Final League Positions of UEFA Cup Finalists (since 99/00)

A look at the final league positions and average points per game of the UEFA Cup (now Europa League) finalists since 1999/2000.



Format:
Year (combined avg points per game; combined avg league position)
League Position - Team (Record; pts) Average points per game

Winner is listed first

UEFA CUP

1999/2000 (2.12; 1.5)

1st - Galatasaray (24W-7D-3L; 79pts) 2.32
2nd - Arsenal (22W-7D-9L; 73pts) 1.92

2000/2001 (1.56; 6.5)

3rd - Liverpool (20W-9D-9L; 69pts) 1.82
10th - Deportivo Alavés (14W-7D-17L; 49pts) 1.29

2001/2002 (1.97; 2.0)

3rd - Feyenoord (19W-7D-8L; 64pts) 1.88
1st - Borussia Dortmund (21W-7D-6L; 70pts) 2.06

2002/2003 (2.51; 1.5)

1st - Porto (27W-5D-2L; 86pts) 2.53
2nd - Celtic (26W-4D-3L; 82pts) 2.49

2003/2004 (1.77; 4.0)

1st - Valencia (23W-8D-7L; 77pts) 2.03
7th - Olympique Marseille (17W-6D-15L; 57pts) 1.50

2004/2005 (1.84; 2.5)

2nd - CSKA Moscow (17W-9D-4L; 60pts) 1.88
3rd - Sporting CP (18W-7D-9L; 61pts) 1.79

2005/2006 (1.49; 9.5)

5th - Sevilla (20W-8D-10L; 68pts) 1.79
14th - Middlesbrough (12W-9D-17L; 45pts) 1.18

2006/2007 (1.58; 7.0)

3rd - Sevilla (21W-8D-9L; 71pts) 1.87
11th - Espanyol (12W-13D-13L; 49pts) 1.29

2007/2008 (2.21; 1.0)

1st - Zenit St. Petersburg (18W-7D-5L; 61pts) 2.03
1st - Rangers (25W-4D-4L; 79pts) 2.39

2008/2009 (1.73; 6.0)

2nd - Shakhtar Donetsk (19W-7D-4L; 64pts) 2.13
10th - Werder Bremen (12W-9D-13L; 45pts) 1.32


EUROPA LEAGUE

2009/2010 (1.23; 10.5)

12th - Fulham (12W-10D-16L; 46pts) 1.21
9th - Atlético Madrid (13W-8D-16L; 47pts) 1.24


NOTES:

The 09/10 Europa League final has the worst combined league position and points per game average of the past decade, with Fulham and Atlético Madrid being the 2nd and 3rd lowest ppg teams after Middlesbrough in 05/06. This is also the first time that the finalists' combined records have more losses than wins (25W-18D-32L)

Only once have two league winners faced off in the UEFA cup final since 99/00. That happened in 07/08, with Zenit St. Petersburg defeating Rangers.

The lowest league position team to win the cup was Sevilla, who finished 5th in La Liga in 05/06.

Of the 22 cup finalists listed, 6 of them have had more losses than wins in their respective leagues.

The 02/03 final was a face off between two very successful league teams in Porto and Celtic. The two teams had an impressive combined record of 53W-9D-5L (an average of over 2.50 points per game).

Feyenoord (3rd) is the only lower league position team to win the cup by defeating Borussia Dortmund (1st) in 01/02