UEFA (European) Football Competitions: Clubs, Nations tournaments, Soccer leagues list
August 17, 2021Highlighting All European (UEFA) Football (Soccer) Competitions for Clubs, National Teams Tournaments, Leagues, Competitions list (2021/2022).
The Union of European Football Governing Body UEFA was established to control organized Competition for clubs from member nations across the continent.
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The UEFA Europe football competitions include Champions League, Europa League, Europa Conference League and UEFA Super Cup.
Ranking the Competitions, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Europa Conference League and UEFA Super Cup are the major European club Competitions.
All Competitions are played as seasons and not in a calendar year expect for National team tournaments.
The Competition usually begins from July in its preliminary stages and ends around May the following year.
Highlighting the various Soccer Competitions organized by UEFA
List of UEFA (European) Football Competitions: Clubs, Nations tournaments, leagues, competitions list
European Soccer Leagues For Clubs, Competitions
1. UEFA Champions League (Men)
2. UEFA Europa League (Men)
3. UEFA Europa Conference League (Men)
4. UEFA Women’s Champions League (Women)
5. UEFA Youth League (Boys).
UEFA National Teams Tournaments
6. UEFA European Championship (Men)
7. UEFA Nations League (Men)
8. UEFA European Women’s Championship (Women)
9. UEFA European Under-21 Championship (Boys)
10. UEFA European Under-19 Championship (Boys)
11. UEFA European Under-17 Championship (Boys)
12. UEFA Women’s Under-19 Championship (Girls)
13. UEFA Women’s Under-17 Championship (Girls)
All UEFA Competitions, Leagues, Tournaments list Overview
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League is Europe’s premier football competition played by the top clubs from various leagues across the continent.
Read: Champions League prize money
The UEFA Champions League is regarded as the most prestigious football club competition in the world.
Teams including Barcelona, Juventus, Real Madrid, Manchester United, Porto, Liverpool, AC Milan alongside sides like Paris Saint-Germain competes for the top price.
The Competition was founded in 1995 but was rebranded to its current format in 1992.
Since making its debut as the number club knockout tournament, it has continued to attract live up to the billing.
Format
The Champions League begins with a qualifying series for smaller clubs. The eventual winners of these rounds would earn a right to qualify for the group stages.
The group stage features some of the biggest clubs of European football.
Top countries including England, Spain, Italy France, would have more slots or directly into the group stages compared to Portugal, Belgium Russia, Netherlands, Scotland, etc.
Clubs are allowed to field teams based on the UEFA club coefficients over the past football calendar years.
After the group stages, knockout stages would be completed to determine the two teams that would play in the final which would be held in a neutral venue.
UEFA runs a process of bidding for cities planning to host the final in its home country.
Top teams
Real Madrid
Real Madrid CF is a Spanish professional football club based in the city of Madrid that Competes in La Liga.
Real Madrid is the most successful team when it comes to the UEFA Champions League.
The club from Spain the edition in 1956, a year after the league was established. The Los Blancos successfully defended it the following year in 1957.
To further make history, Real Madrid made it four straight Champions League titles beginning from its inaugural triumph in 1956 to 1960.
This performance remains the tournament’s greatest performance ever even as the club was labelled the greatest ever in the entire history of the competition and second to AC Milan.
Real Madrid has won 13 UEFA Champions League titles.
To further stamp its authority, Madrid won the title in the modern era, making it three consecutive titles from 2016 to 2018.
AC Milan
AC Milan is an Italian professional football club based in Milan that Competes in the Série A.
Milan is the second most successful team when it comes to Champions League with 7 titles.
Milan could only defend the title it won successfully once (1989-1990) compared to Real Madrid that won it five successive seasons and three in the modern era.
Bayern Munich
Bayern Munich is a German Professional football club based in Munich that competes in Bundesliga.
Bayern Munich alongside Liverpool is the third all-time Champions League winner with six titles each.
Liverpool
Liverpool is an English professional football club based in Liverpool that Competes in Premier League.
They are third-time all-time winners alongside Bayern Munich.
Popularity
The Champions League is the number most popular football club competition in Europe.
It also stands as the most popular club football tournament across the world closely followed by the FIFA Club World Cup.
