English Clubs in the Euefairs Cup

This graphic depicts every appearance by an English club in the Euefairs Cup – that being the name you might give to the competition that was formed as the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1955, absorbed into UEFA and named the UEFA Cup in 1971 and re-branded the Europa League in 2009. An equivalent visualisation for the European Cup and Champions League was one of my first posts back in 2011.

The graphic covers the achievement that qualified each side for the tournament, such as league position or a cup win, and the round they reached. Teams participated in the Fairs Cup by invitation. Being reigning champions or having finished in a decent position in the Football League presumably played some part in determining who was invited but a lack of consistent information has lead me to term all Fairs Cup appearances ‘by invitation’. Occasions when a run was ended by an English opponent are noted.

The Fairs Cup had a limit of one team per city and sometimes featured city representative teams such as the London XI that lost the first final.