UEFA Europa League

The UEFA Europa League, previously called the UEFA Cup, is an annual association football club competition organized 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.

Previously 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 simply a rebranding.

In 1999, the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was abolished and 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 changed qualifying criteria. The winner of the UEFA Europa League qualifies for the UEFA Super Cup, and from the 2014–15 season onwards the winner of the UEFA Europa League also qualifies for the next edition of the UEFA Champions League. The winner enters at least at the play-off round (assuming they do not already qualify through domestic performance), and will enter the group stage if the berth reserved for the Champions League title holders is not used.

UEFA

The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA, /juːˈeɪfə/; French: Union des Associations Européennes de Football;German: Vereinigung Europäischer Fußballverbände) is the administrative body for association football in Europe, although several member states are primarily or entirely located in Asia. It is one of six continental confederations of world football's governing body FIFA. UEFA consists of 54 national association members.

UEFA represents the national football associations of Europe, runs nation and club competitions including the UEFA European Championship, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, and UEFA Super Cup, and controls the prize money, regulations, and media rights to those competitions.

Until 1959 the main headquarters were located in Paris, and later in Bern. In 1995, UEFA headquarters transferred to Nyon, Switzerland. Henri Delaunay was the first general secretary and Ebbe Schwartz the first president. The last elected president was former French footballer Michel Platini, however he is currently suspended, due to the fact that he has been banned from football for 8 years. Angel Villar Llona is the current Acting President.

Europa

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League

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