The UEFA Champions League is a prestigious competition for men's soccer clubs in Europe. It is held under the auspices of the European Football Association (UEFA), along with the UEFA Europa League and the Conference League. The competition was formerly called the European Champion Clubs' Cup before becoming known as the Champions League from the 1992/93 season. Winning the competition is considered one of the most significant achievements in professional soccer.
Real Madrid is the record winner of the competition with 14 title wins. They won the first five editions of the competition. AC Milan follows with 7 titles, while FC Bayern Munich and Liverpool FC have won 6 titles each. In Germany, only Hamburger SV and Borussia Dortmund have won the competition, once each.
The winner of the Champions League qualifies to participate in the UEFA Super Cup, the FIFA Club World Cup and the next edition of the competition.
History
The idea for a European club competition known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup was first conceived in the 1950s. It was based on the Mitropa Cup and the Coupe Latine. Gabriel Hanot, a former French international and journalist for the French sports newspaper L'Équipe, drew up the plan for a "European Championship of Clubs." The concept was accepted by UEFA and FIFA, and the first competition was held in 1955. Real Madrid won the first title. Until 1960, Real Madrid won the competition five times in a row, which is still unmatched today. In the following years, southern European clubs such as Inter Milan, AC Milan and Benfica Lisbon dominated the competition. In the 1970s, there were conspicuous blocks of years in which representatives of the same country won the European Champion Clubs' Cup, such as Feyenoord Rotterdam and Ajax Amsterdam of the Netherlands and FC Bayern Munich of Germany. In 1992, the competition was reformed and relaunched as the UEFA Champions League to allow more clubs to participate.
Introduction of the Champions League
Originally, only the national champions of the European leagues could participate, but over time the competition was expanded and made available to other teams.
From the 1991/92 season, an intermediate round with group matches was introduced to minimize the economic risk for participants. Since 1997, runners-up from certain leagues have also been able to take part in the competition, and since 1999 even up to four teams from one association. The starting places are distributed according to UEFA's five-year ranking, with the most successful soccer associations being awarded more starting places.
In recent years, financially strong clubs from Italy, England and Spain have dominated the Champions League. The most successful teams were FC Barcelona, Real Madrid and AC Milan with three titles each. In the 2013/14 season, two German teams reached the final for the first time, when FC Bayern München took on Borussia Dortmund.
Reform from the 2024/25 season
The Champions League will undergo fundamental changes from the 2024/25 season. The number of participating teams will be increased from 32 to 36, with four places awarded as follows: One place will go to the fifth-placed team in UEFA's five-year rankings, another place will be earned via the "champion's route" in qualifying, and two more places will be awarded to the two most successful national associations from the previous season in all three European Cups.
The group stage will be replaced by a single-tier league of 36 teams. Each team will play a total of eight matches by dividing the participants into four pools, each comprising nine clubs. Each team will play two teams from each pool (one home and one away), so all teams will play four home and four away games each against a total of eight different clubs. The eight matches are spread over a total of ten European Cup weeks.
The group stage is followed by a knockout round in which the teams ranked 1-8 qualify directly for the round of 16, while the teams ranked 9-24 first play the remaining eight round of 16 participants in an intermediate round. For the teams ranked 25-36, the tournament is over, with no possibility of participation in the Europa League or Europa Conference League.
UEFA hopes that the number of insignificant or predictable matches in the preliminary round will be reduced and the top teams will meet already in the first phase of the tournament. The Europa League and Europa Conference League will also be played in a similar mode to the Champions League in the future.
Television broadcast
The broadcasting of UEFA Champions League matches in Germany has been handled by various broadcasters in the past. Between 1992 and 1999, RTL Television showed the matches, followed by tm3 for one season in 1999/2000, after which the rights were split between pay TV and free TV.
Tuesday games were now shown only in encrypted form on Premiere, while Wednesday games were shown on RTL. Sat.1 took over the broadcasts from the 2003/04 season, paying around EUR 35 million per season. In the 2012/13 season, the Champions League moved to public TV for the first time, when ZDF acquired the rights for a good EUR 50 million per season. From 2018/19 to 2020/21, the matches were broadcast exclusively on pay TV on Sky Deutschland and DAZN. Since the 2021/22 season, DAZN and Amazon Prime have shared the broadcast rights, with Amazon Prime showing the top match on Tuesday and DAZN broadcasting all other matches and conferences. The final will be broadcast free-to-air on ZDF.
