Otelul Galati Profile

Formed: 1964

Nickname: Oţerlarii (Steelworkers)

UEFA club competition honours (runners-up in brackets) 
• None

Domestic honours (most recent triumph in brackets) 
• League title: 1 (2011)

History 
• Oţelul were founded in the largest seaport on the River Danube in 1964, with their name (literally ‘Steel’) a nod to the metal industry that helped to make Galati, in the eastern Romanian province of Moldova, one of the nation’s most important economic centres.

• The new club slowly worked their way up the league system, winning a first third division championship in 1967/68, but were to be the city’s second team for some time, with CSU Galaţi – founded in 1970 – featuring in Romania’s top division in the 1970s and losing the 1976/77 Romanian Cup final to FC Steaua Bucureşti.

• Oţelul came into their own in the following decade; they won a second third division title in 1981 and were promoted to the top division as champions in 1986. They then finished fourth in the league in 1987/88 to earn a first foray in European competition; they beat Juventus 1-0 at home in the 1988/89 UEFA Cup first round but lost the return fixture 5-0.

• Having competed in the top division in every season since 1991/92, Oţelul were fourth in successive campaigns in the mid-1990s and reached the final of the 2003/04 Romanian Cup, losing 2-0 to FC Dinamo Bucureşti in the capital.

• They hit their peak unexpectedly in 2010/11, with Romania’s most capped player Dorinel Munteanu leading an unfancied side dominated by homegrown players to the title. Their diligence and discipline also captured the Romanian Super Cup before the club embarked on their first season in the UEFA Champions League group stage.

Club records
Most appearances: Catalin Tofan (390)
Most goals: Sorin Cornea (47)
Record league victory: Otelul 7-0 Jiul Petrosani (First Division, 30 August 1997)
Record league defeat: Otelul 0-7 FC Rapid Bucuresti (First Division, 5 November 2006)

 

From: http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/season=2012/clubs/club=50151/profile/index.html

FC Basel Profile

Formed: 1893
Nickname: Bebbi (Local slang for Basel)

UEFA club competition honours (runners-up in brackets)
• none

Domestic honours (most recent triumph in brackets)
• League title: 14 (2011)
• Swiss Cup: 10 (2010)

History
• On 12 November 1893, an advertisement appeared in the Basler newspaper looking for members for a local football club; the 11 men who responded, most of them athletes, met three days later in a local restaurant. The newly-formed Basel played their first game just 11 days later.

• It took 40 years for the club to win its first trophy, but Basel did so in some style, beating holders Grasshopper-Club 4-3 in the 1933 Swiss Cup final, reckoned to be one of the best in the competition’s history. Further cup successes followed in 1947 and 1963.

• Basel won their first league title under club legend René Bader in 1953, but their first golden age came under Helmut Benthaus, who between 1965 and 1982 – when he left for VfB Stuttgart – led the club to seven league titles and two more Swiss Cups, as well as European victories against the likes of FC Spartak Moskva and Club Brugge KV.

• Basel’s fortunes took a turn for the worse with relegation in 1988, and it took until 1994 for them to return to the top flight. Christian Gross took over as coach in the summer of 1999, and with the new St-Jakob Park opening in 2001, Basel began to hit top gear again, with titles in 2002, 2004, 2005 and 2008 as well as four more cups.

• Domestic success brought more engagement in Europe, with UEFA Champions League group stage campaigns and, in 2005/06, a trip to the UEFA Cup quarter-finals. Gross left for Stuttgart in 2009, but successor Thorsten Fink showed his class, winning a domestic double in his first campaign. Basel retained the Super League title in 2011.

Club records
Most appearances: Karl Odermatt (407)
Most goals: Seppe Hügi (244)
Record victories: 10-0 on five occasions, most recently at SC Zug (Swiss Cup, 4 September 1993)
Record defeat: Neuchâtel Xamax FC 9-1 FC Basel 1893 (Swiss Championship, 15 August 1987)

From: http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/season=2012/clubs/club=59856/profile/index.html

Benfica Profile

Formed: 1904
Nickname: As Águias (The Eagles), Encarnados (The Reds)

UEFA club competition honours (runners-up in brackets)
• European Champion Clubs’ Cup: 1961, 1962; (1963), (1965), (1968), (1988), (1990)
• UEFA Cup: (1983)

Domestic honours (most recent triumph in brackets)
• League title: 32 (2010)
• Portuguese Cup: 24 (2004)

History
• On 28 February 1904, Sport Lisboa e Benfica – originally known as Grupo Sport Lisboa – was founded at a meeting in a Lisbon pharmacy, Farmácia Franco, involving 24 men led by Cosme Damião.

