By Betmaker Team
The second-biggest club competition in Europe is the UEFA Europa League. This competition is a tier below the Champions League, and it gives smaller clubs a better chance of winning hardware on the international stage. It was founded in 1971 and was originally below the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup in the pecking order before that competition was called off at the start of the 21st Century.
A whopping 160 teams participate in this competition at one point or another. There are 48 teams that are part of the proper Group Stage, and they are split into 12 groups of four. The top two teams in each group move on to the knockout rounds, and they are joined by the eight third-place finishers in the Champions League Group Stage.
That leads to a 32-team single-elimination knockout tournament. These teams square off in home and homes with the team winning on aggregate moving on to the next round. That is the format until the Europa League Final, and then the teams meet at a neutral site for a winner-take-all game.
Betting on the UEFA Europa League
There aren’t the same number of opportunities to bet Europa League futures as you will find with the Champions League. However, there are significantly more games available to bet in the Europa League, as the tournament runs longer and includes more teams. You may find some serious mismatches in this competition, leading to some lopsided results given the talent disparity between leagues.
UEFA Europa League History
UEFA Europa League Winners Since 2000
| Year | Club |
| 2019-20 | Sevilla |
| 2018-19 | Chelsea |
| 2017-18 | Atletico Madrid |
| 2016-17 | Manchester United |
| 2015-16 | Sevilla |
| 2014-15 | Sevilla |
| 2013-14 | Sevilla |
| 2012-13 | Chelsea |
| 2011-12 | Atletico Madrid |
| 2010-11 | Porto |
| 2009-10 | Atletico Madrid |
| 2008-09 | Shakhtar Donetsk |
| 2007-08 | Zenit Saint Petersburg |
| 2006-07 | Sevilla |
| 2005-06 | Sevilla |
| 2004-05 | CSKA Moscow |
| 2003-04 | Valencia |
| 2002-03 | Porto |
| 2001-02 | Feyenoord |
| 2000-01 | Liverpool |
Spain has been the most successful country in terms of Europa League titles (12), and the country’s most successful club has been Sevilla. The pride of Andalusia has won six Europa League titles. Sevilla won consecutive titles in 2006 and 2007, and the club became the first in the history of the Europa League to repeat with wins in 2014, 2015, and 2016. This team won the 2020 Europa League Final over Inter Milan to give Sevilla three more trophies in this competition than any other club. Sevilla is 6-0 in Europa League Finals.
Inter Milan, Liverpool, Juventus, and Atletico Madrid have each won this competition three times. All three of Inter’s wins came in the 1990s, and Juventus won two titles in the 1990s too. Both clubs also finished runner-up once in that decade and Parma won the competition twice during the 1990s as well, meaning that Italian clubs absolutely ruled the Europa League in that stretch.
Atletico Madrid ensured that the 2010s belonged to Spain with all three of their titles coming during that decade. They beat Athletic Bilbao in the 2012 Europa League Final too, underscoring Spain’s dominance. English teams won three titles during the 2010s with Chelsea winning twice and Manchester United winning once.
We haven’t seen a German team win the Europa League since Schalke 04 beat Inter Milan in penalties during the 1997 final. Borussia Monchengladbach is the only German team with multiple Europa League wins (1975 and 1979), while Bayern Munich, Bayer Leverkusen, and Eintracht Frankfurt also won single titles.
Smaller clubs have made some big gains in this competition over the years. Swedish side IFK Goteborg won this competition twice during the 1980s, and Dutch club Feyenoord won the Europa League 28 years apart.
We have seen eight teams drop from the Champions League to the Europa League and win the title that season. Galatasaray became the first club to do that when it beat Arsenal in penalties during the 2000 Europa League Final. Feyenoord did it again two years later, and then CSKA Moscow became the third club to accomplish the feat during the 2005 season.
A total of 20 teams have fallen from the Champions League to the Europa League and made it to the finals that season. Inter Milan became the most recent team to do it during the 2020 season, but they lost in the final to Sevilla thanks to a brace from Luuk de Jong.
