Italian football clubs have entered European association football competitions (
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...
/European Cup,
UEFA Europa League
The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...
/UEFA Cup, Inter-Cities Fairs Cup,
UEFA Europa Conference League and the now defunct
UEFA Intertoto Cup
The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, 'betting pool'),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Foot ...
and
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...
) since season 1955–56, when
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
took part in European Cup competition. Nowadays, Italian football is the fourth force in Europe according to
UEFA ranking
In European football, the UEFA coefficients are statistics based in weighted arithmetic means used for ranking and seeding teams in club and international competitions. Introduced in 1979 for men's football tournaments, and after applied in wome ...
, following the Spanish, English and German football.
Italian clubs have also entered several times
worldwide inter-club competitions since the
1963 Intercontinental Cup
The 1963 Intercontinental Cup was a two-legged football match contested between 1962–63 European Cup champions Milan and 1963 Copa Libertadores winners Santos. It was the fourth edition of the competition.
The first leg was played at the San Si ...
.
The
golden age
The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the ''Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages of Man, Ages, Gold being the first and the one during ...
of Italian football since the establishing of UEFA is regarded to have occurred in the 1980s and in the 1990s, when several Italian clubs won UEFA competitions, contributing to Serie A obtaining the highest
confederation coefficient score for about fifteen years. Since the beginning of 21st century, the force of Italian football at international stage has decreased, mainly after the
Calciopoli scandal.
So far, the Italian clubs have won twelve times the
Champions League/European Cup (Milan, Internazionale and Juventus), seven times the
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...
(Milan, Fiorentina, Juventus, Lazio, Parma and Sampdoria), nine times the
Europa League
The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...
/UEFA Cup (Internazionale, Juventus, Parma and Napoli), one time the
Europa Conference League (Roma), nine times the
UEFA Super Cup
The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was originall ...
(Milan, Juventus, Lazio and Parma), four times the
UEFA Intertoto Cup
The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, 'betting pool'),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Foot ...
(Bologna, Juventus, Perugia and Udinese), one time the
Inter-Cities Fairs Cup
The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, sometimes referred to as the European Fairs Cup, Fairs Cities' Cup, or simply as the Fairs Cup, was a European Association football, football competition played between 1955 and 1971. It is often considered the predecess ...
(Roma), seven times the
Intercontinental Cup (Internazionale, Milan and Juventus), and two times the
FIFA Club World Cup
The FIFA Club World Cup is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The competition was first contested in 200 ...
(Internazionale and Milan).
European and worldwide competitions winners from Italy
UEFA competitions winners from Italy
Cups and finals
European competitions
UEFA Champions League/European Cup
UEFA Cup Winner’s Cup/European Cup Winner’s Cup
UEFA Europa League/UEFA Cup
UEFA Europa Conference League
Inter-Cities Fairs Cup
UEFA Super Cup
UEFA Intertoto Cup
Intertoto Cup (before UEFA)
Mitropa Cup
Latin Cup
Worldwide competitions
Intercontinental Cup
FIFA Club World Cup
Full European record
Note: Clubs in bold won the respective season's competition.
UEFA Champions League/European Cup
The competition was named European Cup until 1991–92, after which it switched its name to UEFA Champions League.
UEFA Europa League/UEFA Cup
The competition was named UEFA Cup until 2008–09, after which it switched its name to UEFA Europa League.
UEFA Europa Conference League
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
Inter-Cities Fairs Cup
While the
Inter-Cities Fairs Cup
The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, sometimes referred to as the European Fairs Cup, Fairs Cities' Cup, or simply as the Fairs Cup, was a European Association football, football competition played between 1955 and 1971. It is often considered the predecess ...
(1955–1971) is recognised as the predecessor to the
UEFA Cup
A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...
, it was not organised by
UEFA
Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...
. Consequently, UEFA does not consider clubs' records in the Fairs Cup to be part of their European record.
UEFA Intertoto Cup
Although the tournament was founded in 1961–62, it was only taken over by UEFA in 1995.
Qualification to European competitions
Seven teams from Italy qualify for European competitions.
The
Serie A
The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...
winners and clubs finishing 2nd, 3rd and 4th qualify to the UEFA Champions League group stage, while two other teams (one being the
Coppa Italia
The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since.
History
The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...
winners) qualify to the
UEFA Europa League
The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...
. The club finishing 6th qualifies for the play-off round of the
UEFA Europa Conference League. If the Coppa Italia winner already qualified for the UEFA Champions League or Europa League, then the club finishing 6th qualifies for the Europa League group stage and the 7th qualifies for the play-off round of the Conference League.
UEFA coefficient records
* Record-high ranking: 1st from 1986 to 1989 and from 1991 to 1999
* Record-low ranking: 12th in 1982
Participation of Italian clubs in European competitions
The following table shows the number of seasons in which Italian clubs took part in the three European seasonal cups (including the
Inter-Cities Fairs Cup
The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, sometimes referred to as the European Fairs Cup, Fairs Cities' Cup, or simply as the Fairs Cup, was a European Association football, football competition played between 1955 and 1971. It is often considered the predecess ...
).
* UCL =
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...
(European Cup)
* CWC =
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...
* UEL =
UEFA Europa League
The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...
(UEFA Cup)
* UECL =
UEFA Europa Conference League
It takes into account competitions in which Italian clubs have taken part in the ''season kick-off'', namely in the month of September when, usually, UEFA Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League group stages start. It does not take into account qualifying rounds held during the summer. Azure denotes clubs that experienced a Champions League group phase, pink a Europa League group phase, and green a Conference League group phase.
When two or more clubs have the same number of participations, they are sorted by the number of seasons in the most important competition.
Consecutive seasons in European competitions
Teams in bold: active streak.
Only the best result of each teams is shown
Head-to-head against other European clubs
By country
Sources:
;Key
''As of matches played on 3 November 2022''
By club
Sources:
;Key
''As of matches played on 3 November 2022''
See also
*
Serie A
The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...
Footnotes
References
External links
Italian clubs in European cupson RSSSF.com
{{Football clubs in European football
European football clubs in international competitions