiers that finish lower in the league are moved up one place, with the final place taken by the highest-placed league finishers that have not yet qualified for the Europa League.
A place vacated by the League Cup winners is taken by the highest-placed league finishers that have not yet qualified for the Europa League. A Fair Play place is taken by the highest-ranked team in the domestic Fair Play table that has not yet qualified for the Champions League or the Europa League; the labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round: TH: Title holders CW: Cup winners CR: Cup runners-up LC: League Cup winners Nth: League position P-W: End-of-season European competition play-offs winners FP: Fair play UCL: Relegated from the Champions League GS: Third-placed teams from the group stage PO: Losers from the play-off round Q3: Losers from the third qualifying roundNotesEngland: Portsmouth, the runners-up of the 2009–10 FA Cup to Champions League-qualified Chelsea, did not obtain a UEFA licence, meaning they could not qualify for Europe. Portsmouth had appealed to UEFA, the Premier League and the English FA, but the latter two would not allow late applications for the licence.
As a result, the seventh-placed team of the 2009–10 Premier League, claimed the Europa League spot in the third qualifying round. Republic of Ireland: Since the third- and fourth-placed teams of the 2009 League of Ireland, Cork City and Derry City, were dissolved and expelled from the league after the season was completed, the fifth-placed team, claimed the Europa League spot in the first qualifying round. Lithuania: Vėtra, the runners-up of the 2009 A Lyga and the runners-up of the 2009–10 Lithuanian Football Cup to Champions League-qualified Ekranas, were denied the UEFA license for the 2010–11 season and therefore could not represent Lithuania in the UEFA Europa League; as a result, all Europa League spots were awarded to teams based on their league positions. Therefore, the fourth-placed team, Šiauliai, were moved from the first qualifying round to the second qualifying round, while the fifth-placed team, Tauras Tauragė, claimed the Europa League spot in the first qualifying round. Spain: Ma
2006–07 UEFA Cup
The 2006–07 UEFA Cup was the 36th UEFA Cup, Europe's second tier club football tournament. On 16 May 2007, at Hampden Park, Scotland, Sevilla won their second consecutive UEFA Cup, defeating Espanyol 3–1 on penalties after the match finished 2–2 after extra time. Sevilla became the first side to win the competition two years in a row since Real Madrid achieved this feat in 1985 and 1986. Walter Pandiani of Espanyol was the top goalscorer of this UEFA Cup edition with 11 goals scored. A total of 155 teams from 52 UEFA associations participated in the 2006–07 UEFA Cup. Associations were allocated places according to their 2005 UEFA league coefficient, which takes into account their performance in European competitions from 2000–01 to 2004–05. Below is the qualification scheme for the 2006–07 UEFA Cup: Associations 1–6, 16–21 each have three teams qualify Associations 7 and 8 each have four teams qualify Associations 9–15, 22-39, 41-50 each have two teams qualify Associations 40, 51 and 52 each have one team qualify The top three associations of the 2005–06 UEFA Fair Play ranking each gain an additional berth Eleven winning teams from the 2006 UEFA Intertoto Cup 24 teams from the 2006–07 UEFA Champions League Notes: Additional fair play berth.
Number of teams do not include teams transferred from the Intertoto Cup. The title holder would have been given an additional entry if they did not qualify for the 2006–07 UEFA Champions League or Europa League through domestic performance; this means that the following changes to the default allocation system were made to compensate for the vacant title holder spot in the group stage: The first UEFA Cup qualifying entrant of association 14 gained direct access to the 1st round - Pasching. The domestic cup winners of associations 19 and 20 are moved from the first qualifying round to the second qualifying round; the labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round: TH: Title holders CW: Cup winners CR: Cup runners-up LC: League Cup winners Nth: League position P-: End-of-season European competition play-offs IN: Intertoto Cup FP: Fair play UCL: Relegated from the Champions League GS: Third-placed teams from the group stage PO: Losers from the play-off round Q3: Losers from the third qualifying round The 2006 Serie A scandal resulted in major changes to the clubs that qualified in Italy.
