The most successful teams in Europa League/UEFA Cup history

Atalanta became European champions for the first time in their 117-year history last season as they won the Europa League.

After beating Sporting CP, Liverpool and Marseille in the knockout stages, Gian Piero Gasperini’s side then thrashed undefeated German champions Bayer Leverkusen 3-0 in the final.

In beating Leverkusen, Atalanta became the 30th club to have won the Europa League since its inception as the UEFA Cup in 1971.

While last season’s triumph was only Atalanta’s first in European club football’s second-tier competition, there are plenty of clubs – 14, in fact – who have won the tournament on multiple occasions. Here, we have listed them all, from least to most successful.

14

Borussia Monchengladbach

2 titles (1975, 1979)

Borussia Monchengladbach were the most dominant force in German football in the 1970s, winning the Bundesliga title five times. During that period, they also won the UEFA Cup twice, first in 1975 and then in 1979.

Monchengladbach made the final in 1973 and 1980, but lost to Liverpool and Eintracht Frankfurt respectively.

Former Bayern Munich boss Jupp Heynckes was one of the heroes in 1975, scoring two goals in the second-leg final win over Dutch side Twente.

13

Tottenham Hotspur

2 titles (1972, 1984)

Tottenham Hotspur won the first-ever UEFA Cup in 1972 by beating Wolverhampton Wanderers 3-2 in a final that was played across two legs. They then won the title again 12 years later, this time by beating Anderlecht on penalties.

However, Spurs’ victory over the Belgian side in 1984 was somewhat tainted after it later emerged that Anderlecht’s chairman had paid referee Emilio Guruceta Mura a bribe of £27,000 to fix their semi-final win over Nottingham Forest.

12

Real Madrid

2 titles (1985, 1986)

Real Madrid are the most dominant club in Champions League history, having won European football’s elite club competition a record 15 times.

They’ve also won the UEFA Cup twice, recording back-to-back wins in 1985 and 1986. In 1985, Los Blancos beat Hungarian side Videoton in the final, while the following year, they got the better of German side Koln. Attacker Emilio Butragueno was among those to play in both triumphs.

Given their success in Europe’s premier competition, Madrid last competed in the UEFA Cup back in the 1994/95 season.

11

IFK Goteborg

2 titles (1982, 1987)

IFK Goteborg remain the only Swedish team in history to have ever won a major European title, having scooped the UEFA Cup in 1982 and 1987. Goteborg beat Hamburg in the final in 1982 under the guidance of Sven-Goran Eriksson, before repeating their feat against Dundee United in 1987.

Striker Stefan Pettersson was on the scoresheet against Dundee United, and when he scored again in the 1992 final – this time for Ajax against Torino – he became the first player in UEFA Cup history to score in multiple finals.

10

Parma

2 titles (1995, 1999)

During the peak of their powers in the 1990s, Parma never won the Italian Serie A, but they did manage to win the Coppa Italia and UEFA Cup twice each during that decade.

Their first UEFA Cup victory came in 1995 when they beat domestic rivals Juventus. Their second came four years later when they beat Marseille after the arrival of a host of would-be and established superstars like Hernan Crespo, Juan Sebastian Veron, Fabio Cannavaro, Lilian Thuram and Enrico Chiesa, scoring some great goals along the way.

9

Feyenoord

2 titles (1974, 2002)

Feyenoord first clinched the UEFA Cup in 1974 when they beat Tottenham Hotspur in the final.

Nearly three decades later in 2002, they won the competition for a second time by beating Borussia Dortmund 3-2 in a thrilling affair on home soil at De Kuip. No Dutch club has won a major European competition since.

8

Porto

2 titles (2003, 2011)

In 2002, Jose Mourinho took charge of Porto after barely a season of managing at the top level under his belt.

His limited experience proved not to matter, as in his first season in charge at the Estadio do Dragao, he guided the club to their first-ever UEFA Cup. The following year, he left to join Chelsea.