European Champion Clubs' Cup and UEFA Champions League winners
Real Madrid is the most successful club in the history of the Nations Cup with 14 titles. They won the first five editions of the competition and successfully defended the title in 1956-1960. In addition to Real, Ajax Amsterdam and FC Bayern Munich also successfully defended the title several times. To date, clubs from ten countries have won the competition, with Spain leading the way with 19 titles, followed by England with 14 and Italy with 12.
1955/56: Real Madrid
1956/57: Real Madrid
1957/58: Real Madrid
1958/59: Real Madrid
1959/60: Real Madrid
1960/61: Benfica Lisbon
1961/62: Benfica Lisbon
1962/63: AC Milan
1963/64: Inter Milan
1964/65: Inter Milan
1965/66: Real Madrid
1966/67: Celtic Glasgow
1967/68: Manchester United
1968/69: AC Milan
1969/70: Feyenoord Rotterdam
1970/71: Ajax Amsterdam
1971/72: Ajax Amsterdam
1972/73: Ajax Amsterdam
1973/74: FC Bayern Munich
1974/75: FC Bayern Munich
1975/76: FC Bayern Munich
1976/77: Liverpool FC
1977/78: Liverpool FC
1978/79: Nottingham Forest
1979/80: Nottingham Forest
1980/81: Liverpool FC
1981/82: Aston Villa
1982/83: Hamburger SV
1983/84: Liverpool FC
1984/85: Juventus Turin
1985/86: Steaua Bucharest
1986/87: FC Porto
1987/88: PSV Eindhoven
1988/89: AC Milan
1989/90: AC Milan
1990/91: Red Star Belgrade
1991/92: FC Barcelona
1992/93: Olympique Marseille
1993/94: AC Milan
1994/95: Ajax Amsterdam
1995/96: Juventus Turin
1996/97: Borussia Dortmund
1997/98: Real Madrid
1998/99: Manchester United
1999/2000: Real Madrid
2000/01: FC Bayern Munich
2001/02: Real Madrid
2002/03: AC Milan
2003/04: FC Porto
2004/05: FC Liverpool
2005/06: FC Barcelona
2006/07: AC Milan
2007/08: Manchester United
2008/09: FC Barcelona
2009/10: Inter Milan
2010/11: FC Barcelona
2011/12: FC Chelsea
2012/13: FC Bayern Munich
2013/14: Real Madrid
2014/15: FC Barcelona
2015/16: Real Madrid
2016/17: Real Madrid
2017/18: Real Madrid
2018/19: Liverpool FC
2019/20: FC Bayern Munich
2020/21: Chelsea FC
2021/22: Real Madrid
List of Champions League winners by title
Real Madrid: 14 titles, 17 finals appearances
AC Milan: 7 titles, 11 finals appearances
FC Bayern Munich: 6 titles, 11 finals appearances
FC Liverpool: 6 titles, 10 finals appearances
FC Barcelona: 5 titles, 8 finals appearances
Ajax Amsterdam: 4 titles, 6 finals appearances
Inter Milan: 3 titles, 5 finals appearances
Manchester United: 3 titles, 5 finals appearances
Juventus Turin: 2 titles, 9 finals appearances
Benfica Lisbon: 2 titles, 7 finals appearances
Chelsea FC: 2 titles, 3 finals appearances
Nottingham Forest: 2 titles, 2 finals appearances
FC Porto: 2 titles, 2 finals appearances
Steaua Bucharest: 1 title, 2 finals appearances
Borussia Dortmund: 1 title, 2 finals appearances
Celtic Glasgow: 1 title, 2 finals appearances
Hamburger SV: 1 title, 2 finals appearances
Olympique Marseille: 1 title, 2 appearances in finals
Feyenoord Rotterdam: 1 title, 1 place in 1 final
Aston Villa: 1 title, 1 place in 1 final
PSV Eindhoven: 1 title, 1 appearance in the final
Red Star Belgrade: 1 title, 1 appearance in final
List of Champions League winners by country
Spain: 19
England: 14
Italy: 12
Germany: 8
Netherlands: 6
Portugal: 4
France: 1
Yugoslavia: 1
Romania: 1
Scotland: 1
Players who have won at least five Champions League titles
Francisco Gento: Real Madrid (1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1966)
Juan Alonso: Real Madrid (1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960)
Gareth Bale: Real Madrid (2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2022)
Karim Benzema: Real Madrid (2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2022)
Dani Carvajal: Real Madrid (2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2022)