Roma took the cup winners' place as losing finalists in the 2006 Coppa Italia, as the winners, Internazionale finished in the top four in the league and qualified for the Champions League. The other two UEFA Cup places went to Lazio and Chievo. Lazio, however, as well as the remaining three Champions League qualifiers, were formally indicted on 22 June on charges relating to the scandal. On 14 July, all four of the indicated clubs were penalised by an Italian court and the Italian Football Federation. Results of the FIGC appeal were announced on 25 July; the impact on the UEFA Cup was: Lazio were barred from European competition. Roma and Chievo were promoted to the Champions League. Palermo and Parma were granted Italy's places in the UEFA Cup. FIFA suspended the Hellenic Football Federation from all international competitions on 3 July 2006 because of "political interference in sport" after the Greek government passed a law, giving it control of the sports authorities in Greece. After the law was amended to address FIFA's objections, FIFA reinstated the HFF on 12 July.
The Greek government in response, decided to withdraw all of its funding to the Hellenic Football Federation. These matches were held on 13 July and 27 July 2006; these matches were held on 8 and 10 August and 24 August 2006. 1Due to the armed conflict going on in Israel, UEFA decided that no European matches could be staged in the country until further notice. Hapoel Tel Aviv's home match was moved to Tilburg, Beitar Jerusalem's to Sofia and Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv's to Senec, Slovakia 2These clubs qualified for this season's UEFA competitions as members of the Football Association of Serbia and Montenegro during the 2005–06 season but are members of the Football Association of Serbia, the official successor of the previous football association.3Derry City are a team from Northern Ireland who play in the Republic of Ireland's football league. The flag of the Republic of Ireland is used for the purposes of official records as Derry City are a team representing the Football Association of Ireland.
The matches were held on 14 September and 28 September 2006. 4Due to the armed conflict in Israel, UEFA had ruled that European tournament matches could not be played in Israel until further notice. Maccabi Haifa's home leg on 14 September was moved to Netherlands. On 15 September, UEFA lifted the ban. Hapoel Tel Aviv were able to play their home leg in Tel Aviv on 28 September. 5UEFA ordered Trabzonspor's home leg on 14 September to be played behind closed doors after objects were thrown at visiting fans and the fourth official, a smoke bomb ignited in the stands, during their second qualifying round home leg against Cypriots APOEL. Trabzonspor appealed, UEFA rejected the appeal on 13 September. Trabzonspor's penalty includes a second closed-doors game, a penalty, deferred for two years and will be removed if no further incidents occur; the top three teams (highlight
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the inaugural tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946 when it was not held because of the Second World War; the current champion is France. The current format of the competition involves a qualification phase, which takes place over the preceding three years, to determine which teams qualify for the tournament phase, called the World Cup Finals. After this, 32 teams, including the automatically qualifying host nation, compete in the tournament phase for the title at venues within the host nation over a period of about a month; the 21 World Cup tournaments have been won by eight national teams. Brazil have won five times, they are the only team to have played in every tournament; the other World Cup winners are Italy, with four titles each.
The World Cup is the most prestigious association football tournament in the world, as well as the most viewed and followed sporting event in the world, exceeding the Olympic Games. Brazil, Italy and Mexico have each hosted twice, while Uruguay, Sweden, England, Spain, the United States and South Korea, South Africa and Russia have each hosted once. Qatar are planned as hosts of the 2022 finals, 2026 will be jointly hosted by Canada, the United States and Mexico, which will give Mexico the distinction of being the first country to have hosted games in three finals; the world's first international football match was a challenge match played in Glasgow in 1872 between Scotland and England, which ended in a 0–0 draw. The first international tournament, the inaugural British Home Championship, took place in 1884; as football grew in popularity in other parts of the world at the start of the 20th century, it was held as a demonstration sport with no medals awarded at the 1900 and 1904 Summer Olympics, at the 1906 Intercalated Games.
