| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
| Contents | ||
Of the confederations, it is by far the strongest in terms of wealth and influence over the global game. Virtually all of the world's top players play in European league because of the salaries available from the world's wealthiest football clubs, particularly in England, Italy, Spain and Germany. Many of the world's strongest national sides are in UEFA. Of the 32 available spots in the Football World Cup 2006, 15 are allocated to UEFA national teams.
UEFA was founded on June 15, 1954 in Basel, Switzerland following discussions between the French, Italian and Belgian FAs. The headquarters was in Paris until 1959 when the organisation moved to Bern. Henri Delaunay was the first General Secretary and Ebbe Schwartz the president. Its administrative centre since 1995 is in Nyon, Switzerland. It was initially made up of twenty-five national associations; currently there are 52 associations.
Called Chief Executive since December 1999:
UEFA, as a representative of the national associations, has had a number of bruising clashes with the EU. In the 1990s the issues of television rights and especially international transfers (the Bosman ruling) have had to undergo some major changes to remain in line with European law.
The main competition for men's national teams is the European Football Championship, started in 1958 and known as the European Nations Cup until 1964. UEFA also runs national competitions at Under-21 , Under-19 and Under-17 levels. For women's national teams, UEFA operates the UEFA Women's Championship for senior national sides and the UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship at under-19 level.
UEFA also runs the two main club competitions in Europe: the UEFA Champions League, for national league champions, was first held in 19551955 is a common year starting on Saturday. see link for calendar) Events January events January 2 Panama president Jose Antonio Remon is assassinated. January 19 The Scrabble board game debuts. February events February 8 Nikolai Bulganin ousts Georgi Mal, and was known as the European Champion Clubs Cup until 19911991 like 2002, is a palindromic year. It also has the same calendar as 2002, including Easter on March 31. It is a common year starting on Tuesday. Events January January 2 Sharon Pratt Dixon is sworn in as mayor of Washington, DC becoming the first blac; and the UEFA CupThe UEFA Cup is a football competition for European club teams. It was founded in May 1955 as the Inter-Cities' Fairs Cup. It is the second most important competition for European club teams, the first being the UEFA Champions League. Qualification for th, for national knockout cup winners and high-placed league teams, was launched by UEFA in 19711971 is a common year starting on Friday (click for link to calendar). Events January January 1 British divorce Reform Act comes into force January 2 66 die in stairway crush at Rangers v Celtic football match, Glasgow, Scotland. See Ibrox disaster. Janua as a successor to the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (also begun in 19551955 is a common year starting on Saturday. see link for calendar) Events January events January 2 Panama president Jose Antonio Remon is assassinated. January 19 The Scrabble board game debuts. February events February 8 Nikolai Bulganin ousts Georgi Mal). A third competition, the Cup Winners' CupThe Cup Winners' Cup was a football club competition between the winners of the European domestic league cups. The cup is one of the many inter-European club competitions that have been run by the UEFA. The first competition was held in the 1960/61 season, started in 1960Events January-February January 1 Independence of Cameroon January 9 Aswan High Dam construction begins in Egypt January 11 Chad declares its independence. January 14 Ralph Chubb, the gay poet and printer, dies at Fair Oak Cottage in Hampshire. January 23 and was absorbed into the UEFA Cup in 1999. The UEFA Super Cup, which pits the winners of the Champions League against the winners of the UEFA Cup (previously the winners of the Cup Winners' Cup), came into being in 1973.
The UEFA Intertoto Cup is a summer competition, previously operated by several Central European football associations, which was relaunched by UEFA in 1995 as a qualifying competition for the UEFA Cup. Recently, UEFA launched the UEFA Regions Cup, for semi-professional teams. UEFA also conducts the UEFA Women's Cup for women's club teams.
The European/South American Cup is jointly organised with CONMEBOL between the Champions League and the Copa Libertadores winners.