Extended weekend article time! Today, I thought it would be interesting to look at which European countries had won a major European trophy (including now abolished competitions). In doing so, I also found it more interesting looking into the countries that have never won a major European trophy, and how close they came!
First, let’s establish what I’m considering a major European Trophy:
- UEFA Champions League
- European Cup (Predecessor to the UEFA Champions League)
- UEFA Europa League
- UEFA Conference League
- UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup (Predecessor to the UEFA Europa League)
- UEFA Cup (Predecessor to the UEFA Europa League)
- Inter Cities Fairs Cup (Predecessor to the UEFA Cup)
- Mitropa Cup (active from 1927 to 1992)
The history of European Cups can be a little complicated with all the renaming and merging of competitions, so to simplify, the importance of these trophies is as follows:
- UEFA Champions League/European Cup
- UEFA Europa League/ Cup Winners’ Cup/ UEFA Cup/ Inter Cities Fairs Cup
- UEFA Conference League
- Mitropa Cup (only former Austro-Hungarian states were eligible, but was one of the first major European tournaments)
With that in mind, I’d like to give an honorable mention to three countries you might have thought would be included on this list but have won one of these competitions in their past.
Serbia/Romania:
Starting off with more well known knowledge, but still not common knowledge, Serbia and Romania each have a club that has managed to win the European Cup, before it was known as the Champions’ League. For Serbia, this was Red Star Belgrade, who triumphed in the 1990-1991 season and beat Marseille in the final on penalties. To qualify for the final, the Serbian side had to surpass Bayern Munich in the semifinals and Dynamo Dresden in the quarterfinals.
In Romania, it was FCSB who are their country’s European Cup winners. In the 1984-95 European Cup season, FC Steaua Bucuresti faced FC Barcelona in the final at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium in Sevilla. The Spanish champions were the clear favorites, but after a goalless draw ended, the game proceeded to a penalty shootout. Legendary Romanian keeper Helmuth Duckadam saved all 4 Barcelona penalties, securing his side, and his country, their first and only European Cup triumph.
Sweden:
Many football fans may not know that Sweden’s IFK Göteborg were actually 2-time UEFA Cup (Europa League) winners in the 1980’s. For the first time in the 1981-82 season, the club endured a turbulent start which saw many of the upper management replaced, manager Sven-Göran Eriksson lead the team to a quadruple for the season (take that Pep), including all 3 domestic trophies and the UEFA Cup, beating Hamburger SV in the final. 5 years later, with the team rebuilding following Eriksson’s departure, they would claim yet another UEFA Cup, triumphing over Dundee United in the final. These remain Sweden’s only ever european competition wins.
The next countries in this article cannot claim the unlikely successes of the aforementioned winners. In many cases, it can be hard to blame countries with populations in the mere tens of thousands, or those that only entered UEFA more recently, for failing to win one of these competitions. This is why instead, I’m going to be looking at this through the lens of each country’s best performing team, and with 31 UEFA Countries on this list there just might be your next Football Manager save waiting for you!
Albania:
The Balkan nation of 2.8M inhabitants has not had an illustrious history in European competitions. KF Tirana have the best record of any club, having reached the Round of 16 in the European Cup on several occasions, but being unable to progress further.
Andorra:
One of the smallest countries on this list with only 80,000 citizens, the small mountain-locked nation of Andorra sits between Spain and France. Their top level club team, FC Andorra, does not even play in the Andorran top division, instead opting to play in Spain, currently in the 2nd division. As a result, the most successful Andorran club is FC Santa Coloma, who impressively reached the 3rd qualifying round of the 2023-2024 UEFA Europa Conference League, before a tough matchup that they lost vs. Dutch side AZ Alkmaar. Yet to have a club qualify for the group stage of a European competition, will Santa Coloma be able to improve upon this finish and become the first for Andorra?
Armenia:
One of the countries near the Black Sea that participate in UEFA, Armenian clubs have not seen much success in international competitions, although they have been improving. FC Pyunik have reached the group stage of the UEFA Conference League in 2022-23, and nearly qualified again in 2023-24, reaching the 3rd qualifying round. Now with 3 clubs seeded into UEFA competition qualifiers, we may not have to wait long to see another Armenian participant in Europe.
Azerbaijan:
Neighboring Armenia is Azerbaijan, a relatively larger country on this list with over 10 million inhabitants. Their most successful club in European competition is FK Qarabag, who have succeeded in qualifying for the Europa League group stage on several occasions, but have never progressed further.
Belarus:
The Baltic country in Europe’s northeast, Belarus is home to just under 10 million inhabitants, and have a respectable history in Europe’s top competition, the Champions’ League. BATE Borisov are Belarus’s most successful club, having reached the Round of 32 in the Champions’ League twice, bowing out to Paris Saint Germain in 2010-11 and Arsenal in 2018-19. It is unclear whether the war in Ukraine and related consequences for Belarus will affect the ability of club teams to participate in upcoming UEFA competitions, but the clubs have shown the ability to play with Europe’s best.
Bulgaria:
From Bulgaria, CSKA Sofia is the most successful European team, experiencing their most successful period from the late 1960’s to early 1980’s, reaching two European Cup (UCL) semifinals in this period. In 1966-67, CSKA Sofia lost to Inter Milan in the semifinal, and had their dreams of a final in 1981-82 crushed by Bayern Munich. Neither of those teams are ones to be ashamed of losing to, although Bulgaria with their almost 7 million inhabitants are one of the largest countries on this list. More recently CSKA Sofia have made the group stage of the Europa Conference League, in which they may have a good chance at achieving a result in future years!
