Arsenal F.C. is an English professional football club based in Holloway, North London. The club's first European football match was played against Copenhagen XI on 25 September 1963, and they have since participated in European club competitions on several occasions, most of which organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). Arsenal have won two European honours: the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1970 and the Cup Winners' Cup in 1994. The club played the 1994 European Super Cup and repeated its presence in the following year's Cup Winners' Cup final. Arsenal also reached the final of the UEFA Cup in 2000 and the Europa League in 2019, and became the first London team to appear in a UEFA Champions League final, in 2006. However, they lost all three.
Qualification for European club competitions is determined by a team's position in its domestic league, as well as how successfully a team fares in domestic cup competitions in the previous season. Following the Heysel Stadium disaster in 1985, UEFA placed an indefinite ban on all English teams from competing in Europe; the ban was lifted in the 1990–91 season and Arsenal entered in 1991–92 season, giving Arsenal the opportunity to play in the European Cup. Between 1998–99 and 2016–17, Arsenal qualified in nineteen successive UEFA Champions League seasons, an English football record, and is only surpassed in Europe by Real Madrid.
French striker Thierry Henry holds the club record for most appearances with 89, and is the club's record goalscorer in European competitions with 42 goals. Arsenal's biggest winning margin in Europe is a 7–0 scoreline, a feat achieved twice: firstly away at Standard Liège, during their successful Cup Winners' Cup campaign, and secondly at home against Slavia Prague, for the 2007–08 UEFA Champions League. Arsenal hold the European club competition record for the most consecutive clean sheets with ten, set between September 2005 and May 2006.
Background
Club competitions between teams from different European countries can trace their origins as far back as 1897, when the Challenge Cup was created for clubs in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, who did not meet under normal circumstances. The Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy, named after entrepreneur and sportsman Thomas Lipton, was established in 1909 and was contested between clubs from Italy, Great Britain, Germany and Switzerland; the competition lasted for two years. The earliest attempt to create a cup for national champion clubs of Europe was made by Swiss club FC Servette. Founded in 1930, the Coupe des Nations featured clubs of ten major European football leagues and was deemed a success. Due to financial reasons, the competition was abandoned.Nemzeti Sport, 9 July 1930, p. 3.
In December 1954, French sports magazine L'Equipe published an article by journalist and former professional footballer Gabriel Hanot, who proposed the introduction of a European club competition. He initially suggested that each country should nominate a club to play in a mid-week European league; many clubs favoured a cup competition, which required less matches to play. A year later, L'Equipe sent out invitations to 18 clubs, selected by Hanot, Jacques Ferran and Jacques Goddet, with UEFA agreeing to administer the competition named as the European Champion Clubs' Cup. The European Cup Winners' Cup, later retitled the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, was founded in 1960 and involved the winning clubs of national cup competitions in Europe. Arsenal, in the First Division at the time, were ineligible for both competitions, given that the club did not win a league championship or domestic cup for almost two decades. They however were invited to participate in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, an annual European club competition which was set up to promote international trade fairs; where a club finished in their domestic league had no relevance to qualification as teams were selected from cities holding trade fairs. The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup was regarded as the predecessor to the UEFA Cup, rebranded as the UEFA Europa League in 2008. Each competition round was staged over a two-legged tie, with the winner determined by the aggregate score. The away goals rule is activated if the aggregate score is equal.
To reinvigorate the European Champion Clubs' Cup, the competition was expanded and rebranded as the UEFA Champions League in 1992. From the 1997–98 season, it was further expanded to include eight domestic league runners-up selected by a UEFA coefficient and preliminary spots the following season were awarded to the third placed team; in some leagues fourth from 2002–03. The expansion and constant growth of the competition led to the decline of the Cup Winners' Cup, abolished in 1999 and by which point instigated proposals for a European Super League. Arsène Wenger has, on numerous occasions predicted the latter, arguing the pressure of television companies will force it to happen: "It's all about money. More games equal more money through TV revenue and I think the next few years will see not just two, but three or four teams from the top countries competing against each other. It's what television wants – big teams in big matches. That is why the Champions' League was introduced." Although Arsenal qualified for a fifteenth successive season of Champions League football in May 2012, this coincided with the club not winning a domestic honour since 2005, which led to open criticism over the competition's present format. Wenger however has gone on to defend the club policy, stating a trophy for Arsenal is winning the Premier League or the Champions League; "Would you like to finish tenth in the league but win the League Cup and say you have won a trophy? Certainly not."
