UEFA Cup 2000-01

In perhaps the most bizarre European final ever, the 2000–01 UEFA Cup was won by Liverpool in a dramatic golden goal final against Deportivo Alavés for their third title in the competition. It completed a unique cup treble for the club, as they also won the FA Cup and the League Cup that season. The conclusion of the tournament by a golden goal is the only instance in any of the major European club cup competitions until the abolition of the rule in 2002. This is the first time San Marino had a team enter the UEFA Cup.

Liverpool were the first English side of the post Heysel era (English clubs had been banned from European competitions between 1985 and 1990 as a result of the Heysel disaster) to win the trophy; the previous English winners were Tottenham Hotspur in 1984. It was also Liverpool's first European trophy of the post Heysel era.

Association team allocation
A total of 138 teams from 51 UEFA associations participated in the 2000–01 UEFA Cup. Associations are allocated places according to their 1999 UEFA league coefficient.

Below is the qualification scheme for the 2000–01 UEFA Cup:
 * Associations 1–6 each enter three teams
 * Associations 7–8 each enter four teams
 * Associations 9–15 each enter two teams
 * Associations 16–21 each enter three teams
 * Associations 22–49 each enter two teams, with the exception of Liechtenstein who enter one.
 * Associations 50-51 each enter one team
 * The top three associations of the 1999–2000 UEFA Fair Play ranking each gain an additional berth
 * 16 teams eliminated from the 2000–01 UEFA Champions League are transferred to the UEFA Cup
 * 3 winners of the Intertoto Cup
 * The winner of the 1999-2000 UEFA Cup

Association ranking

 * Notes
 * (FP): Additional fair play berth (Norway, Denmark, Scotland)
 * (UCL): Additional teams transferred from the UEFA Champions League
 * (IT): Additional teams from Intertoto Cup

Redistribution rules
A UEFA Cup place is vacated when a team qualify for both the Champions League and the UEFA Cup, or qualify for the UEFA Cup by more than one method. When a place is vacated, it is redistributed within the national association by the following rules:<
 * When the domestic cup winners (considered as the "highest-placed" qualifier within the national association) also qualify for the Champions League, their UEFA Cup place is vacated, and the remaining UEFA Cup qualifiers are moved up one place, with the final place (with the earliest starting round) taken by the domestic cup runners-up, provided they do not already qualify for the Champions League or the UEFA Cup. Otherwise, this place is taken by the highest-placed league finisher which do not qualify for the UEFA Cup yet.
 * When the domestic cup winners also qualify for the UEFA Cup through league position, their place through the league position is vacated, and the UEFA Cup qualifiers which finish lower in the league are moved up one place, with the final place taken by the highest-placed league finisher which do not qualify for the UEFA Cup yet.
 * A place vacated by the League Cup winners is taken by the highest-placed league finisher which do not qualify for the UEFA Cup yet.
 * A Fair Play place is taken by the highest-ranked team in the domestic Fair Play table which do not qualify for the Champions League or UEFA Cup yet.

Teams
The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round:
 * CW: Cup winners
 * CR: Cup runners-up
 * LC: League Cup winners
 * Nth: League position
 * P-W: End-of-season European competition play-off winners
 * FP: Fair play
 * IT: Intertoto Cup winners
 * UCL: Relegated from the Champions League
 * GS: Third-placed teams from the group stage
 * Q3: Losers from the third qualifying round

Qualifying round

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First round

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1 This match was played at Prater Stadium in Vienna instead of at Red Star's home ground in Belgrade because Leicester City club leadership managed to convince UEFA that playing in FR Yugoslavia somehow posed a security risk to them due to the political situation in the country at the time. The UEFA's decision came on 12 September 2000 – only nine days before the game's originally scheduled date (21 September 2000). UEFA's decision to not only move the tie to a neutral location, but to also postpone it for a week was a highly controversial precedent since no other team that was drawn to play Yugoslav teams that season (including F.C. Porto and Celta de Vigo among others) got similar treatment. 

Second round

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1 This 2nd leg match in Vigo actually ended with the score 5–3 for the hosts Celta, but was later officially recorded as 3–0 walkover since it was discovered that Red Star fielded two suspended players.

Third round

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Fourth round

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Second leg
Kaiserslautern won 1–0 on aggregate.

Celta de Vigo won 2–1 on aggregate.

''PSV 4–4 Parma on aggregate. PSV won on away goals rule.''

Barcelona won 6-0 on aggregate.

Deportivo Alavés won 5–3 on aggregate.

Porto won 4–3 on aggregate.

Rayo Vallecano won 6–2 on aggregate.

Liverpool won 2–1 on aggregate.

Quarter-finals

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Second Leg
''Barcelona 4–4 Celta de Vigo on aggregate. Barcelona won on away goals rule.''

Liverpool won 2–0 on aggregate

Deportivo Alavés won 4–2 on aggregate

Match interrupted for 16 minutes due to supporter disturbances. Kaiserslautern won 2–0 on aggregate

Semi-finals

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Second leg
Alavés won 9–2 on aggregate.

Liverpool won 1–0 on aggregate.