When I first met my life partner over 30 years ago, it’s fair to say that she wasn’t a massive soccer fan. She liked watching the World Cup, certainly, and she knew enough about the Bundesliga to nurture a healthy dislike of Bayern Munich.

Soon, though, she resigned herself to being with someone who liked to spend midweek evenings watching European club tournaments. It didn’t take long for her to get hooked on the game (one of my lifetime achievements), but it was a struggle to explain over and again that these games involved three separate competitions.

Nonetheless, the definitions at that time were fairly simple:

The European Champions Cup: a competition for all the teams that had been champions of their domestic leagues the previous season.

The UEFA Cup: a competition for all the teams that had not been champions of their domestic leagues the previous season, but had come pretty close.

The European Cup Winners Cup: a competition for all the teams that had won their domestic cup competitions the previous season.

The knockout format was also very simple. These were cup competitions, after all. Teams would play each other home and away, and the team that had scored the most goals progressed to the next round. If the scores were level, away goals or penalty kicks were the decider. The final was a one-off game at a neutral venue. Well, except for the UEFA Cup, which was played over two legs, home and away, just like in the previous rounds. I’ve no idea why. Still, it was cool that teams who made it all the way to the final got to play half of that final in front of their own fans (until it was also made a single game in 1998).

SUBSCRIBE TO KEEP READING

Start for $0 & enjoy free unlimited access for 30 days.

  • Daily TV listings for U.S. and global soccer.
  • Inside access to USA’s 2026 World Cup prep.
  • Exclusive interviews with players and coaches.
  • Expert analysis of top soccer headlines.
  • Cancel anytime.

Already have an account? Sign in here.

CHECK OUT MORE STORIES

Not ready to subscribe? Sign up here for our free newsletter.

Already have an account? Sign in here.