If you cannot beat them, join them

Losers to winners
Raymond Kopa (Stade de Reims to Real Madrid)
after 1956 European Champion Clubs' Cup final
Attacking midfielder Kopa failed to score in the inaugural European Champion Clubs' Cup final, but Madrid clearly liked what they saw of the Frenchman during their 4-3 success in Paris, bringing the skilful son of a Polish immigrant family to Spain for the following season. "I regret that I lost that final, but I never lost another one," the man nicknamed 'Little Napoleon' told UEFA.com. He went on to win the title three times with the Merengues – in 1957, 1958 and 1959.

Dmytro Chygrynskiy (Shakhtar Donetsk to Barcelona)
after 2009 UEFA Super Cup
The deal to bring the central defender to Camp Nou is generally believed to have been confirmed before his side took on Barcelona in the 2009 UEFA Super Cup. Shakhtar put on a great show in Monaco, only buckling to a Pedro Rodríguez goal deep into extra time, with Chygrynskiy moving west soon afterwards for a reported €25m. "I'm lucky to be here and I hope to win a place in this great team," he said. However, he was to last just one season at the club before returning to Shakhtar.

Nemanja Matić (Benfica to Chelsea)
after 2013 UEFA Europa League final
"He has grown as a player in Portugal and has become a fantastic all-round midfielder," said José Mourinho as he announced Nemanja Matić's return to Stamford Bridge in January 2014. The Serbian international had been sold to Benfica after failing to make much of an impact under Carlo Ancelotti from 2009 to 2011, but sparkled for the Eagles, featuring as they lost 2-1 to Rafael Benítez's Chelsea in the 2013 UEFA Europa League final in Amsterdam.

Mario Götze (Borussia Dortmund to Bayern München)
after 2013 UEFA Champions League final
The midfielder's €37m move to Bayern was confirmed in April 2013, but Götze seemed genuinely devastated at missing Dortmund's UEFA Champions League final loss to his new club through injury. "The complete package was crucial for me: club, team, coach, philosophy, prospects," he said of his move to Munich. Robert Lewandowski, who did play for Dortmund in that Wembley final, joined Götze at Bayern the following summer.

Yevhen Konoplyanka (Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk to Sevilla)
after 2015 UEFA Europa League final
Six weeks after featuring against his future employers in the UEFA Europa League final in Warsaw, the Ukrainian winger confirmed his move to Sevilla. "We're talking about a different player, a special player that had a lot of offers, and we have made a big investment to get him," beamed club president José Castro. "He knows this is a club where you can't stand still." He hit the ground running, coming off the bench to score against Barcelona in the UEFA Super Cup.

UEFA Womens' Cup/UEFA Women's Champions League
Petra Wimbersky (Turbine Potsdam to FFC Frankfurt)
after 2006 UEFA Women's Cup final
Having helped Potsdam win the UEFA Women's Cup on their debut in 2005, Wimbersky was in the Turbine team that lost 7-2on aggregate to Frankfurt in the final 12 months later. The Germany forward remained at Frankfurt for four years, winning the domestic double in her first two seasons there, and adding another UEFA Women's Cup in 2008. She was later joined at Frankfurt by 2006 Potsdam colleagues Conny Pohlers, Stephanie Ullrich, Nadine Angerer and Ariane Hingst, with Babett Peter and Peggy Kuznik also making the switch after Wimbersky's 2010 departure.

Winners to losers
Marcel Desailly (Marseille to AC Milan)
after 1993 UEFA Champions League final
Desailly's Marseille defeated Milan in the inaugural UEFA Champions League final, with the losers persuaded to bring in the French outfit's star central defender the following year – Desailly was famously converted to a world-beating holding midfielder under Fabio Capello. "Capello liked me," he remembered. "He said that I trained well, so he even let me take the free-kicks – that was not such a good idea, actually." Milan later signed five members of the Ajax side that beat them 1-0 in the 1995 final – Michael Reiziger, Clarence Seedorf, Edgar Davids, Patrick Kluivert and unused substitute Winston Bogarde – though none of them came the following season.

UEFA Futsal Cup
Kelson (Action 21 Charleroi to FC Dynamo)
after 2005 UEFA Futsal Cup final
The 2005 final was an epic, Belgium's Charleroi eventually beating Dynamo 10-9 on aggregate after extra time in the second leg in Moscow. Brazilian Kelson scored to make it 9-9 (and put his side ahead on away goals) with just two of the extra ten minutes left and the next year he was in the final again, but this time for Dynamo, after a close-season switch. They lost to Spain's Inter FS but in 2007 Kelson and Dynamo beat the same team in Murcia to secure the trophy.

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