A breeding ground for success

The UEFA Cup has proved to be something of a breeding ground for future UEFA Champions League winners over the years, with José Mourinho's FC Porto side the most recent to graduate to success in the competition's illustrious cousin.

Mental boost
Victory in the UEFA Cup is no guarantee of landing an even bigger prize further down the line, but the experience of European success has brought with it a winning mentality that can often result in reaching a higher destiny. Competing in and collecting the UEFA Cup provides sides with an invaluable launch pad for the future; a platform which can catapult teams, coaches and players to further glories.

Porto titles
For example, Porto started an interesting sequence with their UEFA Cup final victory over Celtic FC in 2003. Guided by Mourinho, Porto celebrated their triumph by picking up the UEFA Champions League trophy the very next season. The lessons learned during their triumphant UEFA Cup run were put to outstanding use in their follow-up campaign, with a 3-0 victory over AS Monaco FC bringing Porto their second European crown.

Benítez connection
As Mourinho walked off the pitch in Gelsenkirchen in what proved to his last match in charge of the Portuguese outfit before taking the reins at Chelsea FC, a curious parallel emerged when Valencia CF assumed the mantle of UEFA Cup holders in 2004. Taking over where Porto left off, Valencia coach Rafael Benítez must have been a happy man as he watched his team go up to collect the UEFA Cup after defeating Olympique de Marseille.

Mirroring Mourinho
However, he would have had no idea to what extent he would emulate Mourinho in the coming months. Not only did Benítez make the same journey into management in England, he also made the instant transition from UEFA Cup winner to European champion by guiding Liverpool FC to their fifth title success just 12 months later.

Mental boost
It would be impossible to gauge just how significant it is to lift your first European trophy and what mental or psychological effect that has, but it would be equally difficult to argue there is no relationship at all between the two competitions. The old maxim 'success breeds success' has a ring of truth to it where the UEFA Cup is concerned.

Liverpool breakthrough
Liverpool won the UEFA Cup twice in quick succession in the 1970s, but the European Champion Clubs' Cup eluded them until 1977. Their UEFA Cup victory the previous season provided invaluable lessons in the art of mastering European football, and instilled in Liverpool the kind of collective awareness that can help turn good players into great ones.

Ajax rise again
A UEFA Cup win is not an essential qualification before UEFA Champions League honours, as many sides have proved. AFC Ajax needed no introduction to European achievement before sweeping all-comers aside in the early 1970s with three successive European Champion Clubs' Cup wins. Consider the fact that it took them another 22 years to add their fourth title, however, and then cast an eye down the UEFA Cup roll of honour and you will find that the Amsterdam club picked that up a few seasons before winning the UEFA Champions League again in 1995.

Destiny calls
The same was true of Liverpool, who took 21 years to collect their fifth title and, once again, that came a few years after relearning the ropes by winning the UEFA Cup. It seems whoever claims this season's competition will not only be following a fine tradition of past champions, they may also be treading the path to future greatness.