Villarreal FC Profile

Formed: 1923
Nickname: Submarino Amarillo (Yellow Submarine)

UEFA club competition honours
• None

Domestic honours
• None

History
• Just three months after their formation the club began renting what became known as El Madrigal, playing their first friendly at the stadium in October 1923. Villarreal have spent much of their history in Spain’s regional divisions; it was not until the 1990s that the small-town club set about an ambitious and impressive rise to the top.

• In 1990/91 Villarreal made the step up to the third tier, won promotion the following campaign and in 1997/98, under club president Fernando Roig, coach José Antonio Irulegui’s team finished fourth and entered into a play-off with SD Compostela for a place in the Spanish top flight. Having only managed a 0-0 draw at El Madrigal the odds were against Villarreal, but in the return Alberto Saavedra’s goal earned a 1-1 draw and the Submarino Amarillo prevailed.

• Villarreal were relegated after just one term in the Liga, but they bounced back immediately and this time cemented a place in Spain’s top flight. European success arrived with the 2003 UEFA Intertoto Cup triumph followed by a run to the UEFA Cup semi-finals the same season, losing out to local rivals Valencia CF 1-0 on aggregate.

• Further UEFA Intertoto Cup success in 2004 led to another tilt at the UEFA Cup and this time time to the quarter-finals. A third-placed Liga finish in 2004/05 – with Diego Forlán top scorer – took Villarreal into the UEFA Champions League, Everton FC being defeated in the third qualifying round to book a place in the group stage.

• Manuel Pellegrini’s men embarked on a run all the way to the tournament’s semi-finals, Arsenal FC eventually ending Villarreal’s party. In 2007/08 the club finished second in the Liga, their highest ever placing, and returned to the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals in 2008/09 where they again lost out to Arsenal.

Club records
Most appearances: Rodolfo Arruabarrena (284)
Most goals: Diego Forlán (59)
Record victory: 6-1 v NAC Breda (UEFA Europa League, 27 August 2009)
Record defeat: 0-6 v Valencia CF (Copa del Rey, 14 April 1993)

From: http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/season=2012/clubs/club=70691/profile/index.html

Manchester City FC Profile

Formed: 1880
Nickname: The Citizens, The Blues, City

UEFA club competition honours (runners-up in brackets)
• UEFA European Cup Winners’ Cup: 1970

Domestic honours (most recent triumph in brackets)
• League title: 2 (1968)
• FA Cup: 5 (2011)
• League Cup: 2 (1976)

History
• Founded by churchwardens as St Mark’s Church, West Gorton in an attempt to curb gang violence and alcoholism among men in East Manchester, the club were known as Gorton AFC and Ardwick AFC before settling on their current name in 1894 and initially won promotion to England’s top division in 1899.

• City won their first FA Cup in 1904, beating Bolton Wanderers FC 1-0 in the final, and moved from Hyde Road to Maine Road in 1923; a second FA Cup came in 1934 but their maiden league title in 1937 was followed by relegation the following season – the only time this has ever happened in England’s top flight.

• Another perhaps unrepeatable first came in the 1956 FA Cup final where City beat Birmingham City FC 3-1 even though their goalkeeper Bert Trautmann, a former German prisoner of war who settled in England, was forced to play the final minutes of the match with a broken neck.

• There were more heroics in 1967/68 as, under the leadership of Joe Mercer, a City side featuring legends like Mike Summerbee and Colin Bell claimed the league title; next came the 1969 FA Cup and the following season’s UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup, City beating Górnik Zabrze 2-1 in Vienna.

• Past glories were to weigh heavy on City in later years as they sank as low as England’s third tier in 1998, but the club were back in the Premier League within two years. Although they lasted only one season, promotion followed again in 2001/02 and the arrival of wealthy investors in summer 2009 has transformed them into a competitive side in the English top flight.

• In 2011, Roberto Mancini led City to FA Cup glory as well as a third-place finish, which secured UEFA Champions League football for the first time in the club’s history.

Club records
Most appearances: Alan Oakes (680)
Most goals: Eric Brook (177)
Record victory: City 12-0 Liverpool Stanley FC (4 October 1890)
Record defeat: four defeats by eight-goal margins, most recently 8-0 v Wolverhampton Wanderers FC (First Division, 23 December 1933)

From: http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/season=2012/clubs/club=52919/profile/index.html

SSC Napoli Profile

Formed: 1926
Nickname: Partenopei (a reference to Parthenope, one of the Sirens of Greek mythology)

UEFA club competition honours (runners-up in brackets) 
• UEFA Cup: 1989

Domestic honours (most recent triumph in brackets) 
• League title: 2 (1990)
• Italian Cup: 3 (1987)

History 
• The modern Napoli side were founded with the merger of Naples Foot-Ball Club, formed in 1904 by English businessman William Poths and Italian engineer Emilio Anatra, and US Internazionale Napoli, a side set up under the initiative of a group of local workers in 1912. They were briefly FBC Internaples before settling on their current identity in 1926.

