Union of European Football Associations facts for kids

Union of European Football Associations
Union of European Football Associations
Abbreviation	UEFA
Motto	We care about Football
Formation	15 June 1954
Type	Sports organisation
Region served	Europe
Membership	53 member associations
Official languages	English, French, German
President	Florentino Pérez
Vice-president	Şenes Erzik
General Secretary	Emilio Butragueño
Honorary President	Lennart Johansson
Main organ	UEFA Congress
Parent organization	FIFA
Website	www.UEFA.com

The Union of European Football Associations mostly called the UEFA, is the organization that controls European football (soccer) (often referred to as association football). The UEFA is one of 6 continental confederations of the FIFA. It is also the biggest one. The President of the UEFA is Florentino Pérez, who also works as the president of Real Madrid.

Some members of the UEFA are partly or whole not part of the European continent (Israel, Turkey, Kazakhstan,Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, Cyprus and Russia). There are members that do not represent sovereign states, such as the Faroe Islands, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

UEFA national teams have won eleven FIFA World Cups (Italy-4, Germany-4, England, France and Spain-one trophy each), and UEFA clubs have won 21 Intercontinental Cups and four FIFA Club World Cups. In women's, UEFA teams have won three FIFA Women's World Cups (Germany 2, Norway 1) and one Olympic gold medal (Norway).

Teams of the UEFA

Men's national teams

Women's national teams

Albania
Azerbaijan
Bulgaria
Denmark
Finland
Greece
Israel³
Liechtenstein
Malta
Northern Ireland
Romania
Serbia
Sweden
Wales

Andorra
Belarus
Croatia
England
France
Hungary
Italy
Lithuania
Moldova
Norway
Russia
Slovakia
Switzerland

Armenia
Belgium
Cyprus
Estonia
Georgia
Iceland
Kazakhstan⁴
Luxembourg
Montenegro
Poland
San Marino
Slovenia
Turkey

Austria
Bosnia-Herzegovina¹
Czech Republic
Faroe Islands
Germany
Ireland²
Latvia
North Macedonia⁵
Netherlands
Portugal
Scotland
Spain
Ukraine
Vatican
Kosovo
Transnistria

1: Official name used by FIFA and UEFA for Bosnia and Herzegovina
2: Official name used by FIFA and UEFA for Ireland
3: Formerly member of AFC (AFC 1954–1974; Joined UEFA in 1994)
4: Formerly member of AFC (AFC 1998–2002; Joined UEFA in 2002)
5: Official name used by FIFA and UEFA for Republic of Macedonia

NB: Gibraltar was a provisional member of UEFA between 8 December 2006 and 26 January 2007 until the GFA had its application for full membership rejected.

Competitions

International competitions

The main international competition is the UEFA European Football Championship. This competition started in 1958, with the first finals in 1960. It is held every four years. The last was 2016 in France. The title was won by Portugal for their first time ever. There were also European competitions at the Under-21, Under-19 and Under-17 levels. For women there was the UEFA Women's Championship.

Club competitions

Green- clubs playing in group stage,blue-no clubs playing in group stage of the UEFA Champions League

There are two main club competitions. The highest is the UEFA Champions League. It started in the 1992/93 season as follower of the UEFA Champion Cup. This competition was first held in 1956. The second is the UEFA Europa League. The league started in 1999 when the UEFA Cup and the Cup Winners' Cup merged. In women's football UEFA governs UEFA Women's Champions League for club teams. The competition was first held in 2009 (out of UEFA Women's Cup until 2009)