European Leagues European Leagues European Leagues (EL) is a sports organization within association football created for growth of professional football in Europe. Its members are the professional football leagues organisations of 24 countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Scotland, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Romania, Ukraine, and Serbia. In addition, there are seven associate leagues representing some of these countries as well as Turkey. Created in 1997, originally under the name Association of the European Union Premier Professional Football Leagues (EUPPFL). The name was changed from European Professional Football Leagues
Manchester United F.C. in European football of the UEFA Cup in 1984–85, but this would be their last contribution to European football for half a decade; the subsequent Heysel Stadium disaster at the European Cup final, in which rioting by Liverpool fans resulted in the death of 39 spectators and led to a ban on all English clubs in European competitions which would not be lifted in 1990. This resulted in United missing out on qualification for the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1985, and the UEFA Cup in 1986 and 1988. During this exile from Europe, United replaced Ron Atkinson with Alex Ferguson as their