The France Football European Team of the Year (), also known as European Challenge Interclubs (), was an association football award conferred by French sports magazine France Football with the sponsorship of German multinational corporation Adidas. It was held in Europe for the first time in 1968 based in men's clubs' performance in association and UEFA competitions during the last sporting season disputed,Clubs' results in official competitions at national level, in UEFA competitions and in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup were included, cf. being assigned weighted scores according with the results achieved by each team, forming a virtual league.
The award was conferred annually during 23 seasons between late 1960s to late 1980s in the same ceremony which was given the European Golden Shoe to the clubs' men's leading goalscorer in the continent and, each four years, the FIFA World Cup and UEFA European Championship awards, being Adidas the main sponsor of both competitions.
The prize was officially discontinued following the Adidas decision of not renewing its commercial contract with the French publication after it awarded the 1990 winner teams in a gala held in Paris, in January 1991. Subsequently, the Germany's designs and manufacturers corporation became the main sponsor of the FIFA World Player of the Year Award, established in that year.
Roll of Honour YearWinner (s)Refs1968 Benfica1969 Ajax1970 Celtic1971Ex æquo Ajax & Arsenal1972 Ajax1973 Ajax1974Ex æquo Bayern Munich & Feyenoord1975 Borussia Mönchengladbach1976 Liverpool1977 Juventus1978 Liverpool1979 Nottingham Forest1980 Real Madrid1981 Ipswich Town1982 Liverpool1983 Aberdeen1984 Liverpool1985 Everton1986 Real Madrid1987 Ajax1988 PSV Eindhoven1989 Milan AC1990Ex æquo Juventus & Milan AC
By club Club Total Ajax 5 Liverpool 4 Real Madrid 2 Juventus 2 Milan AC 2 Benfica 1 Celtic 1 Arsenal 1 Bayern Munich 1 Feyenoord 1 Borussia Mönchengladbach 1 Nottingham Forest 1 Ipswich Town 1 Aberdeen 1 Everton 1 PSV Eindhoven 1
By country Country Teams Total 5 8 3 6 2 4 2 2 2 2 1 2 1 1
References