The Europa League – previously the UEFA Cup – has thrilled in a way that perhaps even the Champions League hasn’t, producing exceptional teams that often live underrated in the pantheon of continental history.
Plus, the Europa League has the cult appeal: it’s for those who live outside the mainstream and it’s catapulted wide-eyed young pretenders into the spotlight.
Granted, some champions might have flattered to deceive, but other were truly magnificent. From the heady days of Football Italia to the Champions League dropouts who walked this tournament, theses are the best Europa League teams to have played in the competition…
The greatest Europa League/UEFA Cup teams ever: 10. Real Madrid, 1986
European titles are in the Real Madrid DNA. But while trophies from Europe’s secondary competition isn’t necessarily within Los Blancos’ remit, their continental triumph in the 1980s is among their sweetest.
During a 45-odd year gap between the heady days of Alfredo Di Stefano’s gang and the Galacticos, the middle of that period represented something of a change of tact from Real Madrid. Instead of their scouting shortlist focussing simply on whoever had a decent World Cup, the club were making their stars from scratch.
Led by the effervescent Emilio Butragueno, this was a side with the grace and artistry of its frontman but powerful enough to toy with its prey mercilessly. ’86 marked the second of back-to-back UEFA Cup victories. This may have been a better side than the Galacticos, even.
Five Spanish championships in a row, a Spanish Cup, and three Spanish Super Cups were all plundered by the generation nicknamed La Quinta del Buitre, as Real asserted dominance in Spanish football once more. It’s a forgotten chapter in their history every part as regal as some of the better told tales.
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9. Chelsea, 2013
When Chelsea lifted the 2013 Europa League, they came the first side to simultaneously hold both that trophy and the Champions League. Though that right only last for a few days, their triumph in Amsterdam in 2013 proved something of a last hurrah for some of their greatest players on the European stage.
Beating Benfica 2-1 with a last-minute goal, it was a fitting end: they always had the steel to succeed. Indeed, Stamford Bridge’s Class of 2013 may have slipped into the Europa League after a poor autumn showing in the Champions League – but they were still the same Chelsea.
Ruthless, riveting and wholly capable of conjuring a win from thin air, the same spine of Petr Cech, John Terry, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba bailed the Blues out of tough scrapes and provided moments of genius equally. This was an experienced, hard-running side full of winners: you could set your watch by their late winners.
8. Sevilla, 2016
Sevilla and the Europa League is a marriage that has blossomed since the turn of the millennium, with the Andalusian side lifting the title on seven separate occasions.
Their threepeat, from 2014 to 2016, proved the height of their dominance, culminating in Switzerland against an early form of Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool side. Led by Unai Emery – the manager seemingly capable of bending the sport to his whim in order to get his hands on the heavy, silver vase – with Kevin Gameiro up front and Steven N’Zonzi in midfield alongside Ever Banega and Grzegorz Krychowiak, Sevilla ran out 3-1 winners. All that, despite failing to win a single away game in La Liga all season.
That’s the power of Emery – and the brilliance of that particular Rojiblancos side. They were experts of the knockout form: the Tyson Fury of second-tier European competition. The greatest compliment you can pay them is that coming from behind in that final felt boringly inevitable.
7. Atletico Madrid, 2012
An origin story of epic proportions, Atletico Madrid‘s 3-0 victory over Athletic Bilbao signalled in an era of Diego Simeone taking over the mantle from Marcelo Bielsa. El Cholo out-classed El Loco in the technical area, with the younger Argentine’s side out-playing their opponents on the pitch. All in the style of their irrepressible manager, too, of course.
Thibaut Courtois lined up in goal, a decade before his defining Champions League masterclass. Juanfran, Diego Godin and Gabi all played, relatively fresh-faced ahead of a decade of competing in Champions League showcases. Arda Turan would be a breakout star; Radamel Falcao would write his name as a mythical being of brilliance after his heroics for Porto previously. Even Koke came off the bench.
But for their richer neighbours, Atletico Madrid could well have gone onto dominate not only La Liga, but the rest of Europe under Simeone. Though they just fell short, the 2012 final saw Atletico more than live up to their own hype.
6. Liverpool, 2001
In 2022, Liverpool played every single game that the football calendar could have pencilled them in for at the start, winning two domestic cups and getting to the Champions League final. The last English team to do that? 2001’s treble-winners.
