ECL 2010s Trivia

1. The 2018-19 UEFA Champions League saw what innovation used for the first time in the competition?

From Quiz UEFA Champions League 2018-19

Answer: Video Assistant Referee

VAR was conceived by the Refereeing 2.0 project, under Dutch FA guidance. After some mock trials, the first live trial was during a friendly match between PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoord in July 2016. After being slowly rolled out internationally, it was used by FIFA during the 2018 World Cup, and was deemed a success, despite having some controversial moments. The system allows video referees to analyse refereeing decisions during the match, such as offsides and penalties, to determine whether the right decision was made. This can be very useful where the original decision was uncertain.

From Quiz UEFA Champions League 2017-18

Answer: Kosovo

Kosovo had been accepted as a UEFA member in 2016, but were not permitted to submit a team for the 2016-17 UEFA Champions League due to licensing issues. Trepca '89 became the first team from Kosovo to compete in the UEFA Champions League when they were drawn against Vikingur Gota of Faroe Islands in the first qualifying round in 2017-18. The lost 6-2 on aggregate.

From Quiz UEFA Champions League 2016-17

Answer: Spain

The top three ranked UEFA nations are each allocated 4 teams. For the 2016-17 season, these nations were Spain, England and Germany. Spain were also able to include the winners of the 2015-16 UEFA Europa League, Sevilla, meaning they sent a total of 5 teams: Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Sevilla and Villarreal.

From Quiz UEFA Champions League 2015-16

Answer: Sevilla

This change had been agreed at the UEFA Executive Committee in May 2013, and was agreed until at least the 2017-18 season. Sevilla, winners of the Europa League in 2006, 2007 and 2014, won the competition again in 2015 and thus became the first team to qualify for the UEFA Champions League by winning the Europa League. They went on to finish third in Group D behind Manchester City and Juventus, and qualified for the knockout stages of the Europa League as a result. They then went on to win the Europa League again, becoming the first team in the history of the competition to win the Europea League/UEFA Cup three years in a row.

From Quiz UEFA Champions League 2014-15

Answer: Gibraltar

The Gibraltar FA became the 54th UEFA member state in May 2013. Lincoln Red Imps, champions of the 2013-14 Gibraltar Premier Division became the first team from Gibraltar to compete in the UEFA Champions League. They were beaten 6-2 on aggregate in the first qualifying round by Havnar Boltfelag of the Faroe Islands. Due to the lack of clubs available, Liechtenstein does not have its own league. Instead, their clubs play in the Swiss league, meaning Liechtenstein is not represented as a separate member association in UEFA club competitions.

From Quiz UEFA Champions League 2010-11

Answer: Two extra officials

An extra official was positioned behind each goal, on the opposite side from the linesmen. This gave officials a more rounded view of the action inside the penalty area. The idea was that this would ultimately lead to fewer mistakes from officials at critical times in matches.

From Quiz UEFA Champions League Final 2011

Answer: Wembley Stadium, London

Called the European Champions Cup, this was the first European Cup/Champions League final to be played at Wembley since 1992. Barcelona also triumphed then, winning its first European Cup/Champions League against Sampdoria.

From Quiz UEFA Champions League 2018-19

Answer: 5

A preliminary round was held in June, with the representatives from the four lowest ranked UEFA confederations meeting in a one-off semi-final and final format in Gibraltar. Drita of Kosovo defeated Gibraltar's Lincoln Red Imps 4-1 after extra time to progress to the first qualifying round. There were a total of three qualifying rounds, before the play-off round determined the six sides from qualifying who would progress to the group stage (AEK Athens, Ajax, Benfica, PSV Eindhoven, Red Star Belgrade and Young Boys).

From Quiz UEFA Champions League 2017-18

Answer: 3

Celtic won the first leg 5-0 at home. Two of these goals came in the form of own goals from Yevgeny Postnikov and Igor Shitov. Astana fared better in the return leg, winning 4-3. Celtic's Kristoffer Ajer put the ball in his own net in this match. This was the second year running the two sides had met in qualifying. Celtic knocked Astana out in the third qualifying round in 2016-17 with a more conservative 3-2 aggregate victory.