After FIFA was founded in 1904, it tried to arrange an international football tournament between nations outside the Olympic framework in Switzerland in 1906. These were early days for international football, the official history of FIFA describes the competition as having been a failure. At the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, football became an official competition. Planned by The Football Association, England's football governing body, the event was for amateur players only and was regarded suspiciously as a show rather than a competition. Great Britain won the gold medals, they repeated the feat at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm. With the Olympic event continuing to be contested only between amateur teams, Sir Thomas Lipton organised the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy tournament in Turin in 1909; the Lipton tournament was a championship between individual clubs from different nations, each one of which represented an entire nation. The competition is sometimes described as The First World Cup, featured the most prestigious professional club sides from Italy and Switzerland, but the FA of England refused to be associated with the competition and declined the offer to send a professional team.
Lipton invited an amateur side from County Durham, to represent England instead. West Auckland won the tournament and returned in 1911 to defend their title. In 1914, FIFA agreed to recognise the Olympic tournament as a "world football championship for amateurs", took responsibility for managing the event; this paved the way for the world's first intercontinental football competition, at the 1920 Summer Olympics, contested by Egypt and 13 European teams, won by Belgium. Uruguay won the next two Olympic football tournaments in 1924 and 1928; those were the first two open world championships, as 1924 was the start of FIFA's professional era. Due to the success of the Olympic football tournaments, FIFA, with President Jules Rimet as the driving force, again started looking at staging its own international tournament outside of the Olympics. On 28 May 1928, the FIFA Congress in Amsterdam decided to stage a world championship itself. With Uruguay now two-time official football world champions and to celebrate their centenary of independence in 1930, FIFA named Uruguay as the host country of the inaugural World Cup tournament.
The national associations of selected nations were invited to send a team, but the choice of Uruguay as a venue for the competition meant a long and costly trip across the Atlantic Ocean for European sides. Indeed, no European country pledged to send a team until two months before the start of the competition. Rimet persuaded teams from Belgium, France and Yugoslavia to make the trip. In total, 13 nations took part: seven from South America, four from Europe and two from North America; the first two World Cup matches took place on 13 July 1930, were won by France and the USA, who defeated Mexico 4–1 and Belgium 3–0 respectively. The first goal in World Cup history was scored by Lucien Laurent o
Africa Cup of Nations
The CAF Africa Cup of Nations CAN referred to as AFCON, or Total Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, is the main international association football competition in Africa. It is sanctioned by the Confederation of African Football and was first held in 1957. Since 1968, it has been held every two years; the title holders at the time of a FIFA Confederations Cup qualify for that competition. In 1957 there were only three participating nations: Egypt and Ethiopia. South Africa was scheduled to compete, but were disqualified due to the apartheid policies of the government in power. Since the tournament has grown making it necessary to hold a qualifying tournament; the number of participants in the final tournament reached 16 in 1998, until 2017, the format had been unchanged, with the sixteen teams being drawn into four groups of four teams each, with the top two teams of each group advancing to a "knock-out" stage. On 20 July 2017, the Africa Cup of Nations was moved from January to June and expanded from 16 to 24 teams.
Egypt is the most successful nation in the cup's history, winning the tournament a record of seven times. Three different trophies have been awarded during the tournament's history, with Ghana and Cameroon winning the first two versions to keep after each of them won a tournament three times; the current trophy was first awarded in 2002 and with Egypt winning it indefinitely after winning their unprecedented third consecutive title in 2010. As of 2013, the tournament was switched to being held in odd-numbered years so as not to clash with the FIFA World Cup; the origin of the African Nations Cup dates from June 1956, when the creation of the Confederation of African Football was proposed during the third FIFA congress in Lisbon. There were immediate plans for a continental tournament to be held and, in February 1957, the first African Cup of Nations was held in Khartoum, Sudan. There was no qualification for this tournament, the field being made up of the four founding nations of CAF. South Africa's insistence on selecting only white players for their squad due to its apartheid policy led to its disqualification, as a consequence Ethiopia were handed a bye straight to the final.
