UEFA?

Siberian Light has a post regarding some antics in Moscow during a UEFA cup game between цска Moscow and Parma. This leads me to ask another question, this time of my soccer watching Euro readers.

Can someone please explain to me what the hell the UEFA cup is? I've finally figured out how all the different national leages work (which is really lame...no playoffs? C'mon, what's up with that?).

I've basically figured out how the Champions League works: take the best teams of all the Euro national leagues, have them play each other and see who wins...but even that's lame in how the teams are selected. How exactly is it determined how many teams from each national league make it? Why do four British Premier League teams make it into the competition, but I didn't see the Albanian league champs?

But I have no idea what the hell the UEFA Cup is. Is it kind of like the NIT of Euro Soccer? Good, but not great? How does a team qualify?

Oh, here's another one, what is the European Cup Winners Cup? That one just sounds asinine.

God help me for even asking these questions, but every freaking day on the BBC I have to listen to this crap, and after six months I've reached my limit and I need to know exactly what it is these people are talking about.

How long is it until the NFL starts up again?