LONDON – Last rites have been sounded for the European Cup-Winners’ Cup, the most absurdly named of all competitions.

Starting next season, the ECWC becomes part of the bigger, better, bolder and slightly less ridiculously named UEFA Cup, and Lazio now has the honor of being its last-ever winner.

Dreamed up as a champion-of-champions contest between the respective cup-knockout contests in various European countries, the tourney had suffered in recent years from a certain lack of quality. With all respect to Norway, teams from near the North Pole have never made much impression when faced with some slick pros from Italy who don’t have to make a part-time living as fishermen.

The late, lamented ECWC never really got going until the semifinals, and Mallorca from Spain did, in fact, give Lazio a tough enough time of it last night in the final at Villa Park in England. Though eventual MVP Christian Vieri leapt to secure a 1-0 advantage for Lazio on seven minutes, within four minutes Dani Garcia tied it up with a simple tap-in.

From there, Mallorca, assembled at a fraction of the $150 million Lazio’s paymasters had coughed up last summer to assemble a glittering collection of international all-stars, gave as good as it got. Hector Cuper, the club’s Argentine coach, can take all the credit for that, taking a low-budget organization way above its station, even as far as No 1 in Spain for a while, ahead of the aristocrats from Madrid and Barcelona.

Cuper is being wooed by half-a-dozen clubs with higher profiles and will more than likely succumb to an offer he can’t refuse while Spanish soccer takes a break over the summer. His only regret at Mallorca is failing to land the ECWC, but for that he can possibly blame his own technique – for with a little more courage, Mallorca might just have pulled off a miracle against the biggest-spending club in world soccer.

Overtime, and, groan, a penalty shootout beckoned on the horizon as Mallorca sat back throughout the second half, content to soak up the pressure and hope that its specialist defensive approach would somehow pay off as weary legs gave way during overtime. No such luck, thanks to Pavel Nedved, a star for the Czech Republic during the Euro 96 tournament but rather anonymous since.

With 84 minutes on the clock, Nedved turned on a dime following a goalmouth scramble to slam the ball into the Mallorca net with a precise, right-foot clipped shot. Clearly exhausted, it was Nedved’s last contribution to the game and he was yanked moments later, but assured of his own small place in soccer history as scorer of the last goal in the last game of the tournament no one could ever be bothered trying to pronounce.

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LAZIO, also in the running for the Italian championship but only if Milan fails to defeat Perugia on Sunday, saw a massive gamble pay off in winning the ECWC, in fact only narrowly avoiding humiliation in failing to pull it off against opposition mostly acquired in a sale of slightly damaged goods.

Even if Lazio winds up as the runner-up, which from this perspective seems likely, it will still be counted as a successful season for the Roman club, which most of all counts membership of an exclusive band of 15 or 20 leading European teams which will eventually float off into their own little sphere and divide up the massive profits securing the support of 90 percent of all fans will guarantee.

It’s a fine line for some, but narrow failure to muscle in among the elite can and has sent many clubs hurtling into obscurity. Just as success becomes a winning formula so does failure, and before they wind up playing for some pee-wee trophy before 2,000 fans, you can bet every club on the margin will be drumming up all the dough it can muster so it can crash the VIP party.