European Super Cup
The European Super Cup is at stake in an annual football game between the reigning champions of the UEFA Cup and UEFA Champions' League. It takes place at the start of the domestic season, in August, and though it could be viewed as the ultimate European club championship decider, it is generally regarded as a minor event, with the Champions' League and UEFA Cup winners not always fielding their best players and clearly not in their top fitness.
It was created in 1972 by Anton Witkamp, a reporter and later sports editor of Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf. The idea came to him in a time where Dutch "total football" was Europe's finest and Dutch football clubs were living their golden era (specially Ajax).
Witkamp was looking for something new to definitely decide which was the best team in Europe and also to further test Ajax's legendary team, led by their star player Johann Cruyff.
It was then proposed that the winner of the European Champions' Cup would face the winner of the Cup Winners' Cup.
All was set for a new competition to be born. However, when Witkamp tried to get an official endorsement to his competition, the UEFA president turned it down because of a one-year ban applied to Cup Winners' Cup holders Rangers, due to misbehavior of their supporters.
Still, the cup dispute went ahead despite the unofficial status. It was played in two legs and was financially supported by Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf. Ajax beat Rangers and won the very first European Super Cup.
Since then, the competition has been officially recognised and supported by UEFA.
Although the two-legged format was kept, in some years, the European Super Cup was disputed in one single match whether because of schedule dilemmas or political problems. In 1974, 1981 and 1985, the European Super Cup wasn't played at all.
Since 1998 the European Super Cup has been disputed in a one-legged format, in Monaco's Stade Louis II.
In the year 2000 the Cup Winners' Cup was discontinued by UEFA. Since then, the European Super Cup has been disputed between UEFA Cup and Champions' League winners.History
| Year | Venue | Winner | Runner-up | Score | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Stade Louis II, Monaco | AC Milan | FC Porto | 1-0 | |
| 2002 | Stade Louis II, Monaco | Real Madrid | Feyenoord | 3-1 | |
| 2001 | Stade Louis II, Monaco | Liverpool | Bayern Munich | 3-2 | |
| 2000 | Stade Louis II, Monaco | Galatasaray | Real Madrid | 2-1 AET | Match decided by golden goal. |
| 1999 | Stade Louis II, Monaco | Lazio | Manchester United | 1-0 | |
| 1998 | Stade Louis II, Monaco | Chelsea | Real Madrid | 1-0 |
Note: European Super Cup winners are in bold.