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The Fix: How the First Champions League Was Won and Why We All Lost
The How the First Champions League Was Won and Why We All Lost is an engrossing examination of the 1992/93 UEFA Champions League season. In 1980s Europe, revolution was in the air and the corridors of footballing power were not immune from the forces sweeping the continent. The breakup of Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and the USSR gave UEFA a problem. There were more national teams and league champions than their post-war competitions were designed to handle. Rather than the collapse of communism, the bigger headache for administrators was the success of capitalism. Gordon Gekko-styled businessmen like Silvio Berlusconi (AC Milan) and Bernard Tapie (Marseille) were beginning to involve themselves in football with less than benign motives. Against the backdrop of constant threats from the continent's most powerful clubs to form a breakaway super league, the UEFA Champions League was born. The Fix looks at that infamous first season, from its humble beginning on a Faroese hillside to its ultimate conclusion in a French courtroom.
- GenresFootball
352 pages, Hardcover
Published September 1, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
June 16, 2021
A book packed with football facts, stories and nostalgia, this is a must read for any fan of the game. I started it in the run up to the Euros and it made me fall in love with football again.
As wonderful as Waddle's left foot.
As wonderful as Waddle's left foot.
July 11, 2021
I read a lot of football books. This one had everything I enjoy when reading about football. It's a mixture of nostalgia, anecdote and interesting facts.
It covers a really interesting and game changing time in European football and is an absolute must for anyone who has their head in their hands every time they draw the Champions League group stage.
It covers a really interesting and game changing time in European football and is an absolute must for anyone who has their head in their hands every time they draw the Champions League group stage.
April 18, 2025
I absolutely LOVED this book. For any football fan, I would think they’d probably love it. For fans of any club with aspirations of European football, they WILL love it.
Fabulously detailed review of the 1992/3 first season of The Champions League replacing the European Cup, with facts, anecdotes, interview material and occurrences I barely (or maybe don’t) recall. Huge detail of the earlier rounds and the involvement of what are now relative ‘minnows’ in the European competitions are a joy to read, as well as the impact of the break-up of the old Soviet Union, Eastern Bloc and the fall of the Berlin Wall.
The book chronicles the whole tournament while referring backwards and forwards in history to previous situations and latter developments that occurred as a result of the greed of the big five leagues.
Although the tournament was won by a then relatively big club, the conclusion to the book about the irregularities that ‘may’ have occurred and those that did occur provide a fitting conclusion to the saga of avarice and self-interest.
However, the stats and facts provided in the last chapter, what I would term the epilogue, give a rather damning footnote to this first season of the “Champions” League and its evolution into a Super League for the super rich and self important.
As a supporter of an upwardly mobile Aston Villa, hamstrung by the FFP and PAS regulations designed to maintain the ‘elite’ at the head of the table at the cost of all aspirational clubs that can self-fund their own competitiveness, the resonance of this exceptionally well-written, well-researched, and well- organised book is never more pronounced than now.
Fabulously detailed review of the 1992/3 first season of The Champions League replacing the European Cup, with facts, anecdotes, interview material and occurrences I barely (or maybe don’t) recall. Huge detail of the earlier rounds and the involvement of what are now relative ‘minnows’ in the European competitions are a joy to read, as well as the impact of the break-up of the old Soviet Union, Eastern Bloc and the fall of the Berlin Wall.
The book chronicles the whole tournament while referring backwards and forwards in history to previous situations and latter developments that occurred as a result of the greed of the big five leagues.
Although the tournament was won by a then relatively big club, the conclusion to the book about the irregularities that ‘may’ have occurred and those that did occur provide a fitting conclusion to the saga of avarice and self-interest.
However, the stats and facts provided in the last chapter, what I would term the epilogue, give a rather damning footnote to this first season of the “Champions” League and its evolution into a Super League for the super rich and self important.
As a supporter of an upwardly mobile Aston Villa, hamstrung by the FFP and PAS regulations designed to maintain the ‘elite’ at the head of the table at the cost of all aspirational clubs that can self-fund their own competitiveness, the resonance of this exceptionally well-written, well-researched, and well- organised book is never more pronounced than now.
February 12, 2022
After reading this book I can no longer look at the Champions League the same way. What a shame that many European nations are now excluded from what was once called the European Cup. Loved every page of this book. I especially liked how Dixon would recommend the reader to go out and search for clips of amazing goals he described. I love the title because after reading what Dixon had to say, we as fans of the sport, definitely lost.
June 18, 2021
I've really enjoyed this trip down memory lane. Expertly intertwining the pasts and futures of the teams competing in 92/93 inagural Champions League with a bit of politics thrown in too.
September 5, 2021
Some great stories in this from early 90s. Focusing on the corruption scandal of Olympique Marseille, it’s a interesting insight to the pit of corruption that is the Champions League. Makes you wish for simpler times of the European Cup!
August 31, 2021
Impossible not to enjoy this if you’re a fan of football and its history. It did leave me wondering whether the early 1990s really was the best era of all time, because the book was full of stories that I either didn’t know about, or had forgotten. It’s nostalgia combined with education, nostalgication if you will. I’ll get my coat.
August 2, 2021
‘The Fix’ was a very interesting read & so much more than just about the Marseille Match fixing scandal of the early 90s. A comprehensive review of how the champions league started in season 1992-93 & it’s subsequent development & gradual shunting out of the smaller teams, in favour of the big boys progression to the latter stages of the competition. I’d forgotten how much the Champions League has altered since 1992 & don’t think I’d truly realised quite what an influence the big club owners had in those changes. Highly recommended & unique read that covers a subject in football writing that hasn’t been done before.
