The UEFA Super Cup is not generally a competition one boasts about winning but few teams have the luxury of turning their nose up at European silverware of any description.
Regardless of the competition’s prestige, it remains a trophy worth winning, especially for those who experience continental success on an infrequent basis. For the neutral, it often showcases the unbridled chaos of European football with some high-scoring past affairs—38 goals in the competition between 2014 and 2024 evidence of that.
The 2025 edition is the competition’s 50th instalment and will be contested by Paris Saint-Germain and Tottenham Hotspur.
When Was the First UEFA Super Cup?
Barring three years in which the competition wasn’t held (1974, 1981 and 1985), the Super Cup has been staged every year since 1973. Initially a two-legged encounter which pitted the European Cup and UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup champions against one another, the inaugural match-up saw Dutch giants Ajax face Italian behemoths Milan.
Each side hosted one leg of the tie and unlike in future years, the fight for Super Cup glory took place midway through the season as opposed to at the beginning of the campaign. Ajax were beaten 1–0 in the first leg but more than made amends in the reverse fixture in Amsterdam with a colossal 6–0 victory.
Since 1998, the competition has been played as a single fixture in a neutral venue. It’s also been contested by the winners of the Champions League and UEFA Cup/Europa League since 2000 after the UEFA Cup WInners’ Cup was abolished.
Which Team Has Won the UEFA Super Cup Most?
Given their stranglehold on European competition over the past half-century, it comes as no shock that Real Madrid are the leading Super Cup winners. They secured a record sixth crown in 2024 when they beat Atalanta and no team has made more appearances in the competition than Los Blancos.
Madrid have featured nine times in total, which is the same number as fierce rivals Barcelona. However, the latter have only been victorious on five separate occasions.
Only Sevilla have lost the Super Cup more than Barcelona, with the Europa League dynamos losing six of their seven appearances. They won the competition on their first appearance in 2006 but have been defeated in every subsequent battle.
Full List of UEFA Super Cup Winners
Which Country Boasts Most UEFA Super Cup Winners?
Despite Sevilla’s Super Cup hoodoo, Spain remains the country that has enjoyed the most victories. While England have produced the most different winners (six), Spanish sides have combined for 17 Super Cup victories—11 of those coming from Real Madrid and Barcelona.
English teams have won the competition on ten occasions and Italian outfits on nine, but no other country boasts more than three individual triumphs. Surprisingly, Germany has only managed two victories and France none in the Super Cup.
UEFA Super Cup Top Scorers
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as UEFA Super Cup History: Teams, Most Wins.