KRC Genk Profile

Formed: 1923

Domestic honours (most recent triumph in brackets)
• League title: 3 (2011)

• Belgian Cup: 3 (2009)

History

The club FC Winterslag was founded in 1923 and they became that year a member of the Belgian Football Association that gave it the matricule number 322. On its 35th anniversary the club added the Royal prefix Koninklijke to their name to become KFC Winterslag. In 1972–73 Winterslag reached the second division and they eventually qualified for the 1974–75 Belgian First Division after finishing second in the second division final round. They had taken advantage of the increase in the number of first division clubs (from 16 to 20). The club ended the season in last place but won the second division right after.

KFC Winterslag reached the 5th place in 1981 but two seasons later it was relegated to the second stage after a disappointing last place. That season Standard Liège won the championship on bribery in a match against the club of Waterschei Thor that would eventually merge with the matricule number 322. Following a spell of four seasons in the second division, Winterslag found its place again in the first division by winning the 1987 final round, one point ahead of Tongeren. It finished 15th on 18 but at the end of the season, the club merged with the neighbour club of Waterschei Thor which was playing in the second division since its relegation in 1986.

Valencia CF Profile

Formed: 1919
Nickname: Blanquinegros (The White and Blacks)

UEFA club competition honours (runners-up in brackets)
• European Champion Clubs’ Cup: (2000), (2001)
• UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup: 1980
• UEFA Cup: 2004
• UEFA Super Cup: 1980, 2004

Domestic honours (most recent triumph in brackets)
• League title: 6 (2004)
• Spanish Cup: 7 (2008)

History
• On 5 March 1919 a group of footballers gathered in a bar on Calle Barcelona with the aim of creating a football team to replace the long defunct Club Valencia. Valencia CF was born, initially calling a field in Algiros home.

• Regional success brought admission into the Copa del Rey in 1923, the year Valencia moved to Mestalla, and by the end of the 1920s Los Blanquinegros had won promotion to Spain’s second tier. By 1931 they were in the Liga, and though Real Madrid CF proved too strong in the 1934 Copa del Rey final, Valencia did not have to wait long for their time.

• Under charismatic club president Luis Casanova, the 1940s was a golden era for Valencia. Spearheaded by Epifanio ‘Epi’ Fernández and Edmundo Suárez, they returned to Mestalla – largely reconstructed following damage during the Spanish Civil War – with three Liga titles (1942, 1944, 1947) and two Spanish Cups (1941, 1949).

• The gold run dried up, but Alfredo Di Stéfano’s entrance in 1970 changed that as he guided Los Blanquinegros to a last-day Liga triumph in his first season. The arrival of another Argentina-born star, Mario Kempes, at the end of the decade brought more success as El Matador scored the winning goal in the 1979 Copa del Rey final. Twelve months later Kempes missed a penalty in the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup showpiece though Valencia nevertheless prevailed against Arsenal FC. Yet by 1986 they were enduring their first season outside the top flight in 56 years.

• Following the 1999 Copa del Rey triumph, the new millennium brought fresh success. Rafael Benítez guided the side to two Liga successes (2002 and 2004) and, having lost successive UEFA Champions League finals (in 2000 to Real Madrid CF and in 2001 to FC Bayern München), a 2-0 victory against Olympique de Marseille secured the 2004 UEFA Cup. Valencia added their seventh Copa del Rey in 2008.

Club records
Most appearances: Fernando Gómez (552)
Most goals: Mundo (206)
Record victory: 8-0 twice, most recently at home against Real Sporting de Gijón (Liga, 29 November 1953)
Record defeat: Sevilla FC 10-3 Valencia (Liga, 13 October 1940)

 

From: http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/season=2012/clubs/club=52268/profile/index.html

Chelsea FC Profile

Formed: 1905
Nickname: The Blues

UEFA club competition honours (runners-up in brackets)
• European Champion Clubs’ Cup: (2008)
• UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup: 1971, 1998
• UEFA Super Cup: 1998

Domestic honours (most recent triumph in brackets)
• League title: 4 (2010)
• FA Cup: 6 (2010)
• League Cup: 4 (2007)

History
• Chelsea are the only side in England who were admitted into the Football League without kicking a ball following their creation. Despite that auspicious start it was not until the 1950s, under former Arsenal FC man Ted Drake, that the west London outfit began collecting silverware. Celebrating their golden jubilee, the newly-nicknamed Blues – they have always worn the colour, though sported a lighter shade until 1912 – claimed the 1954/55 league title with one of the lowest points tallies in English football history.

