UEFA Europa League

The Europa League (formerly UEFA Cup) is a continental football competition held annually for the 2nd level of European clubs, organized by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The Europa League is the 2nd most important competition for European clubs, after the UEFA Champions League. It began in 1971 and replaced the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. The '1 club per city' rule, inherited from the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, was dropped in 1975. The competition was traditionally open to the runners-up of domestic leagues but in 1999 the competition was merged with UEFA's 3rd competition, the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. Since then, the winners of domestic cup competitions have also entered the Europa League.