European Cup Trivia

[ad hoc]

Unirea Urziceni went bust and completely vanished from the face of the earth about 2 years after that.

[Alex Anderson]

Oof.

[denishurley]

Apologies if already asked, but what unwanted EC distinction does Kevin Keegan hold? It's far too easy a question given the answer, really.

[Alex Anderson]

Too easy? That'll be why I'm struggling then. It's the "unwanted" bit that gets me. As a player, he won in the final against a German club for an English club then lost to an English club for a German club - but that's not really "unwanted", is it? More confirmation of why he was Ballon d'Or for the two years in-between.

Must be something to do with his management career ...

[denishurley]

Yeah, you got it Alex - first player to lose a final against a team from his native country.

I was all set to ask who was first winner against a compatriotic club but it was Raymond Kopa, and he is already immortalised by being the first player to win it with a club foreign to him.

[Alex Anderson]

Ah was Kev the first to lose to a team from his home country? Nice one. We did have an English manager losing to Forest the previous season too.

[Sam]

Yeah, you got it Alex - first player to lose a final against a team from his native country.

I was all set to ask who was first winner against a compatriotic club but it was Raymond Kopa, and he is already immortalised by being the first player to win it with a club foreign to him.

I realise he had a Spanish passport at the time, but Alfredo Di Stéfano would like a word about that.

[Satchmo Distel]

Red Star Belgrade and Marseille were both in the Europa League tonight, as was the team that "might" have won it in '86 and/or '88, Everton, and the team that did win in 89 and 90.

[Alex Anderson]

... and the team that did win it in 1986, and the runners-up from 20 years previous and 20 years hence.

[Alex Anderson]

All those west of Scotland childhood years I thought it was republican graffiti artists when, actually, those green spray-painted initials stood for FRIDAY TRIVIA QUESTION:

Okay. Milan will primarily want to use it to qualify for next season's Champions League, but this season's Europa League also presents I Rossoneri with a great opportunity to do what Man U did last season and join the elite list of clubs to have won all three of the main European club competitions*.

(1) can you name the other FOUR clubs who also have a chance to achieve that feat by the end of the current season and ...

(2) the additional NINE clubs who, theoretically, could achieve it by the end of next season.



[*That list currently contains Juventus, Bayern, Ajax, Barcelona, Chelsea and Manchester United.]

[Alex Anderson]

... and bonus points for anyone who can tell me what Liverpool did to the UEFA Cup after their 1976 win over Brugge ...

[denishurley]

Arsenal are one answer to part 2, as I've been acutely aware since 1990.

Edit: I was going to ask if Parma were eligible but in any case even if they were they couldn't do it until the end of 2019-2010.

[wittoner]

Tottenham are one of the four.
And Everton are, on paper, one of the nine. very much on paper.

[ursus arctos]

Atletico Madrid and Anderlecht are two of the others for Question 1, as are Borussia Dortmund if they finish third in their Champions League group and go on to win the Europa League.

Real Madrid, Liverpool, Internazionale, Feyenoord and Porto are among the "big" clubs that can't achieve this, having failed to win the Cup Winners' Cup.

[Alex Anderson]

Good Going so far, troops.

That's Question (1) answered: Tottenham (well done, wittoner), Anderlecht and Atletico Madrid "just" need the Champions League, which they are all currently in, to complete the set and Borussia Dortmund , who lost the 1993 and 2002 UEFA Cup finals and won the 1966 Cup-Winners' Cup and 1997 Champions League, only need the Europa League - which they can drop into if they finish third in their current Champions League Group. (well done, ursus with the Harry Kane-style hat-trick)

And it's two down, seven to go in Question (2). Well done, Denishurley and wittoner:

Arsenal's current Europa League sojourn is no use to them in respect of this question, having already won the 1969-70 Fairs Cup. But, should they win this season's Europa League or finish in the top four in England this season they could theoretically, go one better than losing the 2006 final in next season's Champions League. Chuck it on the pile with the 1994 Cup-Winners' Cup.

Everton only have the 1985 Cup-Winners' Cup to their name. But turn things round (spectacularly), win this season's Europa League and they'll be straight into next season's Champions League, much to Ronald Koeman's apparent surprise given his recent digs back at Mourinho.

They go onto win next season's Champions League and - boom! - all those years of abuse from the red side of the town can be batted away with "we've won the lot - youse never can". The further irony would be they'd join Liverpool and Mourinho's Porto in having won the Fairs/UEFA Cup/Europa League and the European Cup/Champions League in successive seasons. And the only other manager to do this is one Rafa Benitez.

Okay, we'd all be too stunned to notice any irony but, man, it'd be sweet. Toffee-sweet.

[Alex Anderson]

Real Madrid, Liverpool, Internazionale, Feyenoord and Porto are among the "big" clubs that can't achieve this, having failed to win the Cup Winners' Cup.

Real losing the 71 final after a replay and the 83 final after extra time - just as Liverpool did in 66. As a fan of a club which has only won the CWC I like to think it bothers these clubs. These massive success-laden, European champion clubs. It must bother them ... must!

Benfica too. Just in terms of big clubs. I know their case is weakened by the fact the best they ever did in the "third" comp was losing the 83 UEFA Cup final and the 2013 Europa League final. But maybe the Cup-Winners' Cup will have been brought back by 2062, when the curse is lifted.

[denishurley]

Manchester City won a Cup Winners' Cup, didn't they? Drop into Europa League this season and win it, win CL next season.

[Satchmo Distel]

Atletico, Rangers and Arsenal are joint 6th in the CWC all-time table. Atletico made 5 SFs but only won the trophy once. Rangers won all 3 of their SFs.

Looking at gaps, can anyone beat Chelsea's 27 years between the 1971 and 1998 wins?

[Satchmo Distel]

Teams that went more than 20 years between two instances of winning a particular trophy

European Cup: I can think of Real Madrid, Ajax, Inter, Man U. I think Benfica's 20 years 1968-1988 is the longest gap between to final defeats with no win inbetween. Bayern and Juventus both had 12 year gaps between defeats with no win inbetween.

CWC: only Chelsea have 20+ years between wins 1971-98

UEFA Cup: Feyenoord 1974-2002. Ajax won it in 1992 and then had to wait until 2017 to get back in the final.

[Alex Anderson]

Manchester City won a Cup Winners' Cup, didn't they? Drop into Europa League this season and win it, win CL next season.

Or do it the other way round (which, as Rafa Benitez discovered at Chelsea, is not the way fans like to do it, the spoiled bastards) Nice one, Denis. Yup. Man City, Everton and Arsenal could complete the Euro treble by the end of next season:

Three down, six to go ...

[denishurley]

Can I take issue with your use of 'and' there? It implies all three could do it.

[denishurley]

How could I forget the last-ever Cup Winners' Cup winners - fittingly at that cup venue, Villa Park - Lazio?

[ad hoc]

Can I take issue with your use of 'and' there? It implies all three could do it.

I'm anticipating a 5000 word self - flagellating essay of apology from Alex over this. With at least 4 extensive edits

[Alex Anderson]

Just going straight for the Paracetamol and Smirnoff this time ... but that's the only way to watch Rangers these days.

[denishurley]

I'd have settled for the very optimistic "two of Arsenal, Everton and Manchester City..."