• The club underwent a transformation in the 1960s as London became the music and fashion capital of the world. They became known as the country’s glamour club, while on the pitch Tommy Docherty’s young team claimed the League Cup in 1964/65 and finished runners-up in the FA Cup two years later.

• Docherty’s replacement Dave Sexton masterminded further successes, beating Leeds United AFC in the 1970 FA Cup final and lifting the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup against Real Madrid CF in another replayed showpiece the following season.

• Anticipating glory days, the club invested heavily in upgrading Stamford Bridge, only to be hit by relegation. Staring bankruptcy in the face, the long-standing Mears family famously sold the club – and its huge debts – to Ken Bates for £1 in 1982. The new chairman eventually restored some glamour by appointing the likes of Ruud Gullit and Gianluca Vialli as manager, the latter guiding the team to UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup glory in 1997/98.

• Financial problems returned, however, and in 2003 Bates sold the club to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich. José Mourinho replaced Claudio Ranieri the following year and the side clinched their first championship in 50 years in the Portuguese manager’s first season.

• They successfully defended the title, and only a slip by John Terry in a penalty shoot-out against Manchester United FC denied Mourinho’s successor, Avram Grant, the UEFA Champions League in 2007/08. Carlo Ancelotti then won a league and FA Cup double in his first campaign in charge in 2009/10, only for Abramovich to replace the Italian with FC Porto’s treble-winning coach André Villas-Boas ahead of the 2011/12 season.

Club records
Most appearances: Ron Harris (795)
Most goals: Bobby Tambling (202)
Record victory: Chelsea 13-0 FC Jeunesse Hautcharage (UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup, 29 September 1971)
Record defeat: Wolverhampton Wanderers FC 8-1 Chelsea (First Division, 26 September 1953)

 From: http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/season=2012/clubs/club=52914/profile/index.html

Bayer 04 Leverkusen Profile

Formed: 1904
Nickname: Werkself (Factory XI)

UEFA club competition honours (runners-up in brackets)
• European Champion Clubs’ Cup: (2002)
• UEFA Cup: 1988

Domestic honours (most recent triumph in brackets)
• German Cup: 1 (1993)

History
• In 1903, 170 workers at the Bayer chemical plant signed a petition requesting the foundation of a company sports club; the management acceded to their request the following year and the football division opened in 1907, though they achieved little of note in its early decades.

• Leverkusen were still playing in the second tier of the Regionalliga West when the Bundesliga was founded in 1963 and while they remained an unremarkable side for the next 15 years, they made a siginificant breakthrough when they won promotion to the top division for the 1979/80 season; they have not been relegated since.

• Leverkusen’s first Bundesliga seasons were a struggle, but coach Erich Ribbeck’s arrival in the mid-1980s led to improved results; they competed in the UEFA Cup for the first time in 1986/87 and won the competition the following season, recovering from a 3-0 first-leg deficit against RCD Espanyol to win the trophy on penalties at home.

• Following reunification Leverkusen had great success in nurturing talent from the former East Germany, the likes of Andreas Thom, Jens Melzig and Ulf Kirsten combining with Brazilian stars Jorginho and Paulo Sérgio to establish Leverkusen among Germany’s top sides; they won the 1993 German Cup, beating Hertha BSC Berlin’s reserves 1-0 in the final.

• Leverkusen’s stock rose even higher in the 1990s and early 2000s as they finished second in the Bundesliga three times and under Klaus Toppmöller lost out to Zinédine Zidane’s wonder-goal in the 2001/02 UEFA Champions League final; they also reached the German Cup final in the same campaign.

Club records
Most league appearances: Rüdiger Vollborn (401)
Most league goals: Ulf Kirsten (182)
Record victory: FC Stahl Brandenburg 0-11 Leverkusen (German Cup, 13 March 1994)
Record defeat: Hannover 96 6-1 Leverkusen (Bundesliga, 26 March 1988)

 

From: http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/season=2012/clubs/club=50109/profile/index.html