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Anonymous
>>21856 >>22020
Since the 1950s, the winning club from each domestic league used to also enter the "European Champions Cup" which is played alongside the domestic leagues. In 1992/3 season, the governing body in Europe changed this format from straight knockout rounds to include 2 small groups of 4 where the two group winners would contest the final. It was also renamed the UEFA Champions League at that time.
A couple of seasons later they expanded the tournament to include not only the champions of each domestic league, but the top few teams from the supposed best leagues such as Spain, Italy, England, France, Germany, and they have tinkered with the format ever since, and now hold 8 groups of 4 with the top 2 from each group going into the knockout stages, still competing for the same European Cup.
The UEFA cup, which has run since the 1950s also, previously also called the Fairs Cities Cup, was traditionally for the 2nd/3rd/4th placed teams (depending on what league it was), and was also always a knockout tourney. It always did have a high participation level of around 96 clubs. This has now increased.
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