Hence, only two matches were played, with Egypt being crowned as the first continental champion after defeating hosts Sudan in the semi-final and Ethiopia in the final. Two years Egypt hosted the second ANC in Cairo with the participation of the same three teams. Host and defending champions Egypt again won, after defeating Sudan; the field grew to include nine teams for the third ANC in 1962 in Addis Ababa, for the first time there was a qualification round to determine which four teams would play for the title. Host Ethiopia and reigning champion Egypt received automatic berths, were joined in the final four by Nigeria and Tunisia. Egypt made its third consecutive final appearance, but it was Ethiopia that emerged as victors, after first beating Tunisia and downing Egypt in extra time. In 1963, Ghana made its first appearance as it hosted the event, won the title after beating Sudan in the final, they repeated that as they became champions two years in Tunisia—equalling Egypt as two-time winners—with a squad that included only two returning members from the 1963 team.
In 1965, the CAF introduced a rule. The rule persisted to 1982; the 1968 competition's final tournament format expanded to include eight of the 22 teams entered in the preliminary rounds. The qualifying teams were distributed in two groups of four to play single round-robin tournaments, with the top two teams of each group advancing to semi-finals, a system that remained in use for the finals until 1992; the Democratic Republic of Congo won its first title. Starting with the 1968 tournament, the competition has been held every two years in numbered years. Ivory Coast forward Laurent Pokou led the 1968 and 1970 tournaments in scoring, with six and eight goals and his total of 14 goals remained the all-time record until 2008. Play was covered for television for the first time during the 1970 tournament in Sudan, as the hosts lifted the trophy after defeating Ghana—who were playing their fourth consecutive final. Six different nations won titles from 1970 to 1980: Sudan, Congo-Brazzaville, Morocco and Nigeria.
Zaire's second title in the 1974 edition came after facing Zambia in the final. For the only time to date in the history of the competition, the match had to be replayed as the first contest between the two sides ended in a 2–2 draw after extra time; the final was re-staged two days with Zaire winning 2–0. Forward Mulamba Ndaye scored all four of Zaire's goals in these two matches: he was the top scorer of the tournament with nine goals, setting a single-tournament record that remains unmatched. Three months earlier, Zaire had become the first Sub-Saharan African nation to qualify to the FIFA World Cup. Morocco won their first title in the 1976 ANC held in Ethiopia and Ghana took its third championship in 1978, becoming the first nation to win three titles. Between 1980 and 1990, Cameroon managed to reach the final of the African Cup three times in a row, winning the competition twice in 1984 and 1988 and losing once on penalties against Egypt in the 1986 edition, the other dominant team during this period was Algeria, along with th
La Liga
The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División known as La Liga, is the men's top professional football division of the Spanish football league system. Administered by the Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional known as the Liga de Fútbol Profesional, La Liga is contested by 20 teams, with the three lowest-placed teams at the end of each season relegated to the Segunda División and replaced by the top three teams in that division. A total of 62 teams have competed in La Liga since its inception. Nine teams have been crowned champions, with Real Madrid winning the title a record 33 times and Barcelona 25 times. Barcelona won the inaugural La Liga in 1929 with Athletic Bilbao claiming several titles in the league's early years. Barcelona and Real Madrid dominated the championship in the 1950s, winning four La Liga titles each throughout the decade. Real Madrid dominated La Liga from the 1960s through the 1980s, when Barcelona, Athletic Bilbao, Real Sociedad won the league twice in those years.
From the 1990s onward, Barcelona has dominated winning 15 titles. Although Real Madrid has been prominent, winning 8 titles, La Liga has seen other champions, including Atlético Madrid and Deportivo de La Coruña. In the 2010s, Atlético Madrid has become an strong team, forming a trio alongside Real Madrid and Barcelona. According to UEFA's league coefficient, La Liga has been the top league in Europe over the last five years and has led Europe for more years than any other country, it has produced the continent's top-rated club more times than any other league, more than double that of second-placed Serie A. Its clubs have won the most UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Super Cup, FIFA Club World Cup titles, its players have accumulated the highest number of Ballon d'Or awards, The Best FIFA Men's Player including FIFA World Player of the Year and UEFA Men's Player of the Year including UEFA Club Footballer of the Year. La Liga is one of the most popular professional sports leagues in the world, with an average attendance of 26,983 for league matches in the 2017–18 season.
