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The 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 the competition varies from country to country, with more places being offered to the more successful nations. Usually places are awarded to teams who finish in various runners-up places in the top-flight leagues of Europe, and winners of the main cup competitions; for example in England the team finishing 5th in the Premiership and the winners of the FA Cup and League Cup qualify. If the FA Cup winner has qualified for the Champions League via its league position, the runner-up will go to the UEFA Cup. However, if the League Cup winner qualifies for European play via its league position or the results of the FA Cup, the League Cup runner-up does not receive a UEFA Cup berth; the berth instead goes to the 6th-place team in the Premiership.
The only countries which send their League Cup winners to the UEFA Cup are England and France. In all other countries, UEFA Cup places can be earned only by league placement or through the main cup competition.
Three UEFA Cup berths each year are set aside for the three winners of the final matches in the UEFA Intertoto Cup. Three more berths are given to federations that finish above a certain level in UEFA's Fair Play table. The top-placed federation automatically receives a Fair Play entry, and two other federations gain berths via a draw among all other federations that meet qualifying criteria. In all cases, the recipient of the Fair Play entry is the highest-placed team in the Fair Play table of that federation's top league that has not already qualified for Europe.
The competition was traditionally a pure knockout tournament. All ties were two-legged, including the final. Starting with the 1998 event, the final became a one-off match, but all other ties remained two-legged.
Before the 2004-05 season, the tournament consisted of two qualifying rounds, followed by a series of knockout rounds. The 16 losers in the third qualifying round of the Champions League entered at an appropriate stage; later in the tournament, the survivors would be joined by third-place finishers in the group phase of the Champions League.
For the 2004-05 event, a new format has been introduced. The two qualifying rounds remain intact, and losers in the third qualifying round of the Champions League are still placed in the first round proper of the tournament. After the first round proper, the 40 survivors enter a group phase, with the clubs being drawn into eight groups of five each. Unlike the Champions League group phase, the UEFA Cup group phase is played in a single round-robin format, with each club playing two home and two away games. The top three teams in each group advance, where they are joined by the eight third-place teams in the Champions League group phase. From this point, knockout play resumes, with two-legged ties leading to the one-off final.
