Chelsea has a chance to close the gap on Liverpool as England’s most successful team in Europe if it beats Real Betis in tomorrow’s UEFA Conference League final (3am, Malaysian time).
Should the London club win the final, it will be the first club in history to win all the UEFA club competitions. Chelsea has already won the European Cup/Champions League, the UEFA Europa League, the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup and UEFA Super Cup twice each.
That total of eight European titles means it is second on the list of most successful English clubs.
Liverpool is not only the most successful side in England, with 20 league titles, but it also leads English clubs in Europe, boasting an astonishing 13 trophies – six European Cup/Champions League crowns, three UEFA Cups, and four UEFA Super Cups.
Next is Manchester United. Like Liverpool, it has 20 domestic league titles but only six European trophies – three European Cup/Champions League crowns and one each of the UEFA Europa League, the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup, and the UEFA Super Cup.
Tottenham Hotspur is next with four trophies – last week’s UEFA Europa League, one UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup and two UEFA Cups.
Rounding up the top five is Nottingham Forest, with three European titles – two European Cup/Champions League and one UEFA Super Cup.
Other teams to win European titles include Aston Villa, Arsenal, Leeds and West Ham (two each) and Newcastle, Ipswich, Everton, and Manchester City (one each).
Aston Villa and Manchester City are the only other clubs among that group to have won the European Cup/Champions League, giving England six winners – the most in Europe.
However, England’s total of 15 European Cup/Champions League wins trails Spain’s 20, with Real Madrid claiming 15 and Barcelona five.
Chelsea has had an up-and-down season in the English Premier League but did enough to secure a ticket to next season’s Champions League, finishing fourth with 69 points.
The Londoners should start as favourites in the Europa Conference League final, as Real Betis has never won a European title.
Real Betis has won one league title (1934-1935) and three Copa del Rey trophies and finished sixth in this season’s La Liga.
Main image by UEFA Conference League