Competitiveness
It is the most competitive league on the continent. It features the biggest or football heavyweights across the continent.
Comparable with the FIFA World Cup, it is one of the most unpredictable competitions in the world where smaller teams could cause upset against bigger teams.
Most competitive teams in Champions League
Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atlético Madrid, Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Juventus, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Paris Saint-Germain, Porto, Sporting Lisbon, etc.
UEFA Europa League
Read: UEFA Europa League prize money
UEFA Europa League is the continent’s second-tier football competition played by cup winners of teams that fall below the Champions League position.
The winner automatically qualifies for the Champions League group stage the following season.
Since its introduction, it has remained a place for smaller or average sides on the continent to fight for a place at the top echelon of football on the continent.
It also provides a level playing ground for players to showcase their talents and eventually attracting the eyes of top European heavyweights that would be interested in securing their services.
History
The UEFA Europa League started way back in 1955 as Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.
From the 1971–72 season, the UEFA Cup was established thus the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup was abolished for the newly adopted continental competition.
A lot of top European football clubs participated and won the Competition as UEFA Cup including Real Madrid, Tottenham Hotspur, IFK Göteborg, RSC Anderlecht.
Since the beginning of the 2009–10 season, it was rebranded to the UEFA Europa League with a change of format, qualification series, etc
Best teams
Sevilla
Sevilla is the most successful team in the history of the competition having won Six titles.
Sevilla is also the only team in history with a perfect record of not losing in any final it has participated beginning with its first success in 2006 and 2007.
Comparable with Real Madrid, Sevilla is one of the few clubs alongside Real Madrid that have won consecutive UEFA Competitions (three in a row) more than any other side.
Sevilla’s success makes Spain the all-time leading Nation according to winners based on countries with 13 titles followed by England and Italy with 9 titles respectively.
Inter Milan
Inter Milan is the second most successful team in UEFA Europa League winners history. The club’s first success began in 1991.
Inter took hold of its second title in 1994 and four years later in 1998.
Although the Milan based club also lost in two finals, the club remains at the top as second on the all-time winner’s list.
Liverpool
Liverpool is the number one English Football team in the list of all-time winners and best performing teams in the competition with 3 titles.
Liverpool won all during the old UEFA Cup era. Liverpool also lost one final in 2016.
Juventus
Juventus is the second Italian team with three titles tied with Inter Milan with three.
Atlético Madrid
Atlético Madrid is the second Spanish Football club with three titles. The club also boasts of a perfect record in the competition.
Other top sides including Borussia Mönchengladbach, Tottenham Hotspur, Feyenoord, IFK Göteborg, Real Madrid, Parma, Porto and Chelsea.
Popularity
UEFA Europa League is the second most popular football club competition in Europe behind the Champions League.
Teams that fail to qualify for Champions League would settle for the Europa League.
UEFA Europa Conference League
Read: UEFA Europa Conference League prize money
UEFA Conference League is the newly adopted third-tier football competition for European clubs
It was created to increase the number of participants amongst UEFA member nations.
Since top teams always cut the Europa League and Champions League, the conference is an avenue for new teams to play at the highest level.
History
The competition began from the 2021/2022 season followed by years of debate by UEFA officials on whether the new Competition would stand.
Although since as fixture congestion, it serves as a gateway for smaller or avoids European clubs to gain more exposure.
Format and Qualification
Nations ranked 1 to 5 will have one team.
Nations ranked 6 to 15 will have two teams.
Nations ranked 16 to 50 will have three teams.
Nations ranked 51 to 55 will have two teams.
Group Stages
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
Finals
UEFA Super Cup
UEFA Super Cup is a one-off match played by winners of the UEFA champions league and UEFA Europa League winners from the previous year.
The one-off match organized by UEFA serves as a curtain-raiser for the new season even though the qualifying rounds begin earlier than that.
The Super Cup is also one of the most-watched European football matches after the two top Competitions (UCL & UEL).
History
Established in 1972, it was contested between the winners of the European Cup and the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup.
The single match is played in a neutral venue selected through the intercity biding process. Cities like Monaco, Belfast have hosted the match.
