Crystal Palace stand on the brink of yet more history as they prepare for their UEFA Conference League final against Rayo Vallecano.
Having lifted the FA Cup last May in superb fashion with a win over Manchester City – their first-ever major trophy – the Eagles are now looking to win their first-ever European trophy in Leipzig.
In what is Oliver Glasner’s final game in charge, he will look to sign off in perfect style and place Palace in exalted company as one of 12 English clubs to taste success on the continent.
While some may argue that the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup should count – Leeds and Newcastle fans mostly – it is not an official UEFA sanctioned competition. As for the rather iconic Intertoto Cup, it was a glorified pre-season friendly tournament wasn’t it?
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Here are the 11 clubs to have won either the European Cup/Champions League, the UEFA Cup/Europa League, the UEFA Conference League or the much-missed European Cup Winners’ Cup, starting with the earliest.
Tottenham – 1963 European Cup Winners’ Cup
For a club that’s so regularly mocked and rightly so given their current state, Spurs have won four European trophies and were the first English side to taste victory on the continent.
It came in stunning fashion. A 5-1 victory over Atletico Madrid in Rotterdam which, of course, featured a brace from the great Jimmy Greaves saw the trophy come back to North London.
It was the first of a record eight wins for English clubs.
West Ham – 1965 European Cup Winners’ Cup
Spurs stayed up on the final day at the expense of the Irons by a margin of two points, and there was two years between their Cup Winners’ Cup successes.
Inarguably West Ham’s best-ever side, Bobby Moore lifted the trophy at Wembley after a 2-0 win over 1860 Munich. 12 months later, it was the World Cup with Geoff Hurst famously hitting a hat-trick.
58 years later, it was the Conference League. And now, it’s the Championship.
Manchester United – 1968 European Cup
United were the first English side to enter European competition after Sir Matt Busby defied the FA in 1956.
On the cusp of glory, tragedy struck the club’s first great side two years later in the Munich Air Disaster. From the ashes, United somehow rose again to scale the highest of heights.
10 years on from their darkest day, Busby and captain Bobby Charlton – survivors of the plane crash – as well as the incomparable George Best helped United become the first English side to lift the European Cup. One of football’s greatest stories.
Manchester City – 1970 European Cup Winners’ Cup
City followed on from their Manchester rivals to be the fourth English club in Europe and the third in a competition that didn’t see the 21st century.
It came with a win in Vienna over Polish side Gornik Zabrze, rather fittingly sealed with a Franny Lee penalty, and added to the League Cup won earlier in the season.
53 years later, a very different City won their next European trophy and the one their Abu Dhabi ownership craved most – the Champions League.
Chelsea – 1971 European Cup Winners’ Cup
The Blues are the only club in history to win all four of the European trophies included in this list. Bar the Conference League, they have won each of them twice too.
Their first continental success came in 1971, a year on from lifting the FA Cup. Holders City were beaten in an all-English semi-final before Real Madrid were famously beaten in Piraeus, Greece.
In 1998, Gianfranco Zola sealed a second Cup Winners’ Cup for the club and soon everything changed in West London.
Liverpool – 1973 UEFA Cup
Easily, England’s most successful club, it is slightly surprising five sides won in Europe before Liverpool.
It was also only the second-ever UEFA Cup season after it replaced the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. Spurs won the first and the Reds the second, with Kevin Keegan’s brace helping them past Borussia Monchengladbach in a two-leg final.
It kickstarted a golden era for the club with another UEFA Cup following in 1976 before four European Cups were lifted in the eight years after – their first coming against the same German side.
European trophies won by English clubs
| Club | Number of European trophies |
| Liverpool | 9 |
| Chelsea | 6 |
| Manchester United | 5 |
| Tottenham | 4 |
| Nottingham Forest | 2 |
| Manchester City | 2 |
| Aston Villa | 2 |
| West Ham | 2 |
| Everton | 1 |
| Arsenal | 1 |
| Ipswich | 1 |
Nottingham Forest – 1979 European Cup
England dominated the European Cup in the late-1970s and early-1980s but no success was quite as remarkable as Brian Clough and Forest’s.
It started when the Reds became the fifth and final team to win the old Division One title directly after promotion to the top-flight.
Their first foray into Europe saw them face two-time holders Liverpool in the first-ever all-English European Cup tie in the first round. They were beaten as were Malmo in the final.
If that wasn’t enough, Forest retained the trophy a year later.
Ipswich – 1981 UEFA Cup
The Tractors Boy might just be looking to stay in the top-flight these days after their latest promotion but at one point, they were a genuine force both home and abroad.
Sir Alf Ramsey led them into the European Cup in 1962 and it was another future knight of the realm, Sir Bobby Robson, who oversaw their UEFA Cup success just under two decades later.
It came in thrilling style with a 5-4 win over AZ Alkmaar over two legs.
Aston Villa – 1982 European Cup
Villa are England’s latest European champions after lifting the Europa League last week in dominant fashion.
44 years earlier, they claimed the biggest trophy of them all, beating Bayern Munich in Rotterdam with Peter Withe scored the most famous goal in the club’s history.
Unai Emery’s men will be back in the Champions League next season. Strangers things have happened?
Everton – 1985 European Cup Winners’ Cup
The 1984-85 season is undoubtedly the greatest in Everton’s history. The Toffees won the league title, finishing 13 points clear of Liverpool, and their only European trophy.
University College Dublin – a student team – put up a better fight than anyone, almost pulling off one of the biggest shocks ever in the first round.
Bayern Munich and Rotterdam again featured with the Bundesliga giants beaten in the semi-final before a 3-1 victory over Rapid Vienna in the Dutch city.
It was the final English winner of a European trophy for 14 years following the Heysel stadium disaster, the subsequent ban and the fallow decade that followed.
Arsenal – 1994 European Cup Winners’ Cup
England’s most recent first-time European winners might also become their latest if they can topple PSG in Budapest on Saturday night.
For all their domestic success – 14 league titles and a record 14 FA Cups, Arsenal have a very poor European record, made all the more odd given Arsene Wenger’s style and method.
Their only win came two years before the Frenchman arrived and typically for the era, it ended 1-0. Alan Smith was the match-winner as Parma were beaten in Copenhagen.
Having ended their 22-year wait for the Premier League title, can the Gunners claim their first-ever Champions League title?
That can wait until the weekend. For now, it’s all about Palace as they look to make history.
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