Confused with European Soccer (football)?

I know that this question was asked many times before but I just don't seem to get it. Can someone please explain to me how European football works.

I am aware that there is a Champions League and a UEFA Cup.

And I also know that there is Premier League (English), Serie A (Italian), La Liga (Spain)...and so on...



What I do not understand:

1. How does it all begin? I assume that Leagues in each country compete at some point to see who will participate in UEFA Cup and Champions League. What month does it start?

2. What comes next? UEFA Cup or Champions League, or are they played at the same time. And if so how is this possible? Please provide dates

3. Do UEFA Cup winners ever get to compete with Champions League? And when?

4. Finally, is there a European Cup or a World Cup when all the European Countries and all the nations in the world get to compete?

5. It seems like soccer never stops and a lot of things are happening at the same time so I find it very difficult to follow...It doesn't make it any easier that I live in America and have limited access to sports channels, although I do have FoxSoccer and Gol Tv.

But I enjoy playing soccer and would really like to get into it more, so...

I hope you guys can clarify some of this for me! Thank you so much and I'm sorry if I said soccer a few times I know that some people get offended. I meant Association football =)Confused with European Soccer (football)?
Ha, I had to laugh reading your question because trust me I was in the exact same boat as you 2 years ago, I know how you feel



4) There are various international tournaments where players play for their countries every year, the main one is the world cup it happens every four years. The euro is every four years as well.



For questions 1,2,3 there is so much that goes into these tournaments. You qualify for them based on how you do in your domestic league(italy, spain, england, etc.) that take place roughly september-may...then the next year if you qualify you participate in the champions league or uefa cup....the format for these are here:



UCL:

http://www.uefa.com/competitions/ucl/format/newsid=316771.html



UEFA cup:

http://www.uefa.com/competitions/uefacup/format/newsid=316879.html



if you read the "format articles" it should give you a pretty good idea of what is going on



Good luck!Confused with European Soccer (football)?
The top 3/4 teams from all european leagues are placed in the first qualifying round.

The world cup is all the nations in the world the Euro cup is European nations only.