Liverpool vs. Chelsea: UEFA Super Cup Contenders To faceoff in Turkey

Super Cup Kick Start Overview

The UEFA Super Cup football match is an annual football match between the winner of the UEFA Champions League and the Europa League. Initialized in 1972, the super cup is one of those high spirited, and equally competitive football matches that kick starts a new football season. Fans queue up to buy UEFA Super Cup tickets because they know how much fun this match is. Due to some unresolved issue, the first tournament wasn’t official by UEFA. Hence the first winner of the UEFA super cup, Ajax of Amsterdam, is still not officially recognized in any record, even to this very day. 

The Early Days Of The UEFA Super Cup

The contenders of this trophy were usually the winners of either the European cup (now referred to as the UEFA Champions League Trophy) and the UEFA Cup Winners Cup. All this changed in 1999 when UEFA discontinued the winner's cup. The last one played was between Lazio and Manchester United; a match in which Lazio came out on top with a single goal as the difference.  

Originally, this tournament is usually decided over a two-legged fixture. One match is normally played at each at the home stadiums of the two participating teams. Since the 1998 tournament, this has been moved to a more neutral ground. The Stade Louis II in Monaco has hosted the UEFA Super Cup from 1998 to 2012. However, the choice of stadium has been iterated around Europe since the 2013 tournament.  Doing this gives fans in more places a chance to see two championship teams play even at the height of Summer in the Northern hemisphere.

Since the inception of this competition, AC Milan and FC Barcelona have won it five times apiece. This puts both teams as the highest winners of this competition. Barcelona has most appearances, with a total of nine, in this competition. Both Real Madrid and A.C Milan have won this competition back to back. Real Madrid’s success is the most recent, having won it both in 2016 and 2017. AC Milan, on the other hand, won it in both the 1989 and 1990 season respectively.  

Currently, Spanish teams have won this competition most of the time with a total of thirteen trophies between the Spanish giants. The second most frequent winners are the Italian teams that have jointly won it a total nine times. The current holders of the UEFA Super Cup trophy are Atletico Madrid after beating the previous UEFA champions league holder, Real Madrid, in a rather surprising encounter.  

English Teams In The UEFA Super Cup Finals 

There have been several English team representations at the finals of the UEFA Super Cup finals. Chelsea holds the record of being the first English team to enter the tournament as holders of the three different UEFA trophies; first as the Super Cup holder in 1998, Champions League title holders in 2012 and the Europa League winners in 2013. Manchester United are the other team to share this same honor through their victory from their Europa winnings in 2017 and their 1991 European League win.  

Interestingly, this year’s 2019 UEFA Super Cup is the first time since the inception of this competition where two English team are meeting in the final. 

Fixture Date

This schedule was traditionally played on a Friday before it was moved to Tuesdays. Starting in 2014, this change was effected following the removal of the mid-august international friendly matches usually played. This is an improvement in the UEFA champions league international match calendar.  

UEFA Super Cup Rules 

Just as the rest of UEFA cup finals, the UEFA super cup final is a one-legged action and competitive final which is contested on a neutral ground. As usual, forty gold medals are presented to the winning teams while forty silver medals are presented to the second placed team. 

Throughout the match, a total of three substitutions are allowed from each team. As newly introduced by FIFA, a fourth substitution can occur should the game go to extra time. Peradventure there is an unfit situation causing play not to hold, the match must be played the next day. 

Champions Cross Paths 

The current teams going head to head are both Liverpool who is the current winner of the UEFA Champions League Championship. Their contender is Chelsea, the current winners of the UEFA Europa League trophy. 

Both of them have plenty to play for in this fun Summertime football feature. Aside from the glory of the competition, the winner of this particular fixture walks away with the bragging rights and a big shiny trophy with which to start the new season in style and extra excitement, with some added glory, to boot.

Liverpool’s Hope To Increase Their Dominance In Europe 

Liverpool F.C, being the current holders of the UEFA Champions League title, are the team to beat now. Their victory over Tottenham in Madrid, which saw them being crowned the king of Europe by winning the UEFA Champions League, was no small feat. They will now hope to continue their dominance over Europe when they come face to face with Chelsea in the UEFA Super Cup finals. 

If Liverpool are able to clinch this title, they will have four total trophies in their cabinet. This will be in addition to the three previously won titles from five trials. This will be their sixth trial and could be the one to bring them their fourth success at the trophy in this competition. 

Chelsea’s Fight For Silverware 

Although they have a well put together team, will they be capable of winning the UEFA super cup over Liverpool? Their performance at the final of the Europa League final was stellar but they would need to dig deep to bring this one back to Stamford Bridge. Having won just one of these trophies for themselves, they would fancy their luck at getting a second in this upcoming thriller.  

Final Score

This years' final will occur on the 14th of August, 2019, and the 44th installment of this final is the time first ever that UEFA Super Cup final will go down at Istanbul at the BJK Vodafone Park in Turkey. 

There are high hopes and expectations for this match as the two champions of two prestigious European competition are going head to head. This, being the first trophy of a new season, is usually regarded as the pacesetter for the different teams. 

Participating teams and the whole football fans are usually hoping to get a good competitive match and the teams never disappoint.