| Dirty Arab presents..... |
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The club became well known throughout the continent during the 1980's, reaching the Semi Finals of the European Cup and the Final of the UEFA Cup, and defeated teams such as Barcelona, Borussia Moenchengladbach, Monaco, Werder Bremen, PSV Eindhoven and Anderlecht.
whilst running teams like Juventus, Roma, Manchester United & IFK Gothenburg close on several occassions.
Below is a description of each of the competitions United have qualified for over the years - click on the years in each Tournament or on the chronological list down the right hand side of the page for details of United's campaigns over the years, including teams, scorers, photos and video clips.
| FAIRS CUP | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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competition was introduced in 1955 as the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup,
originally involving clubs from cities that held trade fairs, involving
teams from Barcelona, Basle, Birmingham, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Lausanne,
Leipzig, London, Milan and Zagreb.
Participation was by invitation only and the first tournament took three years to complete, with matches timed to coincide with trade fairs. In 1960 both its name and its duration were shortened, with sixteen clubs taking part in the 1958-60 tournament, after which it was staged on an annual basis. |
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By 1962 the number of entrants had risen to 32 and qualification by League position was introduced. In its early years, teams from southern Europe dominated, notably Barcelona, who won it three times, and Valencia CF who won it twice. United qualified for the Fairs Cup on three occasions before the competition was renamed the UEFA Cup in 1971. |
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| U.E.F.A. CUP | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| This
tournament adopted its present name in 1971, which since 1955 had
been known as the Fairs Cup. The change of name was in recognition
of the fact the competition was now run by UEFA and no longer associated
with the trade fairs.
The winners of the League Cup competitions held in some countries were sometimes allowed entry to the UEFA Cup. Up until the turn of the century, the winners of the Scottish League Cup were granted a place in the UEFA Cup, although this privilege was rarely invoked as the winning teams usually qualified for Europe by some other means, such as winning the League Championship or Scottish Cup. |
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United qualified for Europe for the fifth time when they finished in 4th place in Division One in 1975, this time competing in the renamed UEFA Cup for the first time. After surviving a relegation battle by goal difference in the first year of the Premier Division in 1976, United went on to qualify for the UEFA Cup in every season from 1977 to 1990 (excluding season 1983/84 when they entered the European Cup, and 1988/89 when the competed in the European Cup Winners Cup). United next appeared in the UEFA Cup in 1993, and again after their return to the Premier Division after being relegated in 1995, with their last appearance coming in 2005 after losing to Celtic in the Scottish Cup Final - this was after the domestic Cup Winners were entered into the UEFA Cup after the European Cup Winners Cup was abolished in 1999. The competition became the Europa League in 2009.
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| EUROPEAN CUP WINNERS CUP | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The European Cup Winners' Cup was a football club competition contested annually by the most recent winners of all European domestic cup competitions. The first competition was held in the 1960/61 season, and the last in 1998/99. Throughout its 39-year history, the Cup Winners' Cup was always a straight knock-out tournament with two-legged home and away ties up until the single match final staged at a neutral venue, the only exception to this being the two-legged final in the competition's first year. |
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Entry was restricted to one club from each UEFA member association, the only exception being to allow the current Cup Winners' Cup holders to enter alongside their nation's new domestic cup winners. On occasions when a club completed a domestic league and cup 'double' that club would enter the European Cup and their place in the Cup Winners' Cup would be taken by the domestic cup runners-up. The winners of the League Cup competitions held in some countries were never allowed to enter the Cup Winners' Cup. Instead the winners of these competitions were sometimes allowed to enter the UEFA Cup. Dundee United have participated in this competition on three occasions, though only once in their own right. The competition was abolished in 1999 to make way for a further expansion to the UEFA Champions League, with domestic cup winners now gaining entry into the UEFA Cup. |
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| EUROPEAN CUP | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The
tournament was established in 1955, as a continental competition for
winners of the European national football leagues, using a two-leg
knockout format where the teams would play two matches, one at home
and one away, and the team with the highest overall score qualifying
for the next round of the competition.
Until 1992, entry was restricted to the teams that won their national league championships, plus the current European Cup holder. |
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To date, United have participated only once in European football's most prestigious tournament, now known as the UEFA Champions League. It occurred in season 1983/84, when participants were admitted only as a result of having captured their domestic championship. In the 1992/93 season, the tournament was renamed UEFA Champions League and given a different format, with a group stage introduced instead of the early rounds. In 1997/98 eligibility was expanded to include not just domestic champions but also the best performing runners up according to UEFA's coefficient ranking list. |
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| 1983/84 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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