Champions League Logo

The UEFA Champions League is an annual international inter-club football competition between Europe's most successful clubs, regarded as the most prestigious club trophy in the sport.

History

Originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup, or simply abbreviated as the European Cup, the competition began in 1955/56 using a two-leg knockout format where the teams would play two matches, one at home and one away, and the team with the highest overall score qualifying for the next round of the competition. Entry was restricted to the teams that won their national league championships, plus the current cup holder.

The format and name were changed in 1992/93, and now the competition consists of three qualifying rounds, one stage of group competition (where teams play each other in the style of "home-and-away" or "regular season" competition), and then four rounds of knock-out finals. All qualifying round and knock-out ties are two-legged except the final, which is a single match played at a predetermined site.

Real Madrid CF has won this competition nine times. The next most successful teams are AC Milan (6 titles), FC Bayern München, AFC Ajax and Liverpool FC (4 titles).

The Champions League

The music which introduces television coverage of the competition is by Tony Britten, based on George Frideric Handel's coronation anthem "Zadok the Priest", and is performed by the Chorus of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

It has occasionally been noted that in order for the present name to be grammatical the spelling would have to be "Champions’ League".

Qualification

Qualification for the competition is decided by teams placing in their domestic league championships on a quota system, with countries with stronger domestic leagues allocated more teams. Clubs that play in stronger domestic leagues also enter at later stages of the competition. For example, the three strongest domestic leagues, as rated by UEFA, place their champions and runners-up directly into the group phase, and their third-and fourth-place teams enter at the third qualifying round. There is one exception to this rule; the current Champions League titleholder automatically qualifies for the group stage, regardless of where it finished in its domestic league.

Memorable events

Along the history of the competition there have been many events which will not be forgotten. The spectacular Real Madrid CF side with Di Stefano, Gento and Puskas, whose victory over Eintract Frankfurt in the 1959/60 final is considered one of the best games of football ever played. Eusebio and his SL Benfica; the grande Inter Milan that doubled the Champions Cup in the mid 1960's; the successful FC Bayern München of Beckenbauer; the imperial AFC Ajax; the powerful AC Milan; or the hardworking FC Porto. Another great moment, destined to be remembered forever by those who saw it was in 1999 when Manchester United FC came from behind and scored two goals in the last five minutes to beat FC Bayern München and pull off a historic treble (Domestic League-Domestic Cup-Champions League trophies).

In 1967, Celtic FC defeated FC Internazionale in the final to break the domination of teams from the Iberian Peninsula and the city of Milan. The Celtic team which achieved this, dubbed the Lisbon Lions, is also notable for having all the players born within 30 miles of the city of Glasgow ^{[1] (http://www.uefa.com/competitions/UEFACup/news/Kind=8192/newsId=70959.html)}.

There were also some sad moments. There was the 1958 Munich air disaster in which some Manchester United players died, breaking a marvellous team. Another event was the 1985 European Cup Final in Heysel, where 39 Juventus supporters lost their lives.