Casemiro: Real Madrid (2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2022)
Alessandro Costacurta: AC Milan (1989, 1990, 1994, 2003, 2007)
Cristiano Ronaldo: Manchester United (2008) / Real Madrid (2014, 2016, 2017, 2018)
Alfredo Di Stéfano: Real Madrid (1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960)
Isco: Real Madrid (2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2022)
Toni Kroos: FC Bayern Munich (2013) / Real Madrid (2016, 2017, 2018, 2022)
Rafael Lesmes: Real Madrid (1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960)
Paolo Maldini: AC Milan (1989, 1990, 1994, 2003, 2007)
Marcelo: Real Madrid (2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2022)
Enrique Mateos: Real Madrid (1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960)
Marquitos: Real Madrid (1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960)
Luka Modrić: Real Madrid (2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2022)
Nacho: Real Madrid (2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2022)
Héctor Rial: Real Madrid (1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960)
José María Zárraga: Real Madrid (1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960)
Players with at least 100 Champions League matches
Cristiano Ronaldo: 183
Iker Casillas: 177
Lionel Messi: 163
Xavi: 151
Karim Benzema: 149
Ryan Giggs: 145
Raúl: 142
Thomas Müller: 141
Sergio Ramos: 137
Toni Kroos: 136
Paolo Maldini: 135
Manuel Neuer: 131
Andrés Iniesta: 130
Sergio Busquets: 129
Gerard Piqué: 128
Clarence Seedorf: 125
Gianluigi Buffon: 124
Zlatan Ibrahimović: 124
Paul Scholes: 124
Roberto Carlos: 120
Xabi Alonso: 119
Carles Puyol: 115
Luka Modrić: 114
Pepe: 113
Thierry Henry: 112
Philipp Lahm: 112
David Alaba: 111
Dani Alves: 111
Petr Čech: 111
Robert Lewandowski: 111
Gary Neville: 110
Arjen Robben: 110
John Terry: 109
Ashley Cole: 108
Patrice Evra: 108
Andrea Pirlo: 108
David Beckham: 107
Víctor Valdés: 106
Frank Lampard: 105
Cesc Fàbregas: 104
Thiago Silva: 104
Fernandinho: 103
Luís Figo: 103
Oliver Kahn: 103
Ángel Di María: 102
Marcelo: 102
Andriy Shevchenko: 100
Players with the most Champions League goals
Cristiano Ronaldo: 140 goals in 183 games
Lionel Messi: 129 goals in 163 games
Robert Lewandowski: 91 goals in 111 games
Karim Benzema: 90 goals in 149 games
Raúl: 71 goals in 142 games
Ruud van Nistelrooy: 56 goals in 73 games
Thomas Müller: 53 goals in 141 games
Thierry Henry: 50 goals in 112 games
Alfredo Di Stefano: 49 goals in 58 games
Andriy Shevchenko: 48 goals in 100 games
Zlatan Ibrahimović: 48 goals in 124 games
Eusébio: 46 goals in 65 games
Filippo Inzaghi: 46 goals in 81 games
Mohamed Salah: 44 goals in 78 games
Didier Drogba: 44 goals in 92 games
Neymar: 43 goals in 81 games
Alessandro Del Piero: 42 goals in 89 games
Sergio Agüero: 41 goals in 79 games
Kylian Mbappé: 40 goals in 61 games
Ferenc Puskás: 36 goals in 41 games
Edinson Cavani: 35 goals in 70 games
Erling Haaland: 34 goals in 26 games
Gerd Müller: 34 goals in 35 games
Fernando Morientes: 33 goals in 93 games
Arjen Robben: 31 goals in 110 games
Samuel Eto'o: 30 goals in 78 games
Antoine Griezmann: 30 goals in 85 games
Wayne Rooney: 30 goals in 85 games
Kaká: 30 goals in 86 games
Francisco Gento: 30 goals in 89 games
Top scorers in the European Cup of Nations and UEFA Champions League
1955/56: Miloš Milutinović (FK Partizan Belgrade) - 8 goals
1956/57: Dennis Viollet (Manchester United) - 9 goals
1957/58: Alfredo Di Stéfano (Real Madrid) - 10 goals
1958/59: Just Fontaine (Stade Reims) - 10 goals
1959/60: Ferenc Puskás (Real Madrid) - 12 goals
1960/61: José Águas (Benfica Lisbon) - 11 goals
1961/62: Ferenc Puskás (Real Madrid) - 7 goals
1962/63: José Altafini (AC Milan) - 14 goals
1963/64: Ferenc Puskás (Real Madrid) - 7 goals
