What is the UEFA Europa League? Referring to European football, people immediately think of the Champions League – the most attractive football tournament on the planet. But do not ignore a tournament with equal history and attractiveness that is the Europa League. In the following article, Wintips expert will help you know what the UEFA Europa League is and interesting information about this tournament.
What is the UEFA Europa League?
Europa league, also known as the C2 Cup, is a football tournament organized annually by the European Football Confederation. This tournament brings together a series of teams in the European region that have achieved high rankings in national championships but are not eligible to participate in the C1 or UEFA Champions League.
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What is the UEFA Europa League?[/caption]
The predecessor of this tournament was the UEFA Cup which was founded in 1971 and later renamed the Europa League since the 2009/2010 season. Before that, the UEFA Cup and Champions League were counted as the same match. Besides, the C2 Cup is also known as the European Champions' Cup. However, in 1999, the trophy was cancelled and merged with the UEFA Europa League.
In 2009, UEFA merged with the UEFA International Toto Cup to host a larger tournament. With the expansion of the group stage and the change of some participation standards created a Europa League tournament as we know it today.
Since its inception, the C2 Cup has only Sevilla as the team that successfully defended its championship trophy. Starting from the 2014–2015 season, the team that wins the C2 cup will be able to participate in the UEFA Champions League.
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Find out an overview of the European Club Championship C2
History of the C2 cup tournament
Once we know what the Europa League is, let's learn about the history of the tournament. Accordingly, the origin of the prize is formed based on the ideas of 3 people including:
- Ottorino Barassi (Italian)
- Ernst Thornmen (Swiss)
- Sir Stanley Rous (British)
Before that, in 1995 there was the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup tournament. The first season lasted up to 3 years from 1955 – 1958. The 1971–1972 season was renamed the UEFA Cup.
Starting from the 1999–2000 season, the C2 Cup was merged into the C3 league but retained the name of the UEFA Cup. Then the teams that win the domestic championship cups will be eligible to participate in this tournament.
Starting from the 2009–2010 season, UEFA decided to increase the number of clubs participating in the group stage to 48 teams. At this time, the new tournament was renamed the UEFA Europa League, also known as the C2 Cup.
Format of the C2 Cup
Over time, more and more teams in the European region participated in this tournament. So what is the format of the C2 Cup? With the increasing size of the tournament, it is imperative that the organizers make general rules. These rules, also known as the general competition format, are strictly followed by participants.
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Find out an overview of the European Club Championship C2[/caption]
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General competition format
Each member national federation will have 3 participating clubs. However, the league ranked 52-54 has only 2 teams. The league is ranked 55th and Liechtenstein has only 1 team participating. On the basis of achievements from the previous season, teams will be able to enter the group stage directly or must participate in the non-championship qualifiers.
Teams eliminated in the Champions League qualifiers will also have the opportunity to participate in the Europa League qualifiers. At the same time, the 8 teams that finished third in the Champions League group stage will also participate in the round of 32. The C2 Cup tournament consists of: Qualifying round, group stage of 12 groups of 4 teams, round of 32 teams, round of 16 teams, quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals.
Additional competition formats
From the 2018 – 2019 season, the C2 cup football tournament has added a competition format. Accordingly, all winners of domestic competitions eliminated in the UEFA Champions League qualifiers will be transferred to the UEFA Europa League. In particular, 55 members of the European football federation will participate in the UEFA Europa League 2018 – 2019. The association's ranking will be based on the country's coefficient. Inside:
- Members ranked 52-54 will have 2 teams participating.
- Members from 1-51 will have 3 teams participating except Liechtenstein.
- The 55 teams eliminated from the UEFA Champions League will also be transferred to the Europa League.
UEFA Europa League Winners' Award
Europa League Cup
The UEFA Cup, also known as the European Cup, is a trophy awarded by UEFA to the team that wins the C2 football league. Manufacturer Bertoni designed and built its own trophy for the 1972 UEFA Cup final, weighing 15 kg, made of silver and set on a yellow marble.
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UEFA Europa League Winners' Award[/caption]
Each winning club will receive a full-size replica trophy. Teams that have won the championship 3 times in a row or a total of 5 times will receive the championship badge multiple times. Only Spanish club Sevilla has been lucky enough to wear the badge since the 2016-2017 season.
Prize money for Europa League winners
As with the Champions League, the prize money of the winning team is divided into fixed amounts, which varies according to the value of the broadcasting rights. In the 2019–2020 season, each team participating in the Group Stage will receive a basic bonus of 2,92 million euros and each team that wins the group stage will receive 570,000 euros, the draw will receive 190,000 euros.
The top team will get 1,000,000 euros and the second-placed team will get 500,000 euros. The further you go into the inner rounds, the higher the reward.
Conclude
Through the above article, we have helped you answer the question of what the Europa League is. Although it is also an arena organized by the European Football Confederation. However, in terms of attraction, it is inferior to the C1 cup. If you are looking to keep up to date with football and betting news, please visit our website regularly. Have a good time!
See also: What is the UEFA Champions League? Learn an overview of the European Club Championship C1