Top and most successful teams
Barcelona
Barcelona Spanish giants are the most successful team alongside AC Milan when it comes to the UEFA Super Cup.
Barcelona has lost in four finals in the history of the one-off match.
AC Milan
AC Milan is the most successful team alongside Barcelona in the UEFA Super Cup.
Milan enjoyed more success in the late 1990s and twice the early 2000s.
The Milan based club is the leading Football club in Italy.
Real Madrid
Real Madrid is the second most successful team in Super Cup. The Los Blancos and all-time leading Champions of the Champions League have won four Super Cup titles.
Madrid’s success also includes back to back wins between 2016 and 2017.
Real Madrid has also lost in three finals.
Liverpool
Liverpool FC is the second most successful team alongside Real Madrid in the one-off cup tie.
Liverpool FC is also the top English team with more than two titles.
The Reds have also lost in two finals.
Atlético Madrid
The Spanish capital club has won three Super Cup titles.
Other top teams
Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Ajax, RSC Anderlecht, Valencia, Juventus.
Read: UEFA Super Cup winners list
UEFA Youth League
The UEFA Youth League is a club football competition organised by the Union UEFA played by Youth players from member clubs.
Established in 2013, it is contested by the youth (under-19) teams of the clubs competing in the UEFA Champions League group stage.
Teams can also participate based on success in the domestic youth competitions of the best-ranked national associations.
Best teams
Chelsea Youth Team
Barcelona Youth Team
UEFA Women’s Champions League
The UEFA Women’s Champions League is the number of Women’s club Competitions played by Football clubs across Europe.
The competition is the most competitive women’s club football competition played across the world.
Every year, new teams emerge as Champions although the old foes do remain as tough opposition to emerging teams.
History
Established in 2001–02, the women’s UEFA Soccer league was played as UEFA Women’s Cup and renamed the Champions League beginning from the 2009–10 edition.
From 2009 runners-up from the top eight ranked nations were also selected other than its previous format of domestic league winners.
It was initially played as a two-legged final before it was changed to a one-off final.
From the 2021–22 season, there will be the inclusion of the group stage format for the first time as opposed to its initial format.
Top teams
Lyon
Lyon is the most successful team in the UEFA Women’s Champions League with over seven titles.
The club also holds the most perfect record with just two losses in the final.
Lyon holds an incredible record in world football history, winning the UEFA Women’s Champions League in five successive seasons beginning from 2016 until 2020.
Frankfurt
Frankfurt is the second most successful team in history with four titles.
Other top teams
Umeå
VfL Wolfsburg
Turbine Potsdam
Others worthy of mention
Barcelona
Arsenal
Duisburg
In terms of Nations performance, Germany leadseads nine titles while Lyon singlehandedly lead by seven titles as French representatives.
UEFA National Teams Competitions
UEFA European Championship
The UEFA Euro or European Football Championship in men’s professional football competition played member nations.
The tournament is organized by UEFA. Held and played every four years.
It is the second most popular world Football Competition behind the FIFA World Cup and ahead of Copa America in terms of popularity.
This could be as a result of the availability of the most popular football players that the world can offer, all based in the European continent.
The Euros attracts more attention just as the World Cup and Copa America.
History
The first recognized European Championship was played in 1960, held in France and had only four teams competing in the finals out of 17 nations.
Soviet Union became the first team to win the UEFA Euro.
Germany, England, Spain, Greece, Italy, France, Portugal are some of the best teams in the European Football Championship in history.
UEFA Nations League
The UEFA Nations League is a football league held on a basis biennial contested by the senior men’s national teams from UEFA.
The competition was adopted given creating a competitive environment for the national team or than the usual FIFA International Match Calendar.
The Competition ensures European nations would focus on the league to enhance Competition other than random friendlies.
Format
The UEFA’s 55 member associations’ national teams are divided into categorized groups.
The UEFA Nations League comprised 16 teams in Leagues A, B and C and seven teams in League D.
The top four winners of League A groups go on to play in the Nations League Final Play-offs.
Teams can also be promoted and relegated.
The top team(s)
Portugal is the most successful team in the UEFA Nations League history one title was won in the 2018–19 season.
