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The UEFA Cup (also known as European Cup 3, CE3 or C3) is a football competition for European club teams, organized 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.

It began in 1971 and replaced the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. In 1999 the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was abolished and merged with the UEFA Cup. While the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup is considered a pre-cursor to the UEFA Cup for records purposes, this does not apply to the Cup Winners' Cup.

Sevilla FC are the current holders of the UEFA Cup having won the competition for the second year in a row with their latest triumph occurring in Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland, on 16 May 2007. They beat fellow Spaniards RCD Espanyol on penalties.

The final for the 2007-08 season will be hosted by Manchester.

The UEFA Cup was first played in 1971 with English team Tottenham Hotspur F.C. being the first winner. The 'one club per city' rule, inherited from the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, was dropped in 1975. English club Everton F.C. had finished fourth in the English league and could thus qualify but were barred from entry because city rivals Liverpool F.C. had also qualified by coming second. Everton appealed, saying the rule was an unfair anachronism, and UEFA agreed to overturn it.

The competition was traditionally open to the runners-up of domestic leagues but in 1999 the competition was merged with UEFA's third European competition, the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. Since then, the winners of domestic cup competitions have also entered the UEFA Cup. Also, clubs eliminated in the third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League and the third placed teams at the end of the group phase could go on to compete in the UEFA Cup. Also admitted to the competition are three Fair Play representatives, eleven UEFA Intertoto Cup winners, and winners of some selected domestic league cup competitions.

The winners keep the trophy for a year and after handing it back they can keep a replica which is four-fifths the size of the original trophy. The regulations also state that the original trophy is handed to any club that wins the UEFA Cup three times in a row or five times overall though this has yet to occur as of 2007.

Three teams have achieved the great accomplishment of winning their domestic league, domestic cup and the UEFA Cup in the same season, those being Galatasaray in 2000, F.C. Porto in 2003 and PFC CSKA Moscow in 2005.


[edit] Qualification
See also: UEFA coefficients
Qualification for the competition is based on UEFA coefficients with more places being offered to the more successful nations. Usually places are awarded to teams who finish in various runners-up places in the top-flight leagues of Europe and the winners of the main cup competitions. A few countries have secondary cup competitions but the only countries which currently grant a UEFA Cup place to their secondary cup winners are England and France.

If the previous UEFA Cup title-holders are not eligible to take part in either of the current UEFA club competitions (UEFA Champions League or UEFA Cup) by virtue of their domestic form, the UEFA Administration may, at the request of the association of the club concerned, admit this club to the current UEFA Cup competition. Its participation will not be at the expense of the contingent of its association.

Qualification can be quite complicated if one team qualifies for European competition through two different routes. In all cases, if a club is eligible to enter the UEFA Champions League then the Champions League place takes preference and the club does not enter the UEFA Cup. The UEFA Cup place is then granted to another club. If a team qualifies for European competition through both winning a cup and league placing, the "spare" UEFA Cup place will go to either the cup runners-up or the highest placed league team which has not already qualified for European competition, depending on the rules of the national association.

Qualification for the UEFA Cup can also be attained in two other ways:

The eleven winners in the third round of the UEFA Intertoto Cup enter the UEFA Cup at the second qualifying round stage from the 2006-07 season.
Three more berths are given to federations that finish above a certain level in UEFA's Fair Play table. The top-placed federation automatically receives a Fair Play entry and two other federations gain berths via a draw among all other federations that meet qualifying criteria. In all cases, the recipient of a country's Fair Play entry is the highest-placed team in the Fair Play table of that country's top league that has not already qualified for Europe.
More recently, clubs that are knocked out of the qualifying round and the group stage of the Champions League can also join the UEFA Cup, at different stages (see below).


[edit] Competition format
The current competition format was first adopted for the 2004-05 season. The major change was the introduction of a group stage and two qualifying rounds instead of one. Additional changes were introduced for 2006-07 season due to the changes in the UEFA Intertoto Cup format.


[edit] Current format
The UEFA Cup starts with two knockout qualifying rounds held in July and August. Participants from associations ranked 18 and lower enter the first qualifying round, and participants from associations ranked 9-18 join them in the second qualifying round. In addition, three places in the first qualifying round are reserved for the Fair Play winners, and eleven places in the second qualifying round are reserved for the UEFA Intertoto Cup winners.

Winners of the qualifying rounds join teams from the associations ranked 1-13 in the first round proper. In addition, losers in the third qualifying round of the Champions League also enter this round, and another place is reserved for the title-holders. There are 80 teams total in this round.

After the first round proper, the 40 survivors enter a group phase, with the clubs being drawn into eight groups of five each. Unlike the Champions League group phase, the UEFA Cup group phase is played in a single round-robin format, with each club playing two home and two away games. The top three teams in each of the eight groups advance, 24 in total, where they are joined by the eight third-place teams in the Champions League group phase.

After the group stage there is a winter break. From this point, knockout play resumes, with two-legged ties leading to the one-off final, which is held at a neutral ground meeting UEFA's criteria for a four star stadium.

Seeding is used to protect stronger teams in the qualifying rounds, first round and group stage