The UEFA Europa League began in the guise of the UEFA Cup in 1971, as the successor to the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. As it was with the European Cup - later UEFA Champions League - the tournament started as a straight knock-out competition.
Tottenham Hotspur were the winners of the inaugural edition of the UEFA Cup in 1971. During the competition’s run from 1971 to 2009, three teams - Inter Milan, Juventus and Liverpool - won the trophy thrice.
In all, Sevilla are the most successful team in UEFA Cup/Europa League having won seven titles including three successive wins - 2014, 2015 and 2016.
Historically, teams from Spain have enjoyed supremacy in the UEFA Cup/Europa League with 13 wins. English and Italian sides are joint second, having won the competition nine times while teams from Germany, including those that hailed from erstwhile West Germany, have been Europa champions on seven occasions.
From 1971 till 1997, all UEFA Cup finals were played over two-legged ties. The 1997-98 season final between Inter Milan and Lazio marked the first championship encounter with a single-match format.
UEFA Cup winners list
| Team | Winner | Runner-up |
| Two-legged format | ||
| 1971-72 | Tottenham Hotspur | Wolves |
| 1972-73 | Liverpool | Borussia Monchengladbach |
| 1973-74 | Feyenoord | Tottenham Hotspur |
| 1974-75 | Borussia Monchengladbach | Twente |
| 1975-76 | Liverpool | Club Brugge |
| 1976-77 | Juventus | Athletic Bilbao |
| 1977-78 | PSV Eindhoven | Bastia |
| 1978-79 | Borussia Monchengladbach | Red Star Belgrade |
| 1979-80 | Eintracht Frankfurt | Borussia Monchengladbach |
| 1980-81 | Ipswich Town | AZ Alkmaar |
| 1981-82 | IFK Goteburg | Hamburg SV |
| 1982-83 | Anderlecht | Benfica |
| 1983-84 | Tottenham Hotspur | Anderlecht |
| 1984-85 | Real Madrid | Videoton |
| 1985-86 | Real Madrid | FC Koln |
| 1986-87 | IFK Goteburg | Dundee United |
| 1987-88 | Bayer Leverkusen | Espanyol |
| 1988-89 | Napoli | VfB Stuttgart |
| 1989-90 | Juventus | Fiorentina |
| 1990-91 | Inter Milan | AS Roma |
| 1991-92 | Ajax | Torino |
| 1992-93 | Juventus | Borussia Dortmund |
| 1993-94 | Inter Milan | Austria Salzburg |
| 1994-95 | Parma | Juventus |
| 1995-96 | Bayern Munich | Bordeaux |
| 1996-97 | Schalke 04 | Inter Milan |
| Single-match format | ||
| 1997-98 | Inter Milan | Lazio |
| 1998-99 | Parma | Marseille |
| 1999-2000 | Galatasaray | Arsenal |
| 2000-01 | Liverpool | Deportivo Alaves |
| 2001-02 | Feyenoord | Borussia Dortmund |
| 2002-03 | Porto | Celtic |
| 2003-04 | Valencia | Marseille |
| 2004-05 | CSKA Moscow | Sporting CP |
| 2005-06 | Sevilla | Middlesbrough |
| 2006-07 | Sevilla | Espanyol |
| 2007-08 | Zenit Saint Petersburg | Rangers |
| 2008-09 | Shakhtar Donetsk | Werder Bremen |
From the 2009-10 season onwards, the UEFA Cup was reborn as the UEFA Europa League with a few key tweaks to the existing format.
La Liga side Atletico Madrid won the first edition of the rebranded UEFA Europa League in 2009-10, beating English side Fulham 2-1 in the final in additional extra time (a.e.t). The Colchoneros also hold the record for most consecutive wins (both home and away) with 15 spanning the 2011–12 and 2012–13 seasons.
Sevilla have won the most UEFA Europa League titles since the restructure of the competition (four). The late Jose Antonio Reyes won the competition a record five times, twice with Atletico Madrid and three times with Sevilla.
UEFA Europa League winners list
| Team | Winner | Runner-up |
| 2009-10 | Atletico Madrid | Fulham |
| 2010-11 | Porto | Braga |
| 2011-12 | Atletico Madrid | Athletic Bilbao |
| 2012-13 | Chelsea | Benfica |
| 2013-14 | Sevilla | Benfica |
| 2014-15 | Sevilla | Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk |
| 2015-16 | Sevilla | Liverpool |
| 2016-17 | Manchester United | Ajax |
| 2017-18 | Atletico Madrid | Marseille |
| 2018-19 | Chelsea | Arsenal |
| 2019-20 | Sevilla | Inter Milan |
| 2020-21 | Villarreal | Manchester United |
| 2021-22 | Eintracht Frankfurt | Rangers |
| 2022-23 | Sevilla | AS Roma |
Author: William Paul
Featured photo: JORGE GUERRERO / AFP