With Robbie Fowler, Emile Heskey and Ballon d’Or winner Michael Owen up front, Gerard Houllier had an embarrassment of riches at his disposal. Though still a raw team – highlighted by the inability to stop conceding – this was a side who played energetic, attacking football. Their never-say-die attitude came to the fore most-obviously in the final against Alaves, when they sealed their third trophy of the 2000/01 season in dramatic fashion.
Running out 5-4 winners, the victory emphasised a formative season for the young Reds. European nights at Anfield became even more iconic in the years to come, with their thrilling football becoming the benchmark of a team that produced peak entertainment.
5. Valencia, 2004
Managed by a young Rafa Benitez, Valencia’s 2004 UEFA Cup victory was his Rubber Soul. Underappreciated in his vast array of achievements: brilliant nonetheless.
Containing an amalgamation of wonderfully talented footballers, they were also smart in their approach to games – an undeniable attitude demanded by Benitez. With the bleach-blonde Santiago Canizarez in goal, Pitbull Roberto Ayala in defence alongside Curro Torres and Carlos Marchena and Pablo Aimar and Vicente adding some Latin flair to proceedings, this is a team that blended beauty, quality and a sheer desire to win.
After consecutive Champions League final losses in the early 2000s, Benitez’s Mestalla years were the happy ending that the Mestalla needed in Europe.
4. Porto, 2003
Long before the 100-metre dash down the Old Trafford touchline, the ‘Special One’ press conference and talk of how his seat was between God and the Champions League trophy, Jose Mourinho announced himself in European football as the Next Big Thing in the only way he could… by breaking hearts.
The Celtic side that Jose beat in the 2003 final were magnificent, fronted by an eternal Henrik Larsson – they just came up against a golden generation. Porto were approaching their prime, introducing Ricardo Carvalho, Deco and Paulo Ferreira to a stage that they’d own in years to come. This was a team so well-drilled that they bulldozed their way through the competition and won the Champions League the following season.
Portugal took the bulk of this side and very nearly stormed a home championship but for a Greek miracle at Euro 2004. But this Porto team was all Mourinho: cast in his rugged image, with the swagger and fire of a champion. They were all destined for greatness.
3. Parma, 1999
A team that has become esoteric in its charm, Parma from the ’90s were a firework that burned bright towards the Millennium before crashing and burning in the 2000s. Despite that, though, Gianluigi Buffon, Lilian Thuram, Fabio Cannavaro, Alain Boghossian, Juan Veron, Hernan Crespo and Enrico Chiesa were all architects in the last great Gialloblu team – and what a team it was.
The final was a 3-0 victory lap in which Parma barely got out of second gear, their clear superiority highlighting why the aforementioned stars would all go onto dominate European football in their own right in later years. While Parma were the epitome of Italian football: resolute and resilient, they also oozed a certain class under Alberto Malesani. With mercurial talents, creative individuals and deft heroes, each player shone.
Parma may have made faded into financial ruin and relegation in the intervening years, but the memories are still strong – and if this squad stepped into a TARDIS, you’d fancy them against most Europa champions in history.
2. Atletico Madrid, 2018
When Atletico Madrid dropped into the Europa League from the Champions League, after failing to beat Qarabag home or away in the group stages, it seemed frankly unfair on the rest of the teams in the competition that they’d even be competing.
While 2012 was the promise of a great team to come, 2018 proved the culmination of a great side which had matured and replaced departed stars: Jan Oblak had come in in goal, Diego Costa added steel up top while Antoine Griezmann had no right to perform as brilliantly as he did in Europe’s second tier competition – later that summer, he would dance his way to World Cup glory.
They faced a strong Marseille side in their native France and disposed of them with ease. They’re the only Europa winners in the past decade to have won the Super Cup. The last ones before them, of course, were Diego Simeone’s Atletico. Who else?
1. Inter Milan, 1998
The 1990s belonged to Italy. It began with Luciano Pavarotti and for some, it peaked with a mean Brazilian in a black-and-grey-hooped top, mere weeks away from setting fire to France ’98.
Juventus were in the Champions League final at the time; Inter Milan would destroy Sven-Goran Eriksson’s Lazio in the UEFA Cup. The iconic Ronaldo was the jewel in a crown that also featured Youri Djorkaeff, Ivan Zamorano, Nwankwo Kanu, Alvaro Recoba, Javier Zanetti, Taribo West and Diego Simeone (so that’s where he learned to win this competition). They were relentless, devastating in transition and would attack with a bluster that would have felt as unItalian as ordering chips with your pizza just eight years prior.
Inter won the Champions League in 2010 – but ask fans of a certain age and this team might hold warmer memories for its style and steel.