European (UEFA) Youth Football Competitions
Youth competitions were created to help in the development and discovery of young and talented players across the European continent.
Here are the various UEFA Youth Football competitions.
UEFA European Under-21 Championship
UEFA European Under-19 Championship
UEFA European Under-17 Championship
UEFA Women’s Championship
UEFA Women’s Under-19 Championship
UEFA Women’s Under-17 Championship
Top performance countries in UEFA
England –
Football started in England and has continued to grow over the years. English Football teams have turned out to be conquerors of major continental competitions.
Other countries
Germany, Italy, France, Portugal, Spain, Russia, Netherlands, Turkey, Austria, Denmark, Switzerland, Greece, Croatia, etc.
About
UEFA Football (Soccer) Competitions are organized by the continental football head.
History
Football in Europe can be traced back to England where it began in 1883.
Thus Professional football began in England and began to spread to other nations on the continent.
UEFA European Championship is the number football competition while the UEFA Champions League represents the best Clubs on the continent.
At the Youth development level, the UEFA Youth League is the number development league for Champions League group stage teams
For national teams, the UEFA European Under-21 Championship forms the basis of player discovery and development.
About UEFA
The Union of European Football Associations heads Football or soccer-related activities on the continent.
The club Competitions are organized and regulated by the European Football Governing Body is a total of 4 football competitions played simultaneously by clubs from member nations.
UEFA consist of 55 member nations seeded in competition based on a previous performance called ranking system.
UEFA was established in 1954 in Basel, Switzerland. It is currently Headquartered in
Nyon, Switzerland.
Top organized European football competitions
UEFA European Championship, UEFA Nations League, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Europa Conference League, and UEFA Super Cup, etc.
UEFA stands in world football
UEFA based on popularity is the second Football Confederation behind FIFA.
Since its establishment, UEFA as a Governing Body had gone on to organize various Soccer Competitions including the UEFA CUP, Cup winners Cup, Fairs Cup, etc.
UEFA revenue generation
UEFA is one of the f richest football Governing Bodies in the world behind FIFA.
Member Nations
Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan.
Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria.
Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic.
Denmark
England, Estonia.
Faroe Islands, Finland, France.
Georgia, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece.
Hungry
Iceland, Israel, Italy.
Kazakhstan, Kosovo
Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg.
Malta, Moldova, Montenegro.
Netherlands, North Macedonia, Northern Ireland, Norway
Poland, Portugal
Republic of Ireland, Romania, Russia.
San Marino, Scotland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland.
Turkey.
Ukraine.
Wales.
How football in Europe became centre of attraction
Football on the European continent became a centre Of attraction over the years as a result of many factors.
– Organization
The main reason behind the success recorded by almost all major European Soccer leagues is the aspect of the good organization as well as branding.
Most countries top leagues were products of the old National Division that broke out to form a more formidable league backed by proper organization and management.
Take, for example, the English Premier League that broke out from the old First Division to form the Premier League Company.
Organization main reason behind the success achieved by European football leagues.
– Branding
The UEFA Champions League became great as a result of good branding on the part of UEFA.
Today, the likes of La Liga, Ligue 1, Italian Serie and Premier League achieved success as a result of good branding.
The league organizers bent on branding these leagues which helped to attract private or public investors to consider them worthy of investment.
About Football and UEFA
Over the years, the European scene has featured several Competitions most of which are still active but have gone through rebrands.
For national team competition organized by UEFA, it is usual held once a year except for the national league which could be held annually based on UEFA’s decision.
Since its rebranding, the body has gone on to create a more stable football Competition for clubs within the European continent.
Football in Europe is controlled by UEFA which oversees everything related to the sport from national team level down to club-based competition.
The role and activeness of UEFA have further helped countries and leagues consider investing more money in the Sport.
UEFA also did its bid by ensuring more money were pumped into UEFA organized Competition like the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA European Football Championship.
The continental Soccer body has helped in the improvement of the league and has continued to do so with the best standard.
Conclusion
The article highlights UEFA Football Competitions, Leagues, clubs competitions, tournaments, cups etc as it relates to Football in Europe.
Know more about UEFA European Soccer Leagues and Competitions.