• After winning ten Lisbon regional championships, a first national title arrived at the 15,000-capacity Campo das Amoreiras in 1935/36. Benfica moved to Campo Grande, where on-the-pitch success continued, and then to the Estádio da Luz in 1954.

• Under Hungarian Béla Guttmann the Eagles ended Real Madrid CF’s monopoly of the European Champion Clubs’ Cup in 1960/61, beating FC Barcelona in the final. The next year they defeated Madrid to retain the trophy, aided by a new young signing from Mozambique: Eusébio.

• With Eusébio and a considerable number of Portuguese internationals in the squad, Benfica monopolised the domestic game in the 1960s, reaching – but losing – another three European Cup finals, in 1963, 1965 and 1968. The Encarnados suffered further European Cup final disappointment in 1988 and 1990 following two more decades of dominance alongside Sporting Clube de Portugal and FC Porto.

• The club earned their 30th Portuguese title in 1993/94 but had to wait 11 years for No31 under Giovanni Trapattoni. By then Benfica were playing at the new Estádio da Luz, rebuilt to stage the UEFA EURO 2004 final. The Eagles made it 32 in the 2009/10 season under Jorge Jesus, ending Porto’s four-year monopoly.

Club records
Most appearances: Nené (802)
Most goals: Eusébio (638)
Record victory: Benfica 13-1 AD Sanjoanense (Primeira Divisão, 27 April 1947)
Record defeat: Sporting Clube de Portugal 7-1 Benfica (Primeira Divisão, 14 December 1986)

 

From: http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/season=2012/clubs/club=50147/profile/index.html

Manchester United profile

Formed: 1878
Nickname: The Red Devils

UEFA club competition honours (runners-up in brackets)
• European Champion Clubs’ Cup: 1968, 1999, 2008, (2009, 2011)
• UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup: 1991
• UEFA Super Cup: 1991, (1999), (2008)

Domestic honours (most recent triumph in brackets)
• League title: 19 (2011)
• FA Cup: 11 (2004)
• League Cup: 4 (2010)

History
• United were formed in 1878 as Newton Heath L&YR FC, a railway works side which joined the English Football League in 1892. The club claimed a place in the First Division in 1906, and in 1907/08 they brought home their first championship before an inaugural FA Cup win in 1909. The next year United moved to Old Trafford and reclaimed the league trophy in their first season at the ground.

• A period of relative mediocrity followed, but the club were transformed forever by the appointment of Matt Busby as manager in 1945. The Scot developed a team of youngsters who went on to become English champions three times in the 1950s, yet the Busby Babes era ended prematurely with the Munich air disaster of 6 February 1958 which claimed the lives of 21 people, including eight players.

• Busby himself had to recover from serious injuries before rebuilding the squad. The FA Cup was recaptured in 1963 after a 15-year gap, then the league in 1964/65 and 1966/67. Busby’s crowning glory came when a team featuring Bobby Charlton, George Best and Denis Law became the first English side to lift the European Champion Clubs’ Cup, although the injured Law missed the victory against SL Benfica in the 1968 Wembley final.

• Busby finally stood down in 1971 and proved a hard act to follow until the arrival of Alex Ferguson in 1986, the latter’s first trophy arriving with the 1990 FA Cup. United followed up with the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup the next season.

• After bringing in Eric Cantona, Sir Alex’s team ended a 26-year wait by claiming an eighth league title in the inaugural Premier League season of 1992/93. The new competition suited United, who went on to become a hugely dominant force in the domestic game while returning to the European summit in their treble-winning 1998/99 campaign and again in 2007/08. By winning the league for the 19th time in 2010/11, the Red Devils surpassed Liverpool FC as the most successful club in English football.

Club records
Most appearances: Ryan Giggs (876)*
Most goals: Bobby Charlton (249)
Record victory: United 10-0 RSC Anderlecht (European Champion Clubs’ Cup, 26 September 1956)
Record defeat: 7-0 on three occasions, most recently at Wolverhampton Wanderers FC (League, 26 December 1931)

From: http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/season=2012/clubs/club=52682/profile/index.html