June 2, 2022
I thought this was an interesting concept for a book, as the creation of the Champions League undoubtedly shaped football for decades to come. It would have been really interesting to learn more about the influences behind the new format and the subsequent redistribution of power in European football.
However I thought the book read too much like a season review of 92/93. There were in-depth match reports about games from the very early stages of the Champions League, with the author frequently going off on tangents about players, teams and managers involved.
Other than a brief preface and concluding chapter, there wasn't a consistent attempt to draw parallels between the competition itself and the 'forces' who were trying to reshape it. Berlusconi and his thirst for more TV money is mentioned in the opening preface, but I felt like it was glossed over and only picked up again in the final chapter. More pages were devoted to a very early qualifying game between a Faroese and Latvian team, for example. I'm not sure what relevance that game had to the competition or the book itself.
These frequent tangents also made it difficult to follow the narrative at times. For example, Berlusconi identifying a need for more football on TV quickly went off into a 4-page history of floodlit football. When talking about UEFA considering introducing a league format into the European Cup, the author then spent 4 pages linking it back to league vs cup debates in the mid-19th century. It felt like the author was padding out these quite important events with loosely-related stories, rather than focusing more on the event itself and why it happened etc.
Still an interesting read, possibly would be more enjoyable if you lived that season and wanted to take a trip down memory lane.
However I thought the book read too much like a season review of 92/93. There were in-depth match reports about games from the very early stages of the Champions League, with the author frequently going off on tangents about players, teams and managers involved.
Other than a brief preface and concluding chapter, there wasn't a consistent attempt to draw parallels between the competition itself and the 'forces' who were trying to reshape it. Berlusconi and his thirst for more TV money is mentioned in the opening preface, but I felt like it was glossed over and only picked up again in the final chapter. More pages were devoted to a very early qualifying game between a Faroese and Latvian team, for example. I'm not sure what relevance that game had to the competition or the book itself.
These frequent tangents also made it difficult to follow the narrative at times. For example, Berlusconi identifying a need for more football on TV quickly went off into a 4-page history of floodlit football. When talking about UEFA considering introducing a league format into the European Cup, the author then spent 4 pages linking it back to league vs cup debates in the mid-19th century. It felt like the author was padding out these quite important events with loosely-related stories, rather than focusing more on the event itself and why it happened etc.
Still an interesting read, possibly would be more enjoyable if you lived that season and wanted to take a trip down memory lane.
April 28, 2022
An interesting read, covers the season in which Marseille won the Champions League in 1992/93 and the fallout from the corruption scandals that immediately followed.
A book packed full of interesting stories and tid bits. It was amusing to read how the other finalists AC Milan also were involved in match fixing not in the bribing sense but agreeing to play out a draw which suited both teams in Serie A. Along with the UCL final referee being based for corruption too. A truly scummy final for all involved.
A great book that I would happily read again and recommend to football and sports fans.
A book packed full of interesting stories and tid bits. It was amusing to read how the other finalists AC Milan also were involved in match fixing not in the bribing sense but agreeing to play out a draw which suited both teams in Serie A. Along with the UCL final referee being based for corruption too. A truly scummy final for all involved.
A great book that I would happily read again and recommend to football and sports fans.
May 4, 2023
A fascinating and excellently put together book. This brought back memories of watching the initial Champions League matches as a teenager in the early nineties. The book is full of really interesting stories, facts and interviews of a variety of folks from the dark nineties period. Terrific read and highly recommended.
October 5, 2021
A great read. Loved all the memories it bought back, all the obscure facts, and the humour of the author.
November 28, 2024
7/10. Pretty good deep dive into that season and period around it
December 29, 2024
The Fix: How the First Champions League Was Won and Why We All Lost is a meticulously researched history of the 1992/93 UEFA Champions League. It dives deep into each club, covering the season in question and looking at their history and how they ended up where they did. I learned a ton, particularly about some of the smaller clubs.
The narrative meanders from in-depth breakdowns of the matches to tangents about the club's history, old players and managers. Personally, I liked this. It felt like having a conversation over a pint, but your mileage may vary.
As a child of the era, it was also a wonderful nostalgia trip. There were so many names I remember from my misspent youth playing Championship Manager on my Amiga. There are some names I've not thought about in years, and it was a reminder of how good some of those players were. I mean, we all know Romario was a legend, but scoring 98 goals in 110 games for PSV is incredible!
The shunting out of the smaller clubs and the gradual takeover by the big leagues still makes me mad, but I wasn't aware how quickly and ruthlessly it changed from an actual league of champions to a bunch of big clubs...
Anyway, a great read. Check it out if you're a fan of football.
The narrative meanders from in-depth breakdowns of the matches to tangents about the club's history, old players and managers. Personally, I liked this. It felt like having a conversation over a pint, but your mileage may vary.
As a child of the era, it was also a wonderful nostalgia trip. There were so many names I remember from my misspent youth playing Championship Manager on my Amiga. There are some names I've not thought about in years, and it was a reminder of how good some of those players were. I mean, we all know Romario was a legend, but scoring 98 goals in 110 games for PSV is incredible!
The shunting out of the smaller clubs and the gradual takeover by the big leagues still makes me mad, but I wasn't aware how quickly and ruthlessly it changed from an actual league of champions to a bunch of big clubs...
Anyway, a great read. Check it out if you're a fan of football.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews