The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup was a European football competition played between 1955 and 1971. As the name suggests, the competition was set up to promote international trade fairs. The competition was initially only open to teams from cities that hosted trade fairs and where these teams finished in their national league had no relevance. Early competitions also featured a one city, one team rule. UEFA do not consider the tournament to be an official UEFA contest.
The UEFA Cup was a football competition for European club teams, organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). It is the second most important international competition for European football clubs, after the UEFA Champions League. Clubs qualify for the UEFA Cup based on their performance in national leagues and cup competitions. The last ever winners of the UEFA Cup were the Ukrainian club Shahkter Donetsk who beat Germans Werder Bremen.
UEFA decided to re-name the UEFA Cup the 'UEFA Europa League' from the 2009-2010 season onwards.The first winners of the UEFA Europa League were Atletico Madrid in 2010, followed by FC Porto who won an all-Portuguese Final against FC Braga in 2011 played in Dublin. The 2012 Final will be played in Bucharest, Romania.
2011-12 saw the first season of UEFAs competition for U-19 teams - the NextGen Series - with 16 clubs competing in four groups before a knock-out stage. It has been dubbed the mini-Champions League.