1964/65: Eusébio (Benfica Lisbon) - 9 goals
1965/66: Eusébio (Benfica Lisbon) - 7 goals
1966/67: Jürgen Piepenburg (ASK Vorwärts Berlin) - 6 goals
1967/68: Eusébio (Benfica Lisbon) - 6 goals
1968/69: Denis Law (Manchester United) - 9 goals
1969/70: Mick Jones (Leeds United) - 8 goals
1970/71: Antonis Antoniadis (Panathinaikos Athens) - 10 goals
1971/72: Johan Cruyff (Ajax Amsterdam) - 5 goals
1972/73: Gerd Müller (FC Bayern Munich) - 11 goals
1973/74: Gerd Müller (FC Bayern Munich) - 8 goals
1974/75: Gerd Müller (FC Bayern Munich) - 5 goals
1975/76: Jupp Heynckes (Borussia M'gladbach) - 6 goals
1976/77: Gerd Müller (FC Bayern München) - 5 goals
1977/78: Allan Simonsen (Borussia M'gladbach) - 5 goals
1978/79: Claudio Sulser (Grasshopper Club Zurich) - 11 goals
1979/80: Søren Lerby (Ajax Amsterdam) - 10 goals
1980/81: Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (FC Bayern Munich) - 6 goals
1981/82: Dieter Hoeneß (FC Bayern Munich) - 7 goals
1982/83: Paolo Rossi (Juventus Turin) - 6 goals
1983/84: Wiktar Sokal (FK Dinamo Minsk) - 6 goals
1984/85: Michel Platini (Juventus Turin) - 7 goals
1985/86: Torbjörn Nilsson (IFK Göteborg) - 6
1986/87: Borislav Cvetković (FK Roter Stern Belgrade) - 7
1987/88: Gheorghe Hagi (Steaua Bucharest) - 4
1988/89: Marco van Basten (AC Milan) - 9
1989/90: Romário (PSV Eindhoven) - 7
1990/91: Jean-Pierre Papin (Olympique Marseille) - 6
1991/92: Sergej Juran (Benfica Lisbon) - 7
1998/99: Andriy Shevchenko (Dynamo Kiev) - 8
1999/00: Raúl (Real Madrid) - 10
2000/01: Raúl (Real Madrid) - 7
2001/02: Ruud van Nistelrooy (Manchester United) - 10
2002/03: Ruud van Nistelrooy (Manchester United) - 12
2003/04: Fernando Morientes (AS Monaco) - 9
2004/05: Ruud van Nistelrooy (Manchester United) - 8
2005/06: Andrij Shevchenko (AC Milan) - 9
2006/07: Kaká (AC Milan) - 10
2007/08: Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United) - 8
2008/09: Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona) - 9
2009/10: Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona) - 8
2010/11: Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona) - 12
2011/12: Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona) - 14
2012/13: Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) - 12
2013/14: Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) - 17
2014/15: Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) - 10
2015/16: Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) - 16
2016/17: Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) - 12
2017/18: Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) - 15
2018/19: Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona) - 12
2019/20: Robert Lewandowski (FC Bayern Munich) - 15
2020/21: Erling Haaland (Borussia Dortmund) - 10
2021/22: Karim Benzema (Real Madrid) - 15
Champions League records
Most goals scored in a season: Cristiano Ronaldo - 7
Most goals in a season: Cristiano Ronaldo - 17 (2013/14)
Most goals in group stage: Lionel Messi - 78
Most goals in group stage in a season: Cristiano Ronaldo - 11 (2015/16)
At least one goal in every group stage match in a season: Cristiano Ronaldo (2017/18), Sébastien Haller (2021/22)
Most goals in knockout stage: Cristiano Ronaldo - 67
Most goals in knockout phase in a season: 10 - Cristiano Ronaldo (2016/17), Karim Benzema (2021/22)
Most goals in a match: Lionel Messi, Luiz Adriano, Erling Haaland - 5
Most triples: Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo - 8
Most free-kick goals: Cristiano Ronaldo - 12
Best goal rate: Gerd Müller - 0.97
Fastest goal: Roy Makaay - 10.12 seconds
Fastest hat-trick: Mohamed Salah - 6:12 minutes
Youngest player with 50 wins: Thomas Müller
Youngest player with 30 appearances: Cesc Fàbregas (20 years, 207 days)
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