UEFA Super Cup
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| UEFA Super Cup |
|---|
![]() |
| Founded |
| 1972 |
| Continent |
| Europe (UEFA) |
| Number of Teams |
| 2 |
| Current Champions (2007-08) |
| Most successful club |
(5 time champions, 2 times runner-up) |
| Website |
| (Website) |
The European Super Cup (UEFA Super Cup) is at stake in an annual football game between the reigning champions of the UEFA Cup and the Champions League. It takes place at the start of the domestic season, in August, and it is generally regarded as a minor event, with the Champions League and UEFA Cup winners not always fielding their strongest sides; since the game happens after the Summer transfer window, the teams selected may be different from the ones who won the qualifying competitions.
The most successful team is Italian side AC Milan, who have won the trophy five times. They faced Sevilla in the 2007 UEFA Super Cup on August 31, 2007 and won the match 3-1. The match was marred by the death of a Sevilla player just days before - Antonio Puerta. It is understood that AC Milan started the match unsure of how aggressively to play considering the emotionally charged nature of the evening, but Sevilla set the tone by scoring first, which led to Milan giving one of their finest performances and coming back to score three goals in the second half. Both teams dedicated the match to Puerta and all goalscorers made a point of celebrating Puerta's name which was printed on the back of all players shirts below their squad number.
Contents |
The European Super Cup was created in 1972 by Anton Witkamp, a reporter and later sports editor of Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf. The idea came to him in a time where Dutch total football was Europe's finest and Dutch football clubs were living their golden era (especially Ajax). Witkamp was looking for something new to definitely decide which was the best team in Europe and also to further test Ajax's legendary team, led by their star player Johan Cruyff. It was then proposed that the winner of the European Cup would face the winner of the Cup Winners' Cup.
All was set for a new competition to be born. However, when Witkamp tried to get an official endorsement to his competition, the UEFA president turned it down because of a one-year ban applied to Cup Winners' Cup holders Rangers, due to misbehavior of their supporters. Still, the cup dispute went ahead despite the unofficial status. It was played in two legs and was financially supported by Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf. Ajax beat Rangers and won the very first European Super Cup. Since then, the competition has been officially recognised and supported by UEFA.
Although the two-legged format was kept, in some years, the European Super Cup was decided in one single match whether because of schedule dilemmas or political problems. In 1974, 1981 and 1985, the European Super Cup was not played at all. Everton are in talks with UEFA to have a legends game in August against Juventus, with the winners claiming the 1985 trophy. The two clubs in question would have contested for the cup in 1985; had the game gone ahead.
Since 1998 the European Super Cup has always been decided in one single match, in Monaco's Stade Louis II.
At the end of the 1998/99 season, the Cup Winners' Cup was discontinued by UEFA. Since the beginning of the 1999/2000 season, the European Super Cup has been contested between the respective winners of the UEFA Champions League (formerly the European Cup before the format was changed) and the UEFA Cup.
The UEFA Super Cup has undergone some changes in its history, not only has the number of legs been changed but the trophy itself has undergone 3 stage changes. The first trophy was not a cup at all it was in fact a plaque, that had a Gold UEFA Emblem on it with the continent inscribed within the Emblem, Teams to have won this trophy are Aberdeen FC, Aston Villa and many more alike. Stage 2 was the trophy being shaped into almost how it looks today.
The old UEFA Super Cup trophy - which was raised in celebration by footballing giants like Alessandro Nesta, Fernando Hierro and Paolo Maldini - was the smallest and lightest of all the European club trophies, weighing just 5kg and measuring a modest 42.5cm in height. With the UEFA Champions League trophy weighing in at 8kg and the UEFA Cup at 15kg, the UEFA Super Cup was never quite as super as it sounded.
That has all changed now, and with the new model trophy now standing at 58cm, the UEFA Super Cup now tips the scales at a strapping 12.2kg - a fair reflection of the importance of the final as the finale to the annual UEFA European Football Awards. And while the trophy may have put on weight, there will be no shortage of players eager to raise it after the final whistle in Monaco. The new trophy retains the basic design of its predecessor, which was designed and crafted at the Bertoni workshop in Milan. The classic bowl is held aloft on a base that is subtly twisted like a skein of wool while the two arms allow the winners enough room to take a firm grip as they do their lap of honour. The champion is entitled to have a replica made, provided that it does not exceed four-fifths of the dimensions of the original - which means that the winning team can craft a replica that is much bigger than the ones possessed by previous winners.