This is the sixth-highest of any domestic professional sports league in the world and the third-highest of any professional association football league in the world, behind the Bundesliga and the Premier League. The competition format follows the usual double round-robin format. During the course of a season, which lasts from August to May, each club plays every other club twice, once at home and once away, for 38 matchdays. Teams receive three points for a win, one point for a draw, no points for a loss. Teams are ranked by total points, with the highest-ranked club at the end of the season crowned champion. A system of promotion and relegation exists between the Segunda División; the three lowest placed teams in La Liga are relegated to the Segunda División, the top two teams from the Segunda División promoted to La Liga, with an additional club promoted after a series of play-offs involving the third, fourth and sixth placed clubs. Below is a complete record of; these are: yellow card, 1 point doubled yellow card/ejection, 2 points direct red card, 3 points suspension or disqualification of coach, executive or other club personnel, 5 points misconduct of the supporters: mild 5 points, serious 6 points serious 7 points stadium closure, 10 points if the Competition Committee removes a penalty, the points are removed If the tie is still not broken, it will be resolved with a tie-break match in a neutral stadium.
The top 4 teams in La Liga qualify for the subsequent season's UEFA Champions League Group Stage. The winners of the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League qualify for the subsequent season's UEFA Champions League Group Stage. If this means 6 La Liga teams qualify the 4th place team in La Liga instead plays in the UEFA Europa League, as any single nation is limited to a maximum of 5 teams; the 5th place team in La Liga qualifies for the subsequent season's UEFA Europa League Group Stage. The winner of the Copa del Rey qualifies for the subsequent season's UEFA Europa League Group Stage, but if the winner finished in the top 5 places in La Liga this place reverts to the team that finished 6th in La Liga. Furthermore the 6th place team qualifies for the subsequent season's UEFA Europa League 2nd Qualifying Round; the number of places allocated to Spanish clubs in UEFA competitions is dependent upon the position a country holds in the UEFA country coefficients, which are calculated based upon the performance of teams in UEFA competitions in the previous 5 years.
The ranking of Spain is 1st. In April 1927, José María Acha, a director at Arenas Club de Getxo, first proposed the idea of a national leagu
FC Viktoria Plzeň
Football Club Viktoria Plzeň known as Viktoria Plzeň or Viktoria, is a Czech professional football club based in Plzeň. They play in the top division of football in the country; as runners-up in the 1970–71 Czechoslovak Cup, the club gained the right to play in the following season's Cup Winners' Cup, as winners Spartak Trnava won the championship and played in the European Cup. In 2010, they played in the UEFA Europa League after winning the 2009–10 Czech Cup; the club won the Czech league for the first time in 2011, participated in the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League group stage, during which they won their first Champions League match, earning five points and qualifying for the Round of 32 in the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League. The club won their second Czech league title in the 2012–13 season. In 2013 -- 14, the club finished third, they reached the round of 16 in UEFA Europa League before being eliminated by Lyon. In 1911, Jaroslav Ausobský, an official of the state railways, filed a request for the establishment of a new football club in Plzeň.
In August 1911, the newly formed club Viktoria played their first match, losing 7–3 against Olympia Plzeň. For the first 18 years of its existence, Viktoria Plzeň was a purely amateur club, although in 1922–23, they took their first foreign trip to Spain, where they won six out of nine matches. In June 1929, an extraordinary meeting of members agreed to go professional and enter the national professional league. Viktoria finished their first season in seventh place, but the next season and reached second place, which meant a first-ever promotion to the First League. In the 1934–35 Czechoslovak First League, Viktoria finished in fourth place and subsequently played in the 1935 Mitropa Cup, the top European club competition at the time. Two matches against Juventus brought Viktoria to the attention of European football at large, they lost 5 -- 1 in Turin. Viktoria played without success in the First League, being relegated for the 1938 season but returning to top competition the next year; the outbreak of World War II interrupted competition, notably through the absence of teams from Slovakia.
