The A to Z of the UEFA Cup

uefa.com bids a fond farewell to the UEFA Cup with an alphabetical trawl from the Antwerp miracle to Zinédine Zidane, singling out the teams, players and moments that defined the competition's 38-year history.



Antwerp miracle – The Deurne Stadium witnessed one of the most dramatic comebacks in the history of European football as R. Antwerp FC turned a 3-1 deficit against PFC Levski Sofia into a 4-3 win within five minutes on 26 September 1989. Having drawn 0-0 in Bulgaria, the Belgian side were 3-1 down at home with five minutes to go when Nico Claesen made it 3-2. Within two minutes he had struck again, with an 89th-minute Raphaël Quaranta strike completing a jaw-dropping Lazarus act.

Bergomi – The passing of the UEFA Cup has guaranteed legendary FC Internazionale Milano defender Giuseppe Bergomi a place in history, having made far and away the most appearances in the competition, 96. Nicknamed 'Zio' (uncle) because he looked old even when he was a teenager, Bergomi is also one of only three players to have won the trophy three times along with Inter team-mate Nicola Berti and Liverpool FC and Tottenham Hotspur FC goalkeeper Ray Clemence.

CSKA – PFC CSKA Moskva finally ended Russia's long wait for continental silverware in improbable style. Despite the final being held at their opponents' home stadium, Valeri Gazzaev's side came from behind to beat Sporting Clube de Portugal 3-1 in Lisbon, with Aleksei Berezoutski, Yuri Zhirkov and Vágner Love scoring. Sport-Express wrote: "Remember this day, 18 May 2005. It will go down in footballing history."

Drubbings – Luxembourg has set two unfortunate records in the UEFA Cup, with Red Boys Differdange and US Rumelange on the wrong end of the two most significant defeats in the competition. AFC Ajax's 14-0 victory against Red Boys in 1984/85 is the heaviest defeat ever suffered in a single UEFA Cup game, while Feyenoord won 9-0 at home and 12-0 away against Rumelange in 1972/73 to record the highest aggregate success.

'Eurofighter' – The nickname of the FC Schalke 04 team which Huub Stevens led to success in 1996/97. The German club traded 1-0 home wins with Inter in the final before prevailing 4-1 on penalties in Milan.

Feyenoord – Holders of the record for the longest gap between two UEFA Cup successes. Having first triumphed in 1974, their second success 28 years later – the Rotterdam club winning a thriller 3-2 against BV Borussia Dortmund at their own De Kuip Stadium – dispelled Dutch fears that an Eredivise club would never win another European title. "It proves Dutch football isn't dead yet," said Van Marwijk.

Golden goal – Perhaps the greatest UEFA Cup final of all produced the cruellest decider, with Liverpool FC's third UEFA Cup success coming courtesy of a golden goal in extra time against Deportivo Alavés in the 2001 final in Dortmund. With the scores level at 4-4 after 90 minutes, luckless full-back Delfi Gelí turned the ball past his own goalkeeper with four minutes of extra time remaining to deny nine-man Alavés.

Heynckes – Former VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach striker Jupp Heynckes shares an impressive record with Dino Baggio, with both players having scored five goals in UEFA Cup finals. Heynckes struck twice in the second leg of the 1973 showpiece, a 3-2 aggregate loss to Liverpool FC. He then scored a hat-trick as Gladbach beat FC Twente 5-1 in the second leg of the 1975 final. Heynckes also coached the club as they lost the 1980 final to Eintracht. Baggio, meanwhile, scored three goals over two legs as Juventus beat Dortmund 6-1 on aggregate in the 1993, and registered one in each leg as his new side – Parma FC – prevailed over his former employers in the 1995 decider.

Italy – Italy are the undisputed champions of the UEFA Cup with Serie A sides winning nine editions of the competition: Inter (1991, 1994, 1998), Juventus (1977, 1990, 1993), Parma (1995, 1999) and SSC Napoli (1989) the victorious clubs. Liverpool are the only other three-time winners.