In line with the increased prestige of the competition, the new UEFA Super Cup trophy - which was lifted for the first time by Sevilla FC's Javi Navarro in August 2006 is larger.
| 2007 | |||
| Milan |
3 - 1 | Stade Louis II, Monaco Referee: Konrad Plautz |
|
| Inzaghi Jankulovski Kaká |
Renato |
| 2006 | |||
| Barcelona |
0 - 3 | Stade Louis II, Monaco Referee: Stefano Farina |
|
| Renato Kanouté Maresca |
| 2005 | |||
| Liverpool |
3 - 1 a.e.t. |
Stade Louis II, Monaco Referee: René Temmink |
|
| Cissé García |
Carvalho |
| 2004 | |||
| Porto |
1 - 2 | Stade Louis II, Monaco Referee: Terje Hauge |
|
| Quaresma |
Baraja Di Vaio |
| 2003 | |||
| Milan |
1 - 0 | Stade Louis II, Monaco Referee: Graham Barber |
|
| Shevchenko |
| 2002 | |||
| Real Madrid |
3 - 1 | Stade Louis II, Monaco Referee: Hugh Dallas |
|
| Paauwe Roberto Carlos Guti |
van Hooijdonk |
| 2001 | |||
| Bayern Munich |
2 - 3 | Stade Louis II, Monaco Referee: Vítor Melo Pereira |
|
| Salihamidžić Jancker |
Riise Heskey Owen |
| 2000 | |||
| Real Madrid |
1 - 2 a.e.t. |
Stade Louis II, Monaco | |
| Raúl |
Jardel |
| 1999 | |||
| Manchester United |
0 - 1 | Stade Louis II, Monaco | |
| Salas |
| 1998 | |||
| Real Madrid |
0 - 1 | Stade Louis II, Monaco | |
| Poyet |
- aet - after extra time
- (C1) refers to entrants from the European Cup or Champions League
- (C2) refers to entrants from the Cup Winners' Cup
- (C3) refers to entrants from the UEFA or Fairs Cup
| Nation | Winners | Losing finalists | Winning clubs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | 3 | A.C. Milan (5), Juventus (2), Parma (1), Lazio (1) | |
| 7 | 5 | Liverpool (3), Chelsea (1), Manchester United (1), Aston Villa (1), Nottingham Forest (1) | |
| 6 | 8 | Barcelona (2), Valencia (2), Real Madrid (1), Sevilla (1) | |
| 3 | 3 | Ajax (3) | |
| 3 | 0 | Anderlecht (2), KV Mechelen (1) | |
| 1 | 2 | Porto (1) | |
| 1 | 1 | Aberdeen (1) | |
| 1 | 1 | Dynamo Kyiv (1) | |
| 1 | 0 | Steaua Bucharest (1) | |
| 1 | 0 | Galatasaray (1) | |
| 0 | 7 | ||
| 0 | 1 | ||
| 0 | 1 | ||
| 0 | 1 |
| Team | Winners | Runners-Up | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | 2 | |
| 2 | 3 | 2 | |
| 3 | 3 | 1 | |
| 4 | 2 | 4 | |
| 5 | 2 | 0 | |
| 2 | 0 | ||
| 2 | 0 | ||
| 7 | 1 | 2 | |
| 1 | 2 | ||
| 9 | 1 | 1 | |
| 1 | 1 | ||
| 1 | 1 | ||
| 1 | 1 | ||
| 13 | 1 | 0 | |
| 1 | 0 | ||
| 1 | 0 | ||
| 1 | 0 | ||
| 1 | 0 | ||
| 1 | 0 | ||
| 1 | 0 | ||
| 1 | 0 | ||
| 21 | 0 | 3 | |
| 22 | 0 | 2 | |
| 23 | 0 | 1 | |
| 0 | 1 | ||
| 0 | 1 | ||
| 0 | 1 | ||
| 0 | 1 | ||
| 0 | 1 | ||
| 0 | 1 | ||
| 0 | 1 | ||
| 0 | 1 | ||
| 0 | 1 | ||
| 0 | 1 |
|
UEFA Super Cups
|
||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
||||||||||||