In 1942, Viktoria fell again into the divisions, but again returned to the top league the next year, where they would remain until 1952. That same year, the club changed its name to Sokol Škoda Plzeň. For nine years they remained in the divisions, struggling to return to the First League, in 1961, now under the name of Spartak Plzeň, achieved that promotion; the club was relegated and promoted between the top two tiers until 1972, when as Škoda Plzeň they settled in the First League for eight years. In 1971, Viktoria won the Czech Cup by drawing lots after the two-legged final ended 4–4 on aggregate and 5–5 in a limited penalty shootout against Sparta Prague B, they lost 7–2 on aggregate in the Czechoslovak Cup final against Slovak Cup winners Spartak Trnava, but as Trnava had won the league title that season, Viktoria was the country's entrant to the next season's European Cup Winners' Cup. The club's greatest honor is elimination in the first round by 7 -- 2 on aggregate. From 1980 until the division of Czechoslovakia 13 years Viktoria moved between the top two tiers again.
In 1992, the club returned to its historical name FC Viktoria Plzeň and the next season, advanced to the first league, where it remained until 1999. In the first years of the new millennium, Viktoria was owned by a foreign investor – Italian Football Company Ltd EAST; this situation lasted until March 2005, when 100% of the club's shares were purchased by local interests. The summer of 2005 brought back relations with the Czech motor company Škoda, the club's name sponsors. On 18 May 2010, Viktoria won the Czech Cup final 2–1 against Jablonec, returned to European competitions via the 2010–11 UEFA Europa League. Viktoria entered in the third qualifying round against Beşiktaş and held them 1–1 at home before losing 3–0 away. Viktoria won its first league championship in 2010–11, finishing with 69 points to Sparta Prague's 68; the club therefore qualified for a play-off to the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League, in which they defeated Copenhagen 5–2 on aggregate. Viktoria were placed in Group H alongside reigning champions Barcelona and Milan, reached third place in the group by recording a victory over BATE Borisov.
This saw the club drop into the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League in the round of 32, where they lost 4–2 on aggregate to Schalke 04 after extra time. The club's Stadion města Plzně was rebuilt in 2011. On 11 June 2011, Viktoria celebrated together with fans in the courtyard of the Pilsner Urquell brewery for a centennial anniversary. In January 2012, the club held a festive gala for its centenary, voted current midfielder Pavel Horváth as its greatest player of all-time; the 2011–12 season saw Viktoria finish in third place in the league, three points behind champions Slovan Liberec, to qualify for a third consecutive Europa League campaign. Starting in the second qualifying round, the club advanced past Metalurgi Rustavi of Georgia and Ruch Chorzów of Poland to set up a play-off against the Belgian club Lokeren, in which Viktoria advanced on away goals after a 2–2 aggregate draw; the club finished first in Group B, ahead of the tournament's reigning champions Atlético Madrid. In the round of 32, Viktoria were drawn against Napoli and won 3–0 away and 2–0 at home to advance to the last 16, where they played Fenerbahçe.
Viktoria lost the home leg 1–0, in the away leg drew 1–1, resulting in their elimination. Viktoria won the Cz
UEFA Europa League
The UEFA Europa League is an annual football club competition organised by UEFA since 1971 for eligible European football clubs. Clubs qualify for the competition based on their performance in their national leagues and cup competitions, it is the second-tier competition of European club football, ranking below the UEFA Champions League. Called the UEFA Cup, the competition has been known as the UEFA Europa League since the 2009–10 season, following a change in format. For UEFA footballing records purposes, the UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League are considered the same competition, with the change of name being a rebranding. In 1999, the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was merged with the UEFA Cup. For the 2004–05 competition a group stage was added prior to the knockout phase; the 2009 re-branding included a merge with the UEFA Intertoto Cup, producing an enlarged competition format, with an expanded group stage and a change in qualifying criteria. The winner of the UEFA Europa League qualifies for the UEFA Super Cup and, since the 2014–15 season, the following season's UEFA Champions League, entering at the group stage.
