Time to go through the rest of the UEFA nations who have not had any club capture a major continental trophy.

Kosovo:

While Kosovo, the Balkan nation of ~1.9M people, has not been competing in UEFA competitions for as long as many of the other countries here, they are still without a major trophy. Their best European finishes have been recorded by FC Ballkani, who have qualified into the group stage of the 2023-24 UEFA Conference League, and even recorded a 2-0 win over Dinamo Zagreb.

Latvia:

Next up is Latvia, who have about the same population as Kosovo (1.9M). No Latvian team has ever made the group stage of the Champions League, but Skonto FC made it to the third qualifying round in the 1999-2000 season, before being drawn against and losing to Chelsea. More recently, FK Ventspils have qualified to the group stage of the Europa League in 2009-10.

Lithuania:

Lithuania has almost 3 million people in population, but has come no closer to a continental trophy than most of the other countries here. Their most successful team is FK Zalgiris, who hail from the city of Vilnius. Zalgiris qualified to the group stage of the Conference League in 2022-23, which represented the nation’s best European result to-date.

Luxembourg:

Luxembourgish clubs face a long road to qualify for a UEFA competition. The winner of the league enters the Champions League first Qualifying Round, leaving them with 4 ties to win in order to qualify to the Champions League group stage. Due to this, no Luxembourg club has ever made the group stage of the Champions League. The best result so far is F91 Dudelange qualifying for the group stage of the Europa League in back to back seasons, 2018-19 and 2019-20.

Malta:

The tiny island nation of ~535k people does not boast a high-ranking domestic league, or a history of success, understandably. As of 2024-25, no Maltese club has made it to the group stage of a UEFA competition, with the closest one reached being the Third Qualifying Round of the Europa League. This was achieved by Birkirkara FC.

Moldova:

Moldova is a bit of an interesting case. The most powerful corporation in the country, Sheriff, owns the most successful team in the league, Sheriff Tiraspol. Since the year 2000, Sheriff has won the Moldovan league every year except for 3 (with the most recent surprisingly being last year, when Petrocub Hincesti won their first ever league title). With that level of consistent domestic dominance, Sheriff could turn their attention towards qualifying for the Champions League, which they did in 2021-22, including a famous 2-1 victory over Real Madrid. Technically the closest they have come to a trophy is reaching the Round of 16 in the Conference League in 2022-23, losing out to Nice.

Montenegro:

Another relatively small Balkan nation, Montenegro (population ~620k) does not have a large history in European club football. FK Zeta is their most successful club in this regard. Zeta reached the final playoff qualifying round for the Europa League in 2012-13 before losing, and the 2nd qualifying round of the Champions League in 2007-2008. Never has a Montenegrin club reached the group stage of a UEFA competition.

North Macedonia:

North Macedonia have been best represented in European competition by FK Vardar, who have qualified for the group stage of the Europa League in 2017-18, but were drawn into a group with Real Sociedad, Rosenborg, and Zenit St. Petersburg, finishing 4th. The lower level of the domestic league, and easy departures of domestic players for the Serbian/Croatian/Bulgarian leagues could all be reasons why Macedonian clubs have historically struggled to qualify for UEFA competitions.

Northern Ireland:

Northern Ireland (considered a separate nation from the UK by UEFA) are another country without a group stage appearance in a UEFA competition by one of their clubs. The club that has gone the furthest is Linfield FC, who have reached the final playoff qualifying round of the Europa League, coming within a match of the main competition. Perhaps we see a Northern Irish club break into one of the UEFA competitions proper in the coming years!

Norway:

Norway is one of the larger footballing nations on this list. The domestic league experienced their first great wave of European competition when Rosenborg dominated the domestic league for most of the 1990’s and 2000’s. In the 1996-1997 season, Rosenborg reached the Champions League quarterfinals, before narrowly losing out to Juventus. One of the members of this Rosenborg team was Runar Berg, a member of the well-known Berg footballing family from Bodo, Norway. Runar’s nephew, Patrick, would go on to reach UEFA competitions several times with Bodo/Glimt, the furthest Glimt reached being the quarterfinals of the Conference League. This year, Bodo/Glimt were one half of football from qualifying to the Champions League proper, before Crvena Zvezda mounted a comeback at home and ended the Norwegian’s hopes of being the next club from their country to reach the UCL.

Poland:

Poland, the largest nation by population without a major UEFA continental club trophy. With 41 million people calling Poland home, it is a surprise that there has not been a crowning moment for Polish club football yet. Multiple clubs have come very close, however. Legia Warsaw were semi-finalist of the 1969-70 UEFA Cup (Champions League), as Widzew Lodz were in 1982-83. Gornik Zabrze has come the closest, reaching the final of the 1969-70 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup (Europa League), before ultimately losing. The spring of 1970 must have been a rough time for Polish football fans, seeing two of their clubs come so close but ultimately fail to win a UEFA competition in the same season.

Ireland:

Unfortunately for the Irish, they do not have a similar story to Sir Alex Ferguson at Aberdeen to be proud of in their footballing history. No Irish club has made it to the semi-final of a UEFA competition, with the furthest one has reached being Dundalk in the Round of 16 of the 1979-80 UEFA Cup. There’s a nation waiting to celebrate success here, the only question is when it could happen.

San Marino:

San Marino is the smallest nation on this list, and as such should not be judged too harshly on failure to win a UEFA trophy. Just making it through the qualifying rounds is a gauntlet in itself, which no San Marinese club has succeeded in doing yet. Tre Penne is in rare air, having actually won a qualification round, in the Europa League. They would go out in the Second Qualifying Round, but still made memories for a lifetime, I’m sure. (Side Note: This is half of the most difficult challenge in Football Manager: Winning the Champions League with a club from San Marino, and win the World Cup with the San Marino national team. Nobody has ever officially done it).

Slovenia:

Slovenia, while still having a modest population of 2.1 million, have an advantage over many of their neighbors in the sense of sporting infrastructure. This has resulted in a regular pipeline of Slovenian players into the European leagues, but has not yet resulted in a crowning moment for a Slovenian club. NK Maribor technically have a trophy, being joint-winners of the smaller Intertoto Cup, a former international football tournament. This does not count, as the Intertoto Cup was an apply-to-enter tournament mostly intended to allow Football “Pools” (the predecessor to the sports gambling we know today) to continue throughout the summer, when there would otherwise be no matches. Olimpia Ljubljana has gone the furthest in a legitimate competition, making the group stage of the 2023-24 Conference League.

Switzerland:

Time for another Intertoto cup claim! Swiss side Grasshopper Club Zurich were joint winners of the very same Intertoto Cup mentioned that NK Maribor shared. In relevance though, Grasshopper Club have made the Champions League quarterfinal in 1978-79 (as the UEFA Cup), and the semi-final of the 1977-78 Cup Winners’ Cup (Europa League). They are without a doubt the most successful club in Europe for Switzerland.

Wales:

Wales is another interesting example, where there is a Welsh domestic league, but that isn’t the only way for a Welsh club to reach a UEFA competition. This is due to several Welsh clubs competing in the English football pyramid, most notably Cardiff City and Swansea City. Both clubs have qualified to UEFA competitions, with Cardiff City making it all the way to the semifinal of the 1967-68 Cup Winners’ Cup (Europa League)

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That wraps it up! Every UEFA nation without a major continental club trophy, and the closest they’ve come to-date. Hopefully this was an interesting look at the other end of the football spectrum that gets covered much less. Perhaps this will inspire your next FM save 🙂

-LM