Sevilla FC was established on 14 October 1905 by José Luis Gallegos. Gallegos had been a student in England, and in the very early years the team played almost exclusively against the crews of the English ships that were docked in the port.

Sevilla tasted their first success in 1935 when they won the Spanish Cup, a feat that they repeated in 1939.

The turning point
In 1945/46 Sevilla finally won the Spanish league for the first, and so far only, time. They followed up in 1948 by lifting the Spanish Cup once more, but that was the prelude to several decades of failure. The nadir came in 1999/2000 when Sevilla were relegated from the Primera Division, but it also proved to be the turning point of the fortunes of the club.

Sevilla won the Second Division title in 2000/2001. In both 2003/04 and 2004/05 Sevilla FC finished 6th in the league, gaining a place in the UEFA Cup. And it was the 2005/06 UEFA Cup that put Sevilla FC firmly on the football map, crushing Middlesbrough 4-0 in the final.

Diego Maradona
They underlined their ascendancy with a 3-0 victory over Barcelona in an all-Spanish UEFA Super Cup. And the following season they became only the second team in the history of the UEFA Cup to retain the trophy, defeating fellow Spanish side Espanyol, though this time they had to rely on a penalty shoot-out. In 2007, Sevilla won their first domestic trophy for 60 years, beating Getafe to lift the Spanish Cup for the fourth time.

Sevilla greats include Diego Maradona, Toni Polster, Javier Saviola, Bebeto, Daniel Alves, Ivan Zamorano, Robert Prosinecki, Davor Suker, Rinat Dasaev and Sergio Ramos.

Schalke 04 was founded in May 1904 by students in the working-class area of Gelsenkirchen in the Ruhr District in Germany. The club boasts one of the most fanatical followings in Germany (61,274 was the average attendance in 2007/08), but, during the last 50 years has enjoyed only limited success on the pitch.

Schalke 04 was selected as one of the sixteen clubs to take part in the inaugural Bundesliga in 1963 due to a strong heritage which included seven German championships before the Bundesliga. They have yet to win the Bundesliga title, but came agonisingly close in 2001 when a Bayern Munich goal in injury time snatched the title away their grasp, causing much heartache in the Ruhr. They have finished runners-up three times in the last 10 seasons. Recent silverware includes German Cup triumphs in 2001 and 2002 and the UEFA Cup in 1997.

Revierderby
Schalke 04 play in the ultra-modern Veltins Arena (61,673 capacity) which boasts a retractable roof and a slide-out pitch. They have a fierce rivalry with neighbouring Borussia Dortmund. The match between the two is widely regarded as the most hotly contested game in the Bundesliga and is called the Revierderby.

Schalke 04 greats include Klaus Fichtel, Olaf Thon, Klaus Fischer, Ingo Anderbrügge, Ebbe Sand and Kevin Kuranyi.

FC Copenhagen was established in 1992 as a superstructure between KB, 15 times Danish champions and B 1903, 7 times Danish champions. The club, which plays its matches at Parken Stadium (38,000 capacity), enjoyed early success and won the Danish Superliga in 1993, but it is in the new millennium that FC Copenhagen have dominated Danish football.

Championships in 2001, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2009 are a testimony of the domination that has been founded on a very astute economic leadership. In economic terms FC Copenhagen is a giant in Scandinavian football and has the biggest average attendance in Denmark.

Defeated Manchester United
In 2006/07 the Danish champions qualified for the group stage of the UEFA Champions League and the highlight of the campaign was the defeat of Manchester United in Parken. FC Copenhagen have a fierce rivalry with Brøndby from the suburbs of the Danish capital.

Aside from Christian, other club legends include Sibusiso Zuma, Tobias Linderoth and Jesper Grønkjær, but the most recognised person of the club in Denmark is controversial and charismatic chairman Flemming Østergaard.