The title has been won by 28 clubs. The most successful club in the competition is Sevilla, with five titles; the current champions are Atlético Madrid, after defeating Marseille in the final to win the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League. The UEFA Cup was preceded by the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, a European football competition played between 1955 and 1971; the competition grew from 11 teams during the first cup to 64 teams by the last cup, played in 1970–71. It had become so important on the European football scene that in the end it was taken over by UEFA and relaunched the following season as the UEFA Cup; the UEFA Cup was first played in the 1971–72 season, with an all-English final of Wolverhampton Wanderers against Tottenham Hotspur, with Spurs taking the first honours. The title was retained by another English club, Liverpool, in 1973, who defeated Borussia Mönchengladbach in the final. Borussia would win the competition in 1975 and 1979, reach the final again in 1980. Feyenoord Rotterdam won the cup in 1974 after defeating Tottenham Hotspur with 4-2 in aggregate.
Liverpool won the competition for the second time in 1976 after defeating Club Brugge in the final. During the 1980s, IFK Göteborg and Real Madrid won the competition twice each, with Anderlecht reaching two consecutive finals, winning in 1983 and losing to Tottenham Hotspur in 1984; the year 1989 saw the commencement of the Italian clubs' domination, when Diego Maradona's Napoli defeated Stuttgart. The 1990s started with two all-Italian finals, in 1992, Torino lost the final to Ajax on the away goals rule. Juventus won the competition for a third time in 1993 and Internazionale kept the cup in Italy the following year; the year 1995 saw a third all-Italian final, with Parma proving their consistency, after two consecutive Cup Winners' Cup finals. The only final with no Italians during that decade was in 1996. Internazionale reached the final the following two years, losing in 1997 to Schalke 04 on penalties, winning yet another all-Italian final in 1998, taking home the cup for the third time in only eight years.
Parma won the cup in 1999. Liverpool won the competition for the third time in 2001. In 2002 Feyenoord Rotterdam won it for the 2nd time in the club history by defeating Borussia Dortmund during the final in their own stadium, Stadion Feijenoord in Rotterdam with 3-2. Porto triumphed with the latter against Portuguese team Braga. In 2004, the cup returned to Spain with Valencia being victorious, Sevilla succeeded on two consecutive occasions in 2006 and 2007, the latter in a final against fellow Spaniards Espanyol. Either side of Sevilla's success, two Russian teams, CSKA Moscow in 2005 and Zenit Saint Petersburg in 2008, had their glory and yet another former Soviet club, Ukraine's Shakhtar Donetsk, won in 2009. Atlético Madrid would themselves win twice in three seasons, in 2010 and 2012, the latter in another all-Spanish final. In 2013, Chelsea would become the first Champions League holders to win the UEFA Cup/Europa League the following year. In 2014, Sevilla won their third cup in eight years after defeating Benfica on penalties.
Just one year in 2015, Sevilla won their fourth UEFA Cup/Europa League and, in an unprecedented feat, they defended their title a third year in a row beating Liverpool FC in the 2016 final, making Sevilla FC the most successful team in the history of the competition with 5 titles. Since the 2009–10 season, the competition has been known as the UEFA Europa League. At the same time, the UEFA Intertoto Cup, UEFA's third-tier competition, was discontinued and merged into the new Europa League. UEFA had considered adding a third-tier competition since at least 2015, believing that a bottom-level tournament could act as a means of giving clubs from lower-ranked UEFA member countries to have a chance of progressing to the stages beyond the stages they traditionally would be eliminated in the Champions League and Europa League. In mid-2018 talk of an announcement intensified, with news sources claiming an agreement had been reached for the competition to be launched and that the 48-team Europa League group stage would be split into two, with the lower-half forming the nucleus of what would be the new event.
On 2 December 2018, UEFA announced that the competition – provisionally known as "Europa League 2" or just "UEL2" – was to be launched as part of the 2021–24 three-year competition cycle, with UEFA announcing that the new tournament would bring "more matches for more clubs and more