Jonk – Dutch midfielder Wim Jonk scored for the winning team in two UEFA Cup finals. Having struck Ajax's opener in their 1992 away-goals defeat of Torino FC, he was then on the scoresheet for Inter as they secured the second of two 1-0 wins against SV Austria Salzburg in 1994. That latter success gave Inter an unusual European record, as the 13th-placed Nerazzurri became the lowest domestically-ranked side to win a major UEFA club competition.

Klinsmann – Jürgen Klinsmann played in the UEFA Cup final for two sides, scoring but losing with VfB Stuttgart against SSC Napoli in 1989 before claiming the title – and an unbeatable scoring record – with FC Bayern München in 1996. His 15 goals during that campaign eclipsed John Wark's record of 12 for Ipswich Town FC in 1980/81. Klinsmann's haul included two against FC Lokomotiv Moskva, three against Raith Rovers FC, six against SL Benfica – including all the goals in a 4-1 win in Munich – three against Nottingham Forest FC and one in the final against FC Girondins de Bordeaux.

Larsson – The undisputed king of the UEFA Cup goalscorers, Henrik Larsson scored 37 UEFA Cup goals in total for Feyenoord, Celtic FC and Helsingborgs IF, but never won the competition. The Swede came close in 2003, scoring twice for Celtic in a 3-2 defeat by FC Porto in Seville. Larsson surpassed the record set by Dieter Müller, who scored 29 times, with Georgian Shota Arveladze third in the all-time rankings with 27.

Mourinho – José Mourinho's first season as coach of FC Porto ended in magnificent style with that victory against Celtic. "I can say I'm the only Portuguese coach to have reached a UEFA Cup final," he said before the match. "Porto's best performance in the UEFA Cup was reaching the quarter-finals, so we have every reason to be proud of ourselves and of our work." The 'Special One' would go a step further the following season, winning the UEFA Champions League with the Dragons before bringing success to Chelsea FC and Inter.

Napoli – Diego Maradona claimed his only European title as a player as Ottavio Bianchi's Napoli triumphed in 1989. They certainly did it the hard way, overcoming Bordeaux, Juventus and then Bayern to reach the final, a thrilling two-legged affair against Stuttgart. Maradona and Careca scored as Napoli came from behind to win the home leg 2-1. Careca, Ciro Ferrara and Alemão then scored in the away leg as a Klinsmann-assisted Stuttgart were held to a 3-3 draw.

One-nation finals – With more than one entrant permitted from each association, the UEFA Cup threw up seven finals between teams from the same country:
1971/72 Tottenham v Wolverhampton Wanderers FC (England)
1979/80 Eintracht Frankfurt v Mönchengladbach (West Germany)
1989/90 Juventus v ACF Fiorentina (Italy)
1990/91 Inter v AS Roma (Italy)
1994/95 Parma v Juventus (Italy)
1997/98 Inter v S.S. Lazio (Italy)
2006/07 Sevilla FC v RCD Espanyol (Spain)

Parken Stadium – The home of FC København will always have a special place in the hearts of Galatasaray AŞ supporters as it was there, on 17 May 2000, that the club took on Arsenal FC in the UEFA Cup final. Before the game, coach Fatih Terim said: "In the past, Turkish players watched finals on television. Now they have the chance to play the starring role." There was little in the way of razzle-dazzle over 120 goalless minutes, but Cimbom prevailed 4-1 on penalties to become Turkey's first European title winners.

QPR – Queens Park Rangers FC left an unwanted mark on the UEFA Cup as they were victims of the most dramatic turnaround in the history of the competition. Alan Mullery's side had every right to believe they were on the way to the third round of the 1984/85 competition when they beat FK Partizan 6-2 in London. However, Nenad Bjeković's men spun the tie around in the second leg, winning 4-0 in Belgrade to progress on away goals.

Ramos – Real Madrid CF won successive UEFA Cups in 1985 and 1986 but had different coaches on each occasion (Amancio Amaro and Luis Molowny respectively). However, another future Madrid boss was the first and only coach to successfully defend the title, with Juande Ramos winning the 2006 and 2007 finals with Sevilla. His side met little resistance in the former final, beating Middlesbrough FC 4-0, but had to work harder to overcome Espanyol the following season, winning 3-1 on penalties in Glasgow after a 2-2 draw.

