All winners of the Europa League

The Europa League is an international football tournament held every year between clubs from European countries. This is the second most prestigious tournament after the Champions League, which appeared only in 2009, replacing the UEFA Cup. The reason for this was the format of the tournament, which previously represented only the playoffs at the start. Since 2009, within the framework of the Europa League, the division into groups has begun to take place, followed by a draw of the playoffs. Who won this relatively young tournament? In total, eight drawings were held, and the ninth one is now in the process. In this article, you will find out what the winners of the Europa League have been over the past eight years.

2009 - Shakhtar Donetsk

The winners of the League of Europe during this time were from a variety of countries, but the first was the Ukrainian club. In the finals of the first draw of the League of Europe were Donetsk "Shakhtar" and Bremen "Werder". Both clubs were in the European League after they took third place in their groups in the Champions League. Already in the 25th minute, Luis Adriano opened the scoring, leading the Ukrainians forward, but quickly Naldo equalized the score. And only in the added time Jadson decided the outcome in favor of Shakhtar.

2010 - Atletico

The following year, Madrid "Atletico", which turned out to be weaker than Chelsea and Porto in the Ligochempion group, met in the final with Fulham, who came out of second place from his group, second only to the Italian "Roma". The plot of the match was exactly the same as last year. Diego Forlan opened the scoring at the 32nd minute, and five minutes later, Davis equalized. And only in the added time Forlan designed a double, bringing his club victory. As you can see, the first winners of the League of Europe were determined according to the same scenario. But then everything became a bit more diverse.

2011 - Porto

The third final was the first, in which representatives of the same country took part. Portuguese "Braga" could not compete in the Champions League, but reached the final of the Europa League, where it was waiting for "Porto". In a very intense match, "Porto" won with a minimum score of 1: 0 thanks to a goal of Radamel Falcao. The UEFA Europa League has started to gain momentum and gradually become more interesting.

2012 - Atletico

In 2012, the UEFA Europa League acquired the first repeated triumph. Madrid "Atletico" was defeated in the final by another Spanish club "Athletic" with a score of 3: 0. Two goals scored the same Falcao, who last year brought victory to "Porto", and the third was designed by the Brazilian Diego.

2013 - Chelsea

In 2013, this tournament was first won by the English club Chelsea. England in recent years began to lose ground in the European arena, so this victory over the Portuguese "Benfica" has become very important. Fernando Torres scored the first goal, which was followed by the prompt response of Oscar Cardozo, and when everyone was already preparing for the added time, Ivanovich snatched victory for Chelsea.

2014-2016 years - Sevilla

To date, the country behind which the strongest football in Europe is listed is Spain. "Sevilla" is a club, which is one of the brightest evidences of this. The matter is that the last three years, "Seville" won the Europa League, not allowing anyone to take away her title.

In 2014, the Portuguese "Benfica" again made it to the finals, but again she was unlucky. The match was incredibly tense, and in regular time was not scored a single goal. In the added time, the winner was also not revealed, and only in the penalty shootout, "Seville" was able to defeat the Portuguese opponent, having won his first trophy.

In 2015, in the final, the Spanish club met with another Ukrainian club, Dnipro, which wanted to repeat the history of Shakhtar. And already in the seventh minute the Ukrainians led in the score thanks to Kalinich's goal, but even in the first half the goals of Grzegorz Kryhovyak and Carlos Bacchi allowed Sevilla to advance. However, at the end of the first half, Rotan equalized the score, and the second half actually began with a clean slate. His chance was taken by Buck, who established the final score on the scoreboard - 3: 2 in favor of the Spanish club, who won the trophy for the second time in a row.

Well, in 2016 in the final, "Seville" got even stronger opponent, the English "Liverpool". And again the beginning was promising, when Sturridge opened the scoring in the match. The first half ended with the advantage of "Liverpool", but in the second half everything changed. Goleiro's goal and Koke's double took Sevilla a third cup in a row. However, we can safely say that this year the winners of the Europa League will be different, as Sevilla took part in the Champions League and reached the playoffs, where they lost to English Leicester in the 1/8 finals.