Italian football clubs have entered European association football competitions (UEFA Champions League/European Cup, UEFA Europa League/UEFA Cup, Inter-Cities Fairs Cup and the now defunct UEFA Intertoto Cup and UEFA Cup Winners' Cup) since season 1955–56, when Milan took part in European Cup competition. Nowadays, Italian football is the fourth force in Europe according to UEFA ranking, following the Spanish, English and German football. Italian clubs have also entered several times worldwide inter-club competitions since the 1963 Intercontinental Cup.