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
Greek football clubs in European competitions Greek football clubs in European competitions Football clubs from Superleague Greece have participated in European football competitions since 1959, when Olympiacos took part in the European Cup. In total, twenty Greek clubs have taken part in European competitions. Panathinaikos' run to the 1971 European Cup Final is the biggest achievement by any Greek club. Panathinaikos' success includes two European Cup/UEFA Champions League semi-final appearances in 1985 and 1996. AEK Athens are the only Greek team to have reached the semi-final of the UEFA Cup, in 1977. Greek clubs have reached the quarter-final of major European competitions on another twelve occasions.