European Cup and Champions League finals

Season	Winner	Score	Runner-up	Venue
2004/05				Atatürk Olimpiyat Stadyumu, İstanbul
2003/04	Porto	3 - 0	Monaco	Arena AufSchalke, Gelsenkirchen
2002/03	AC Milan	0 - 0 aet	Juventus	Old Trafford, Manchester
	3-2 in penalty shootout
2001/02	Real Madrid	2 - 1	Bayer Leverkusen	Hampden Park, Glasgow
2000/01	Bayern Munich	1 - 1 asdet	Valencia	San Siro, Milan
	5-4 in penalty shootout
1999/00	Real Madrid	3 - 0	Valencia	Stade de France, Saint-Denis
1998/99	Manchester United	2 - 1	Bayern Munich	Camp Nou, Barcelona
1997/98	Real Madrid	1 - 0	Juventus	Amsterdam ArenA, Amsterdam
1996/97	Borussia Dortmund	3 - 1	Juventus	Olympiastadion, Munich
1995/96	Juventus	1 - 1 aet	Ajax	Stadio Olimpico, Rome
	4-2 in penalty shootout
1994/95	Ajax	1 - 0	AC Milan	Ernst Happel Stadium, Vienna
1993/94	AC Milan	4 - 0	Barcelona	Spiros Louis Stadium, Athens
1992/93	Marseille	1 - 0	AC Milan	Olympiastadion, Munich
1991/92	Barcelona	1 - 0 aet	Sampdoria	Wembley Stadium, London
1990/91	Red Star Belgrade	0 - 0 aet	Marseille	Stadio San Nicola, Bari
	5-3 in penalty shootout
1989/90	AC Milan	1 - 0	Benfica	Prater Stadium, Vienna
1988/89	AC Milan	4 - 0	Steaua Bucharest	Camp Nou, Barcelona
1987/88	PSV Eindhoven	0 - 0 aet	Benfica	Neckarstadion, Stuttgart
	6-5 in penalty shootout
1986/87	Porto	2 - 1	Bayern Munich	Prater Stadium, Vienna
1985/86	Steaua Bucharest	0 - 0 aet	Barcelona	Sánchez Pizjuán, Seville
	2-0 in penalty shootout
1984/85	Juventus	1 - 0	Liverpool	Heysel Stadium, Brussels
	The Heysel tragedy occurred in this final. As a consequence, all English clubs were banned from every UEFA competition, for the next five years.
1983/84	Liverpool	1 - 1 aet	Roma	Stadio Olimpico, Rome
	4-2 in penalty shootout
1982/83	Hamburg	1 - 0	Juventus	Spiros Louis Stadium, Athens
1981/82	Aston Villa	1 - 0	Bayern Munich	De Kuip, Rotterdam
1980/81	Liverpool	1 - 0	Real Madrid	Parc des Princes, Paris
1979/80	Nottingham Forest	1 - 0	Hamburg	Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid
1978/79	Nottingham Forest	1 - 0	Malmö	Olympiastadion, Munich
1977/78	Liverpool	1 - 0	Club Brugge	Wembley Stadium, London
1976/77	Liverpool	3 - 1	Borussia Mönchengladbach	Stadio Olimpico, Rome
1975/76	Bayern Munich	1 - 0	Saint-Etienne	Hampden Park, Glasgow
1974/75	Bayern Munich	2 - 0	Leeds United	Parc des Princes, Paris
1973/74	Bayern Munich	1 - 1 aet	Atlético de Madrid	Heysel Stadium, Brussels
	Bayern Munich won the final replay, 4 - 0
1972/73	Ajax	1 - 0	Juventus	Crvena Zvezda Stadium, Belgrade
1971/72	Ajax	2 - 0	Inter Milan	De Kuip, Rotterdam
1970/71	Ajax	2 - 0	Panathinaikos	Wembley Stadium, London
1969/70	Feyenoord	2 - 1 aet	Celtic	San Siro, Milan
1968/69	AC Milan	4 - 1	Ajax	Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid
1967/68	Manchester United	4 - 1 aet	Benfica	Wembley Stadium, London
1966/67	Celtic	2 - 1	Inter Milan	Estádio Nacional, Lisbon
1965/66	Real Madrid	2 - 1	Partizan Belgrade	Heysel Stadium, Brussels
1964/65	Inter Milan	1 - 0	Benfica	San Siro, Milan
1963/64	Inter Milan	3 - 1	Real Madrid	Prater Stadium, Vienna
1962/63	AC Milan	2 - 1	Benfica	Wembley Stadium, London
	Results from FactBites:
	Volleyball - European Cups - Press Releases (458 words) The drawing of lots for the third round of the MenÂ’s Challenge Cup 2007/08 was concluded this morning at the CEV Head Office in Luxembourg, under the authority of the President of the European Cups Commission, Mrs. The European Volleyball Confederation, in close collaboration with Eurosport, is pleased to announce the official launch of a new meeting with Volleyball,... During the European Volleyball Gala in Vienna, where the drawing of lots for the eighth edition of the Indesit European ChampionsÂ’ League took place... UEFA European Cup Football (1413 words) If this place is not used then the cup winner of the 14th country on the country ranking list will gain direct access to the 1st round round, and the cup winners of the 19th and 20th country on the country ranking list will gain direct access to the 2nd qualifying round. The basis for the UEFA rankings is the performance of teams in the European Cups during a five year period. The results of the European Cup matches, the UEFA coefficients, the UEFA country ranking and team ranking are available in the database.
	More results at FactBites »