History
Early years: 1963–1978 Arsenal first participated in European football during the 1963–64 season, via the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. The competition was set up to promote international trade fairs in European cities, featuring clubs from cities playing in matches that hosted trade fairs. As London's representative, Arsenal was paired with Copenhagen team Copenhagen XI in the first round, played over two matches. The first match ended in a 7–1 victory for Arsenal, with Geoff Strong and Joe Baker both scoring hat-tricks. Copenhagen XI won the second match 3–2, but lost 9–4 on aggregate. Arsenal faced RFC Liège in the second round; the Belgian club won 4–2 on aggregate to progress into the quarter-finals.
In the 1969–70 season, Arsenal again participated in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, after a six-year absence. Having beaten Glentoran of Northern Ireland, Portugal's Sporting CP and Rouen of France, Arsenal played Romanian club Dinamo Bacău in the quarter-finals. A 1–9 victory on aggregate saw the club progress into the last four, where they faced Ajax of Amsterdam. The pairing of both clubs pleased Arsenal manager Bertie Mee, who wanted to play Ajax in the semi-finals to set up a possibility of meeting Internazionale in the final. At Highbury in the first leg, Arsenal won 3–0 and restricted Ajax to a 1–0 win at the Olympisch Stadion to reach the final of the Fairs Cup. It was the fourth successive year the final featured an English club and the first for a London club. Arsenal played Belgian opposition Anderlecht in the 1970 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup Final, played in the space of a week. Anderlecht won the first leg 3–1, with Arsenal midfielder Ray Kennedy scoring a crucial away goal, seven minutes from the final whistle. An early goal scored by Eddie Kelly helped Arsenal to what earlier looked to be an improbable victory; John Radford and Jon Sammels overturned Anderlecht's advantage to win 3–0 on the night and 4–3 on aggregate. The result ended Arsenal's 17-year wait for a trophy and ensured the club became the third successive English club to win the honour.
Arsenal entered the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup the following season as holders of the competition, but did not progress further than the semi-finals, losing on away goals to 1. FC Köln of Germany. The club did however win the league championship for the first time in 18 years, ensuring qualification for the European Champions Clubs' Cup in the 1971–72 season. Arsenal reached the quarter-finals, where the team lost to holders Ajax, who went on to retain the trophy.
Arsenal finished second in the 1972–73 Football League but did not play in the 1973–74 UEFA Cup, because the Football League continued to apply the one-team-per-city rule from the old Fairs Cup, and Tottenham Hotspur qualified as League cup winners. In subsequent seasons, the departure of Mee and lack of domestic honours meant that the club did not contest in European football.
Cup Winners' Cup finalists, winners: 1978–1995 Mee was succeeded by Terry Neill in July 1976. Arsenal returned to European club football in the 1978–79 season, having finished fifth in the previous league campaign. The club contested in the UEFA Cup for the first time and won their opening leg 3–0 against 1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig; a commanding performance away from home in the second leg allowed Arsenal to win 4–1 at the Bruno-Plache-Stadion and 7–1 on aggregate. Arsenal progressed past the third round, winning on aggregate against Hajduk Split but were eliminated by Red Star Belgrade in the third round after striker Dušan Savić scored an away goal, two minutes from the end of the match.
As winners of the 1979 FA Cup Final, Arsenal entered the European Cup Winners' Cup in the 1979–80 season. The club defeated Fenerbahçe, 1. FC Magdeburg and IFK Göteborg, before facing Juventus in the semi-finals. After conceding an early penalty scored by Antonio Cabrini, Arsenal defender David O'Leary was injured and substituted in the 20th minute, when Juventus striker Roberto Bettega tackled him. Marco Tardelli was later sent off for a foul on Liam Brady and in the 85th minute, Arsenal managed to score an equaliser through a mix-up between Frank Stapleton and Bettega; the Italian put the ball into his goal net. Neill in his post-match comments expressed his anger over Bettega's tackle after the game: "I was shocked by a most vicious foul. I was shocked because I have always had the greatest admiration for him." A headed goal by substitute Paul Vaessen two minutes from the end, in the second leg was enough to take Arsenal into the 1980 European Cup Winners' Cup Final, where they faced Valencia in Brussels. A goalless draw after normal and extra time meant the final was to be decided on a penalty shootout, with Valencia winning 5–4.
Arsenal competed in the UEFA Cup in the 1981–82 and 1982–83 seasons and departed in the first and second round to FC Winterslag and Spartak Moscow respectively. The Heysel Stadium disaster of May 1985, during the 1985 European Cup Final between Liverpool and Juventus resulted in UEFA, and later FIFA, imposing a 'worldwide' ban on English teams from participating in European club competitions, initially for an indefinite period. Under George Graham, Arsenal returned to the European Cup in the 1991–92 season, having won the league championship a season earlier. They went out in the second round to Portuguese team Benfica in November 1991. The ban arising from the Heysel disaster had prevented Arsenal from competing in the European Cup when they won the league title two years previously, as well as preventing them from competing in the UEFA Cup on two occasions.