From Quiz UEFA Champions League 2015-16

Answer: 3

The teams were: Ajax (1971, 1972, 1973, 1995), Celtic (1967) and Manchester United (1968,1999,2008). The qualifying stages also featured 5 former finalists: Bayer Leverkusen (2002), Club Brugge (1978), Malmo (1979), Monaco (2004) and Valencia (2000,2001). To underlie how difficult it was becoming to qualify for the group stages of the tournament, of the 8 teams listed above, only 4 advanced to the group stage (Bayer Leverkusen, Malmo, Manchester United and Valencia).

From Quiz UEFA Champions League 2014-15

Answer: Vanishing spray

Vanishing spray was first used in professional competition during the Brazilian Championship in 2001. After being successfully used during the 2014 FIFA World Cup, the use was made widespread, with many top flight leagues around the world adopting its use. The idea is that when a direct free-kick is awarded, the referee sprays the spot where the ball is to be placed, and then sprays a line 10 yards away to indicate where the defending team can position themselves. The spray appears like white paint when first applied, but vanishes after a few minutes.

From Quiz UEFA Champions League 2013-14

Answer: Austria Wien

Although Austria Wien had qualified for the UEFA Champions League on three previous occasions (1993-94, 2003-04 and 2006-07) they had never previously reached the group stage of the competition.

From Quiz UEFA Champions League 2012-13

Answer: 3

The teams in question were: Montpellier (France), Malaga (Spain), FC Nordsjaelland (Denmark). Of these, only Malaga qualified for the knockout stages, winning group C ahead of AC Milan (Italy), Zenit St Petersburg (Russia) and Anderlecht (Belgium). Malaga managed to reach the quarter-final, where they were eliminated by Borussia Dortmund (Germany). Both Montpellier and Nordsjaelland finished bottom of their respected groups, with the Danish side suffering heavy 5-2 and 6-1 losses to Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine) and Chelsea (England) respectively.

From Quiz A Decade Of...Champions League Finals

Answer: Eric Abidal

Abidal lifting the trophy was a gesture by his teammates as the Frenchman had only two months ago had a tumour in his liver removed. In another gesture, Abidal was given the captain's armband by Xavi as he lifted the trophy. The generosity of his teammates brought Abidal to tears, and he spoke of how "special" Barcelona was after the ceremony. Barcelona won the game 3-1, largely thanks to a career-defining performance from Lionel Messi who was awarded the UEFA Man of the Match after the game. It was the last Champions League final to feature Sir Alex Ferguson.

From Quiz UEFA Champions League Final 2011

Answer: Hungary

Viktor Kordai was a 35-year old referee who had great experience in international and European football.

From Quiz UEFA Champions League 2018-19

Answer: 3

The teams were: 1899 Hoffenheim (Germany), Red Star Belgrade (Serbia) and Young Boys (Switszerland). Red Star had previously won the European Cup in 1991, and as such qualified for the first European Cup group stage format in the 1991-92 season. However, the Champions League branding did not come into effect until the 1992-93 season. All three teams sadly finished bottom of their respective groups.

From Quiz UEFA Champions League 2017-18

Answer: 2

Those teams were Qarabag of Azerbaijan and Red Bull Leipzig of Germany. Leipzig had qualified automatically for the group stage by finishing second in the German Bundesliga in the 2016-17 season. Qarabag, on the other hand, had to win three qualifying rounds, including an impressive away goals victory against a Champions League side FC Copenhagen of Denmark in the Play-off Round. Qarabag would go on to finish bottom of their group, while Leipzig finished third to qualify for the knockout stages of the UEFA Europa League.

From Quiz UEFA Champions League 2016-17

Answer: 2

Those teams were Rostov (Russia) and Leicester City (England).

From Quiz UEFA Champions League 2015-16

Answer: Kazakhstan

Astana became the first team from Kazakhstan to reach the group stage of the Champions League. They were drawn into a difficult group against Atletico Madrid, Benfica and Galatasaray. Despite finishing bottom of the group, they lost only two games, away to Atletico and Benfica, and drew four. The other debutants in the group stages were Gent of Belgium, who fared much better. They finished second in Group H, behind Zenit St Petersburg and ahead of Valencia and Lyon. However, they were eliminated by German side Wolfsburg in the round of 16.

