On December 15, 1954, a bold, even reckless, project was launched. On the pages of L’Equipe The creation of a European club championship was proposed to determine which team deserved to be recognized as the best on the continent. The European Cup was beginning to take shape, today pompously redesigned as the Champions League, although as is known it is neither a league nor reserved exclusively for champions.
Everything began to move as a result of Wolverhampton’s resounding victories over Spartak Moscow (4-0) and none other than Honved Budapest (3-2), the team of Kocsis, Czibor and Puskas. Hungarian football was at the peak of world admiration following Hungary’s performance against England at Wembley (3-6) at the end of 1953. If the Hungarians were the best and the wolves They had defeated Honved… Daily Mail He was quick to proclaim that “Wolverhampton is the world champion.” And in the writing of L’Equipe at number 10 of the Faubourg Montmartre in Paris, they threw their hands on their heads. The head of football, Gabriel Hanot, grabbed the typewriter and typed: “No, Wolverhampton is not yet the world club champion!” And he added: “But L’Equipe “launches the idea of a European club championship.” Hanot explained: “He has beaten Spartak and Honved, yes, but he has not yet traveled to the opponent’s grounds, nor has he even confronted them on a neutral field.”
The first round was agreed without a draw and Madrid chose the Geneva Servette to visit the royal family
Less than nine months later, on September 4, 1955, the first match was played: Sporting de Portugal and Partizan Belgrade tied 3-3 in Lisbon. And it could also have been the last, because in the second half a general brawl between the players forced the game to be stopped for several minutes.
Before getting to the start of the competition, numerous problems had to be overcome. The day after the proposal, the same sports newspaper made three fundamental points: one team per country, midweek matches (so as not to harm local leagues) and sponsorship, if possible, of television. The first obstacle that seemed insurmountable came with UEFA. The newly born organization (it was founded on June 15, 1954) had no organizational capacity and FIFA did not want to know anything about club competitions. But L’Equipe I was launched. He contacted the federations and in general they all responded the same: attractive but impossible project. From Spain the response was: “Unthinkable to play during competitions, it could only be in summer, but in summer it is too hot in Spain.”
On February 3, 1955, ‘L’Équipe’ released the first regulations of the competition
On February 3, 1955, L’Equipe He announced the first regulations of the competition, with fifteen articles, and contacted the major European teams. Among those most determined to move forward were Real Madrid, represented by Santiago Bernabéu, and Honved, with its president, Gustav Sebes, at the helm. The registration list reached sixteen, the minimum to start from the round of 16, and the first round was decided without a draw. Madrid requested to play against Servette de Geneva, it was said, in order to pay a visit to the Spanish royal family. Between May and June 1955, finally, FIFA and UEFA saw the error and gave a certain official status to the tournament, which, starting with the second edition, was already under the mantle of UEFA, once its demands were met, especially everything that only included the champions of each country, no invitations. In the first edition, last-minute cancellations also had to be overcome. Chelsea (or any English club) did not participate due to their federation’s veto. Neither did Honved, replaced by Vörös Lobogó (current MTK). Denmark and the Netherlands also changed representatives. The playoffs did not have a fixed date (that was the case in the early years) and the referees were agreed between the two teams. Madrid won the first edition (4-3 at Stade de Reims in Paris) and then the following four. The European Cup, born from a provocation by the English press, was already unstoppable. The European Economic Community had to wait a little longer, until the Treaty of Rome of 1957.
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