Stone – The oddest things can turn games, with Hamburger SV's Michael Gravgaard sure to spend the rest of his life cursing the piece of paper that blew on to the pitch in the second leg of the 2008/09 semi-final which distracted him enough to concede the corner from which Frank Baumann scored the goal that put Bremen in the final. An even odder twist of fate saw RC Lens register against RSC Anderlecht in the 1983/84 third round, as visiting goalkeeper Jacky Munaron conceded an equaliser when a back-pass took a wicked deflection off a stone which had been thrown on to the pitch. Anderlecht drew 1-1, but won the return 1-0 and went on to reach the final, losing out to Tottenham.

Trapattoni – Several coaches have appeared in more than one final (Hennes Weissweiller, Bill Nicholson, Ernst Happel, George Kessler, Paul van Himst, Sven-Göran Eriksson), but only one man can better Ramos's two successes – Giovanni Trapattoni. Two UEFA Cup triumphs with Juventus (1977 and 1993) helped him complete a treble of all three major UEFA trophies plus the European/South American Cup with the Turin side. He also led Inter to UEFA Cup success in 1991.

UEFA Europa League – Just as the UEFA Cup originally evolved from the non-UEFA affiliated Inter-Cities' Fairs Cup, it is to be transformed again in 2009/10 to become a new competition, the UEFA Europa League, which will feature a 48-team group stage. The evolution of the new competition also marks the end of the UEFA Intertoto Cup. The first final is scheduled for the Arena Hamburg on 12 May 2010.

Valverde – Georg Kessler, who was on the losing side as coach with both AZ Alkmaar (1981) and 1. FC Köln (1986), may run him close but Ernesto Valverde could be remembered as the unluckiest man in UEFA Cup history. The striker was in the Espanyol side which won 3-0 against Bayer 04 Leverkusen in the home leg of the 1988 final, only to go down by the same margin in the return before a 3-2 loss on penalties. He returned to the final as Espanyol coach in 2007 but, 19 years on, his luck had not changed. After a 2-2 draw over 120 minutes in Glasgow, the Barcelona-based club lost 3-1 on penalties to Sevilla. "We were almost in heaven but then it came crashing down," said Valverde. "There must be something about Espanyol and the UEFA Cup final."

West Germany's annus mirabilis – No fewer than five West German clubs entered the 1979/80 competition – four in addition to holders Mönchengladbach – and all reached the quarter-finals. While 1. FC Kaiserslautern fell at that stage, eliminated by Bayern, the other four went through to an all-Bundesliga semi-final lineup. Gladbach knocked Stuttgart out in one tie, while Eintracht accounted for Bayern in the other en route to victory in the final, meaning no West German team was eliminated by a non-Bundesliga side that season.

Xanthi – Greek side Xanthi FC hold the record for being the only side starting with X ever to appear in the UEFA Cup. They played first-round ties in 2002, 2005 and 2006 and lost them all.

Yum yum – UEFA Cup winners always celebrated in style, but on at least one occasion, losers did too. Aston Villa FC bowed out of the final edition of the tournament in the Round of 32, with manager Martin O'Neill's inexperienced team losing 2-0 to CSKA in Moscow after a 1-1 draw in Birmingham. Fans were upset, but the Northern Irishman – Celtic's coach in 2003 – made amends, forking out around €15,000 to buy a three-course meal for all 295 supporters who travelled to Russia to watch his side at a special club dinner.

Zidane – France is the only major European nation never to have claimed a UEFA Cup, with their record of four final defeats (SC Bastia 1978, FC Girondins de Bordeaux 1996, Olympique de Marseille 1999 and 2004) a somewhat unfair reflection of what Ligue 1 has brought to the tournament. The Zinédine Zidane-inspired Bordeaux side of 1995/96 deserve special mention, not least as they are the only team to go from the UEFA Intertoto Cup to the final. They lost 5-1 on aggregate to Bayern in the decider, but none who saw their 3-0 home win against AC Milan could deny that – in Zidane, Christophe Dugarry and Bixente Lizarazu – they had star appeal.