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such as Fiorentina, Inter Milan, SSC Napoli, and AS Roma
embody deep senses of civic and regional pride that pre-
date Italian unification in the 19th century.
The dominant forces in European national soccer have
been Germany, Italy, and, latterly, France; their national
teams have won a total of seven World Cups and six
European Championships. Success in club soccer has been
built largely on recruitment of the world’s leading players,
notably by Italian and Spanish sides. The European Cup
competition for national league champions, first played in
1955, was initially dominated by Real Madrid; other regular
winners have been AC Milan, Bayern Munich (Germany),
Ajax of Amsterdam, and Liverpool FC (England). The
UEFA Cup (now known as the UEFA Europa League),
first contested as the Fairs Cup in 1955–58, has had a wider
pool of entrants and winners.
Since the late 1980s, topflight European soccer has
generated increasing financial revenues from higher
ticket prices, merchandise sales, sponsorship, adver-
tising, and, in particular, television contracts. The top
professionals and largest clubs have been the principal
beneficiaries. UEFA has reinvented the European Cup as
the Champions League, allowing the wealthiest clubs freer
entry and more matches. In the early 1990s, Belgian player
Jean-Marc Bosman sued the Belgian Football Association,
challenging European soccer’s traditional rule that all
transfers of players (including those without contracts)
necessitate an agreement between the clubs in question,
usually involving a transfer fee. Bosman had been pre-
vented from joining a new club (US Dunkerque) by his
old club (RC Liège). In 1995 the European courts upheld
Bosman’s complaint, and at a stroke freed uncontracted
European players to move between clubs without transfer
fees. The bargaining power of players was strengthened
greatly, enabling top stars to multiply their earnings with
7 Soccer Around the World 7