UEFA Cup Winners' Cup

The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a football club competition contested annually by the most recent winners of all European domestic cup competitions. The cup is one of the many inter-European club competitions that have been organised by UEFA. The first competition was held in the 1960–61 season—but not recognised by the governing body of European football until two years later. The final tournament was held in 1998–99, after which it was absorbed by the UEFA Cup.

Prior to its abolition, the Cup Winners' Cup was regarded as the second most prestigious European club competition out of the three major tournaments, behind the UEFA Champions League and ahead of the UEFA Cup, although many commentators felt the Cup Winners' Cup was the easiest of the three competitions to win. However, no club successfully defended the Cup Winners' Cup throughout its history, not even the major names in European football such as FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, AC Milan, and Manchester United. The idea of the Cup Winners' Cup "jinx" against the defending side therefore came to prominence, particularly due to the unlikely manner of Arsenal's defeat in the 1995 final, the defeat of Paris Saint-Germain in 1997 and in the 1985–86 season, English clubs were banned from Europe which prevented Everton from playing in the Champions Cup after winning a double of the English league title and the Cup Winners Cup in 1985.

From 1972 onwards, the winner of the tournament would go on to play the winner of the European Cup (later the UEFA Champions League) in the UEFA Super Cup. Since the abolition of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, the UEFA Super Cup place previously reserved for the CWC winner has been taken by the winner of the UEFA Cup, now UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renamed the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup before the 1994–95 season.