In 2011, this time under the guidance of Andre Villas-Boas, Porto again won the competition, beating Braga in the final in Dublin. A month later, Villas-Boas left for Chelsea.

7

Chelsea

2 titles (2013, 2019)

Speaking of Chelsea, like Porto, the Blues have also won the Europa League twice. The first time was in 2013 when they were managed by Rafael Benitez, beating Porto rivals Benfica in the final.

The second time was in 2019 under Maurizio Sarri, when they thumped Arsenal 4-1 in Baku thanks to a brace from Eden Hazard and goals from Olivier Giroud and Pedro.

6

Eintracht Frankfurt

2 titles (1980, 2022)

Eintracht Frankfurt’s two triumphs in European football’s second-tier competition were separated by a whopping 42 years.

The German club first won the title when it was the UEFA Cup in 1980, and then for a second time in 2022. In the 2022 final, Frankfurt beat Scottish club Rangers on penalties after a 1-1 draw, with Colombian Rafael Santos Borre scoring the winning spot-kick.

5

Juventus

3 titles (1977, 1990, 1993)

Juventus are one of only four clubs to have won the UEFA Cup on three occasions.

The Old Lady first scooped the title in 1977, before winning it in 1990 and 1993. In 1993, Juventus thrashed Borussia Dortmund 6-1 across a two-legged final thanks to three goals from Dino Baggio, two from Roberto Baggio and one from Andreas Moller.

However, Dortmund got revenge four years later in the Champions League final when they beat Juve 3-1 with Moller in their team, with the German having moved between the two clubs in 1994.

4

Inter

3 titles (1991, 1994, 1998)

Inter didn’t win a single domestic trophy in the 1990s, but they did win the UEFA Cup three times.

The 1998 final is best remembered for Ronaldo’s masterclass performance, which saw him run Lazio’s Alessandro Nesta ragged and score Inter’s third in an utterly dominant 3-0 win.

Reflecting on Ronaldo’s performance, Nesta later said: “I have watched that game on video so many times since then, trying to work out what I did wrong. We lost 3-0, but I don’t think now it was my fault. Ronaldo was simply unstoppable.”

3

Liverpool

3 titles (1973, 1976, 2001)

Liverpool won the UEFA Cup twice in the 1970s – firstly in 1973 when they beat Borussia Monchengladbach in the final, and then in 1976 when they beat Club Brugge. Across the four legs of those two finals, Reds striker Kevin Keegan scored four goals.

In 2001, Liverpool won the competition again, this time beating Alaves 5-4 in what is widely regarded as the best UEFA Cup final in history. It also completed a cup treble for Gerard Houllier’s Reds that year.

2

Atletico Madrid

3 titles (2010, 2012, 2018)

Atletico Madrid were the first team to win the competition since it was renamed the Europa League in 2010. That year, Quique Sanchez Flores’ side beat Fulham 2-1 in the final courtesy of two goals from forward Diego Forlan.

Atleti then won the competition again in 2012 and 2018. Los Rojiblancos also had a striker score a brace in each of those finals.

In 2012, it was Radamel Falcao who found the net twice in a 3-0 win over Athletic Bilbao, while in 2018, Antoine Griezmann hit two in a 3-1 victory against Marseille.

1

Sevilla

7 titles (2006, 2007, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2020, 2023)

Sevilla are the undisputed kings of Europe’s second-tier competition, having won the tournament a record seven times.

Three of those wins came in consecutive seasons between 2014 and 2016 under the guidance of Unai Emery, who would later go on to win it again with Villarreal in 2021. The Spaniard is the only manager to have won the Europa League more than three times.

Discussing Emery’s Midas touch in Europe, former Sevilla defender Adil Rami told TNT Sports: “I’ve rarely seen a coach as passionate. I wondered how he managed to live, how his wife, his family managed, it’s incredible.

“He even knew the substitutes of our opponents, he made us videos. He told us everything about the opponent,” Rami said, adding: “He was the best coach of my career.”