1992–93 UEFA Champions League

The 1992–93 UEFA Champions League was the 38th European Cup, the premier European club football tournament, and the first season with the UEFA Champions League branding (originally adopted only in the group stage).

1992–93 UEFA Champions League
The final was played at the Olympiastadion in Munich.
Tournament details
DatesQualifying:
19 August – 2 September 1992
Competition proper:
16 September 1992 – 26 May 1993
TeamsCompetition proper: 32
Total: 36
Final positions
Champions Marseille (1st title)
Runners-up AC Milan
Tournament statistics
Matches played74
Goals scored194 (2.62 per match)
Attendance1,896,787 (25,632 per match)
Top scorer(s)Romário (PSV Eindhoven)
7 goals

It was the second season of the competition in which the eight second round winners would be split into two groups, with the winner of each one meeting in the final. In addition, a preliminary round was required as this was the first season after the break-up of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, resulting in many new countries eligible to enter the champions of their own leagues into the competition. Israel and the Faroe Islands were also represented for the first time.

The tournament was won for the first time by Marseille, defeating AC Milan in the final, becoming the first and as of 2023 only French team to win the European Cup/Champions League.

However, soon after Marseille's victory allegations of match fixing were levelled at them and their president Bernard Tapie. This involved a league game that took place 6 days before the final where Marseille, it emerged, had fixed their title-clinching Division 1 game against Valenciennes so they could concentrate on the final against Milan. It is believed that Tapie bribed Valenciennes to lose so that Marseille would win the French league earlier, and above all that they would not injure the Marseille players before the final against Milan. Before the 1991 European Cup final against Red Star Belgrade, Marseille had a few injured players, Tapie did not want to repeat this mistake. This resulted in Marseille being stripped of their league title by the French Football Federation (although not the European Cup, as the match in question was not in that competition). They were banned from defending their European title in the 1993–94 season, and contesting the Intercontinental Cup and Super Cup. During the 1995 trial over Marseille's financial accounts, it was revealed that they had an annual budget of Fr5 million (about €760,000) dedicated to the purchase of matches from 1989 to 1993. The UEFA, along with the French Federation (FFF) and France authorities, investigated several Marseille matches during the 1992–93 season. These investigations have not established any formal proof concerning alleged match-fixing in the Champions League. Therefore, Marseille's status as 1993 European champion was not affected. Barcelona, the defending champions, were eliminated in the second round by CSKA Moscow.

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