From Quiz UEFA Champions League 2014-15

Answer: 2

The teams in question were Ludogorets Razgrad of Bulgaria and, perhaps surprisingly, Malmo of Sweden. Although both had qualified for the UEFA Champions League in previous seasons, neither had reached the group stage before. Malmo did manage to reach the final of the old European Cup in 1979, the first team from Scandinavia to reach a European final. They were beaten 1-0 by Nottingham Forest.

From Quiz UEFA Champions League 2013-14

Answer: Neymar

This was the final round of games in Group H, which saw four previous winners of the Champions League / European Cup face each other. Barcelona (1992, 2006, 2009 & 2011) won the group, with AC Milan (1963, 1969, 1989, 1990, 1994, 2003 & 2007) second. Ajax (1971, 1972, 1973 & 1995) finished third, while Celtic (1967) finished bottom of the group, picking up just three points thanks to a 2-1 home victory against Ajax.

From Quiz UEFA Champions League 2012-13

Answer: Borussia Dortmund

Group D contained three previous winners of the competition in Ajax (1995), Borussia Dortmund (1997) and Real Madrid (1998, 2000 and 2002). The other side in the group, Manchester City, had qualified for the tournament as champions of England. Madrid were arguably favourites to top the group, but instead it was Germany's Borussia Dortmund who finished in top spot, winning four games and drawing two, away to Real Madrid and Manchester City. City were perhaps the most disappointing in the group, finishing bottom and failing to win any games.

From Quiz A Decade Of...Champions League Finals

Answer: Champions League

The teams had previously met in the quarter-finals of the 2004-05 Champions League, with Chelsea winning a thrilling tie 6-5 on aggregate. Bayern was playing in its ninth European Cup final (previously had a 4-4 record) while Chelsea was playing in its second, having lost in the 2008 final to Manchester United. Bayern had finished second in the Bundesliga while Chelsea fell all the way to sixth in the Premier League. The game seemed destined for success for Bayern as the match was played at the Allianz Arena, the team's home stadium. (Roma had been the last club to do this in 1984) Despite a Thomas Muller goal in the 83rd minute, Didier Drogba equalised in the 88th minute to save Chelsea's skin. The game went to penalties, with Chelsea winning 4-3 after penalty misses from Ivica Olic and Bastian Schweinsteiger. Chelsea became the first team from London to win the Champions League and Drogba was named the UEFA Man of the Match in his last game for Chelsea. (Albeit, he returned to Stamford Bridge in 2014)

From Quiz UEFA Champions League 2011-12

Answer: Fenerbahce

During the 2010-11 season, Fenerbahce were trailing the league leaders by 9 points after 16 games. They then went on an unbeaten run of 17 wins and one draw to win the league. The club's president was subsequently arrested following allegations of match fixing. Sadly, this was not the first incident of alleged match fixing to blight European football. In 2006, several Italian clubs were caught up in a match fixing scandal which ultimately saw Juventus relegated to Serie B.

From Quiz UEFA Champions League Final 2011

Answer: Pep Guardiola

"Pep" Guardiola played for Barcelona for 12 seasons and succeeded Frank Rijkaard as head coach in 2008. He played in Barca's first European Cup winning team in 1992. Vicente Del Bosque was head coach of the Spain team that won the 2010 World Cup.

From Quiz UEFA Champions League 2018-19

Answer: Gabriel Jesus

The 2018-19 season lacked the free scoring games of previous seasons, but Man City's 6-0 win against Shakhtar and Paris Saint-Germain's 6-1 victory over Red Star Belgrade gave a reminder of the growing imbalance between Europe's elite clubs and those who were fortunate enough to qualify for the tournament.

From Quiz UEFA Champions League 2016-17

Answer: Lionel Messi

All four of the listed players scored in Barcelona's victory, but it was Messi who netted a hat-trick. He scored a total of 10 goals in the group stage, including another hat-trick against Manchester City.

From Quiz UEFA Champions League 2015-16

Answer: Karim Benzema

Two from Benzema and one from Ronaldo put Madrid 3-0 up at half-time. Ronaldo then netted another three, then Mateo Kovacic scored before Benzema completed his hat-trick.

From Quiz UEFA Champions League 2014-15

Answer: Gervinho

In a one-side game, Roma was behind 0-5 at half time. Gervinho managed to pull a goal back for Roma before Franck Ribery and Xherdan Shaqiri completed the scoring for Bayern. Roma fare slightly better in the return match in Munich two weeks later. Bayern won that game 2-0.

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