UEFA Europa League Winners: 1971-72 Champion Tottenham Hotspur
The UEFA Europa League (previously known as the UEFA Cup, abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL) is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It is the second-tier competition of European club football, ranking below the UEFA Champions League and above the UEFA Europa Conference League.
Introduced in 1971 as the UEFA Cup, it replaced the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. The UEFA Cup was the third-tier competition from 1971 to 1999 before the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was discontinued, and it is still often referred to as the "C3" in reference to this. Clubs qualify for the competition based on their performance in their national leagues and cup competitions.
In 1999, the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was merged with the UEFA Cup and discontinued as a separate competition. From the 2004–05 season a group stage was added before the knockout phase. The competition took on its current name in 2009, following a change in format. The 2009 re-branding included a merge with the UEFA Intertoto Cup, producing an enlarged competition format, with an expanded group stage and a change in qualifying criteria. The winner of the UEFA Europa League qualifies for the UEFA Super Cup, for the following season's UEFA Champions League since the 2014–15 season, entering at the group stage, as well as for the UEFA–CONMEBOL Club Challenge — a friendly cup against the winners of the CONMEBOL Copa Sudamericana — since 2023.
Spanish clubs have the highest number of victories (14 wins), followed by teams from England and Italy (9 wins each). The title has been won by 29 clubs, 14 of which have won it more than once. 
The most successful club in the competition is Sevilla, with seven titles. Colombian striker Radamel Falcao holds the record of most goals (17) scored in a single season of the tournament. Here is a link of his all Europa league goals;
https://youtu.be/qR1vghjwnIw?si=8H3-SKLsVSQ3qBK_
Let's look at UEFA Europa League winners up to the 2022-2023 season:
1971-1972 - Tottenham Hotspur (England)
1972-1973 - Liverpool (England)
1973-1974 - Feyenoord (Netherlands)
1974-1975 - Borussia Mönchengladbach (West Germany)
1975-1976 - Liverpool (England)
1976-1977 - Juventus (Italy)
1977-1978 - PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands)
1978-1979 - Borussia Mönchengladbach (West Germany)1979-1980 - Eintracht Frankfurt (West Germany)
1980-1981 - Ipswich Town (England)
1982-1983 - Anderlecht (Belgium)
1983-1984 - Tottenham Hotspur (England)
1984-1985 - Real Madrid (Spain)
1985-1986 - Real Madrid (Spain)
1986-1987 - IFK Göteborg (Sweden)
1987-1988 - Bayer Leverkusen (West Germany)
1988-1989 - Napoli (Italy)
1989-1990 - Juventus (Italy)1990-1991 - Internazionale (Italy)
1991-1992 - Ajax (Netherlands)
1992-1993 - Juventus (Italy)1993-1994 - Internazionale (Italy)
1994-1995 - Parma (Italy)
1995-1996 - Bayern Munich (Germany)
1996-1997 - Schalke 04 (Germany)
1997-1998 - Internazionale (Italy)
1998-1999 - Parma (Italy)
1999-2000 - Galatasaray (Turkey)
2000-2001 - Liverpool (England)
2001-2002 - Feyenoord (Netherlands)2002-2003 - Porto (Portugal)
2003-2004 - Valencia (Spain)
2004-2005 - CSKA Moscow (Russia)
2005-2006 - Sevilla (Spain)
2006-2007 - Sevilla (Spain)
2007-2008 - Zenit Saint Petersburg (Russia)
2008-2009 - Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine)
2009-2010 - Atlético Madrid (Spain)
2010-2011 - Porto (Portugal)
2011-2012 - Atlético Madrid (Spain)
2012-2013 - Chelsea (England)
2013-2014 - Sevilla (Spain)
2014-2015 - Sevilla (Spain)
2015-2016 - Sevilla (Spain)
2016-2017 - Manchester United (England)
2017-2018 - Atlético Madrid (Spain)
2018-2019 - Chelsea (England)
2019-2020 - Sevilla (Spain)
2020-2021 - Villarreal (Spain)
2021-2022 - Eintracht Frankfurt (Germany)
Let's deep dive into 1971-72 UEFA Cup;
The 1971–72 UEFA Cup was the inaugural season of the UEFA Cup (now known as the UEFA Europa League).
It was won by English side Tottenham Hotspur over their countrymen Wolverhampton Wanderers 3–2 on aggregate after a two-legged final.
The tournament was open to the highest-placed European teams that had not qualified for the European Cup or UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. It commenced on 14 September 1971 and concluded on 17 May 1972.
A total of 64 football clubs entered the first round draw.
The tournament's top scorer was Ludwig Bründl of Eintracht Braunschweig with ten goals.
The road to the cup;
Match details of the final round;
The first leg was played on 3 May 1972, with the second two weeks later on 17 May.
Tottenham Hotspur won the tie 3–2 on aggregate. A 2–1 victory away from home in the first leg proved decisive for them, with Martin Chivers scoring a remarkable late winner, firing in an unstoppable shot from 25 yards. They then held Wolves to a 1–1 draw in the second leg to win the competition.
References;
- "On this day: Wolves lose the first UEFA Cup final". Express and Star. 17 May 2016. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
- ^ "Martin Chivers on Tottenham's 1972 UEFA Cup win". UEFA. 17 October 2015. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
- 64 teams were scheduled to participate, but Vllaznia from Albania withdrew before their first match.
- ^ Jump up to:
- a b "History: Fenerbahçe-Ferencváros" (JSON). UEFA.com. Retrieved 2023-12-22.
- ^ Jump up to:
- a b "History: Ferencváros-Fenerbahçe" (JSON). UEFA.com. Retrieved 2023-12-22.
- ^ Jump up to:
- a b "History: Den Haag-Aris" (JSON). UEFA.com. Retrieved 2023-12-22.
- ^ Jump up to:
- a b "History: Aris-Den Haag" (JSON). UEFA.com. Retrieved 2023-12-22.
- ^ McCracken, Craig (28 September 2016). "How Chemie Halle's European dream ended in tragedy 45 years ago today". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
- ^ Jump up to:
- a b "uefa cup - 1972". My Eyes Have Seen the Glory – Tottenham Hotspur Fansite. Retrieved 31 August 2020.
- ^ Jump up to:
- a b "UEFA Cup 1971-72". RSSSF. 4 June 2015. Retrieved 31 August 2020.