Cyprus:
The island nation of 1.2 million inhabitants located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Turkiye and Greece. It is generally difficult for the Cypriot champions to do well in the Champions League given their small league stature, however we have not been entirely devoid of success stories! The most successful clubs from Cyprus hail from the city of Nicosia. APOEL Nicosia and Omonia Nicosia claim 49 Cypriot First Division titles between them, while all other clubs have managed 34 titles between them. APOEL Nicosia have had the better runs in european play, qualifying for the Champions’ League group stage 4 times between the 2009-10 and 2017-18 seasons, and participating in the group stage of the Europa League in 3 of those years as well. Their best finish was a surprise run to the 2011-12 Champions’ League quarterfinals, where they topped a group with Zenit St. Petersburg, FC Porto, and Shahktar Donetsk, before knocking out Lyon on penalties in the Round of 16. Their quarterfinal matchup was not favorable, being drawn against Real Madrid, where an 8-2 aggregate loss ended this Cinderella story. These island teams should not be underestimated!
Denmark:
Along with Switzerland, Denmark is one of the two countries who’s domestic league is ranked the highest among all countries without a major European trophy. We have regularly seen Danish clubs competing in the various European competitions recently, but yet the ultimate prize has escaped the Danes. The best finish by a Danish club in the Champions’ League belongs to Brondby IF, who achieved a semifinal finish in the 1990-1991 UEFA Cup (Europa League). F.C. Copenhagen have been stronger in recent years, reaching the Round of 16 of the Europa League on several occasions, and competing in the Champions’ League group stage, but not progressing further.
Estonia:
Estonia, who’s national team is currently ranked 123rd in the world by FIFA, has little success to speak of. FC Flora, who play in Talinn, can boast that they are the only Estonian club to ever have qualified for a European competition’s main stage. They did so in the 2021-22 season by qualifying for the Europa Conference League, albeit not coming very close to winning the competition.
Faroe Islands:
While not technically a country, the Faroe Islands are considered a separate nation by FIFA, and have their own domestic league system. Quite recently history was made from the Faroes, when KI Klaksvik qualified for the group stage of the 2023-24 Conference League! If you’ve heard the term “village club” used as an insult to a smaller club, KI Klaksvik has surely heard it all as a club hailing from a town of only 5,000 people. Hopefully they can use their prize money to build a solid foundation on which to continue competing in Europe.
Finland:
While Swedish clubs have captured major European trophies, their next door neighbors have not had the same success. Finland has been represented in the 1998-99 Champions League Group Stage, and more recently in the Europa League, all by HJK Helsinki. There are no deep runs in the knockouts to really speak of here though unfortunately.
Gibraltar
Now nobody really expected Gibraltar, the small rock with ~33k inhabitants, to have claimed a major European trophy right? Regardless, they’ve made for some fun representatives in the qualifying rounds of the European competitions at least. The most successful club from Gibraltar is Lincoln Red Imps, who have made the 2nd Qualifying Round of the Champions League. Recently, a relatively new club, Bruno’s Magpies, made a surprise trip to that same 2nd Qualifying Round that the Red Imps managed to. For any who don’t know, Bruno’s Magpies is the true definition of a “pub team”. Founded in a pub, they have enjoyed a surprising rise to the top of Gibraltar football last year! This season, the Magpies managed a 3-2 win over Derry City from Ireland to set up a trip to play FK Kobenhavn in Denmark. They didn’t beat the Danes, but certainly made Gibraltar proud.
Greece
Greece is one country that has been incredibly close to not being on this list. It is also has the largest population of any country on this list, at 10.3 million. So how did it never happen for a Greek club? In the 1970-71 European Cup, Panathinaikos made it all the way to the final, only to fall to Ajax. Panathinaikos would again make the semi-finals of the European Cup in 1984-85 and 1995-96, but not reach the final again. In more modern years, Greek clubs have regularly competed in the several European competitions, but could not achieve a result greater than being European Cup Finalists in 1971. This is until last season, where Olimpiakos captured the UEFA Conference League to bring a European trophy home to Greece! I’ve left them on this list because I think their history in the 70’s and 80’s is interesting, but Greece has very recently added themselves to the list of countries with a major European club trophy.
Iceland
Iceland, with their population of only 375k, has the odds stacked against them in UEFA competitions. However they have competed in UEFA competitions before! Breidablik, which has been the best club in Iceland for a while now, qualified for the 2023-24 Conference League Group Stage. It is not a long history, but similar to their neighbors in the Faroe Islands, Iceland will also be looking to build upon this qualification moving forward, and use it as a foundation for future success.
Kazakhstan
So most of Kazakhstan isn’t in Europe, sure. Point taken. Counterpoint, they’re a UEFA member and not a Asian Football Confederation (AFC) member, so for our purposes here they are de facto “European”. This was not always the case though, before the 2001-02 season, Kazakh clubs did compete in the AFC instead of UEFA. Another note, Kazakh clubs have major AFC competition trophies in their history, but not any UEFA trophies. In the 24 seasons that Kazakh clubs have competed in Europe, FC Astana has qualified to the Champion’s League Group Stage in 2015, and made it to the Round of 32 in the Europa League in 2017-18. They are the powerhouse of Kazakh football, and are without a doubt the most successful team from Kazakhstan. Now that Greece has a champion, Kazakhstan holds the title for largest population without a major UEFA trophy, at 19 million people.
So this wraps up the first half of the countries without a major UEFA competition trophy. In Part 2, I’ll be going from Kosovo to Wales and detailing each country’s best result. There’s one massive nation (40+ million in population) that’s still on this list! Try to guess which country it is, before Part 2 comes out.
-LM
futbird 