• A moderately successful side in their early years, Napoli nevertheless boasted a fine following, 80,000 watching them beat Juventus 2-1 in the first game at their Stadio San Paolo in 1959. Relegated from Serie A the following season, the Partenopei became the first Serie B side to win the Coppa Italia in 1962, beating Spal 1907 2-1 in Rome, and they gained promotion in the same campaign.

• President Corrado Ferlaino’s arrival in 1969 signalled the beginning of a significant period in the club’s history; he was responsible for signing club legend Diego Maradona from FC Barcelona in June 1984 and under Ottavio Bianchi, Napoli were the first southern side to win Serie A as they claimed a domestic double in 1987.

• A 5-4 aggregate success against VfB Stuttgart secured Napoli’s only major continental honour, the 1988/89 UEFA Cup, but following their second title success the following year things began to unravel with the departure of Maradona and, due to financial problems, the sale of the likes of Gianfranco Zola and future Ballon d’Or winner Fabio Cannavaro.

• Declared bankrupt in 2004, a new owner and president − film producer Aurelio De Laurentiis − helped the club start from scratch in Serie C1, and they were back in the top division by 2007/08, returning to Europe after a 14-year absence in the 2008 UEFA Intertoto Cup. In 2011, Walter Mazzarri’s team enjoyed a third-place finish, which guaranteed Napoli UEFA Champions League football for the following season.

Club records
Most appearances: Giuseppe Bruscolotti (511)
Most goals: Diego Maradona (115)
Record victory: Napoli 8-1 Pro Patria (Serie A, 16 October 1955)
Record defeat: Torino FC 11-0 Napoli (First Division, 4 March 1928)

From: http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/season=2012/clubs/club=50136/profile/index.html

FC Bayern München Profile

Formed: 1900
Nickname: Die Bayern (The Bavarians)

UEFA club competition honours (runners-up in brackets)
• European Champion Clubs’ Cup: 1974, 1975, 1976, 2001; (1982), (1987), (1999), (2010)
• UEFA Cup: 1996
• UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup: 1967
• UEFA Super Cup: (2001)

Domestic honours (most recent triumph in brackets)
• Domestic title: 22 (2010)
• German Cup: 15 (2010)

History
• Strange as it may seem to those more accustomed to the slick, successful Bayern of today, when the club was founded in 1900, it consisted of eleven students, shopkeepers and office workers from the bohemian Munich neighbourhood of Schwabing. Under ambitious long-term president Kurt Landauer, the club nonetheless clinched a surprise first national title in 1932.

• After the Second World War, Bayern slid into relative obscurity and were not even admitted to the inaugural Bundesliga of 1963/64. The club’s fortunes improved with the emergence of gifted youngsters Sepp Maier, Franz Beckenbauer and Gerd Müller, however, and German Cup wins were followed by an unexpected UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup triumph in 1966/67.

• Domestic dominance was soon established and continued into the 1970s, when a side bolstered by the likes of Uli Hoeness and Paul Breitner stepped up another notch and claimed three consecutive European Champion Clubs’ Cups between 1974 and 1976. Bayern overcame Club Atlético de Madrid (4-0 in a replay after 1-1 draw), Leeds United AFC (2-0) and AS Saint-Etienne (1-0) in the finals.

• Slowly the stars left or faded, but a new generation headed by Karl-Heinz Rummenigge picked up more domestic silverware, as did a talented lineup led by Lothar Matthäus. With Jürgen Klinsmann scoring the goals and Beckenbauer in the dugout, Bayern claimed ten Bundesliga titles during the 1980s and 1990s, and lifted the UEFA Cup in 1995/96.

• The end of the decade brought more renewal by another crop of gifted players, not least goalkeeper Oliver Kahn and playmaker Mehmet Scholl. Though UEFA Champions League glory painfully escaped their grasp against Manchester United FC in the 1998/99 final, Ottmar Hitzfeld’s men bounced back against Valencia CF two years later to return Bayern to the pinnacle of the European game. However, they were denied a famous treble under Louis van Gaal in 2009/10, winning their 22nd domestic title and 15th cup but losing 2-0 to FC Internazionale Milano in the UEFA Champions League final.

Club Records
Most appearances: Sepp Maier (623)
Most goals: Gerd Müller (525)
Record victory: Bayern 11-1 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga, 27 November 1971)
Record defeat: Bayern 0-7 FC Schalke 04 (Bundesliga, 9 October 1976)

 

From: http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/season=2012/clubs/club=50037/profile/index.html