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UEFA Champions League, which replaced the European Champions Cup, is a seasonal club football competition organised by UEFA since 1992 for the most successful football clubs in Europe. The prize, the European Champion Clubs' Cup (more commonly known as the European Cup), is widely considered to be the most prestigious club trophy in the sport. The UEFA Champions League is separate from the UEFA Cup Image File history File links UEFA_Champions_League_logo_2. ...
For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ...
The Union Européenne de Football Association or Union of European Football Associations in English, almost always referred to by the acronym UEFA (pronounced (you-AY-fuh) or (oo-Ay-fuh) or ), is the administrative and controlling body for European football. ...
Image File history File links Flag_of_Italy. ...
AC Milan is an Italian football club. ...
Image File history File links Flag_of_Spain. ...
Real Madrid Club de Fútbol is a Spanish sports club most widely known for its professional football team based in Madrid. ...
This is a list of television broadcasters which provide coverage of the UEFA Champions League, European footballs’ top level continental competition. ...
UEFA Champions League Hymn is the official anthem of UEFA Champions League. ...
Image File history File links Soccerball_current_event. ...
The 2007-08 UEFA Champions League is the 53rd edition of the top-level European club football tournament and the 16th edition under the current UEFA Champions League format. ...
“Soccer†redirects here. ...
The Union Européenne de Football Association or Union of European Football Associations in English, almost always referred to by the acronym UEFA (pronounced (you-AY-fuh) or (oo-Ay-fuh) or ), is the administrative and controlling body for European football. ...
For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ...
For the current season, see UEFA Cup 2007-08. ...
The tournament consists of several stages. In the present format it begins in mid-July with three preliminary knockout qualifying rounds. The 16 surviving teams join 16 seeded teams in a group stage. Eight group winners and eight runners-up enter the final knockout rounds, which end with the final match in May. Previously only the champions of their respective national league could participate in the competition; however, this was changed in 1997 to allow the runners-up of the stronger leagues to compete as well.
The current holders of the UEFA Champions League are AC Milan, who beat Liverpool FC 2-1 at the Olympic Stadium in Athens, Greece on 23 May 2007. Moscow will host its first European Cup final for the 2007-08 season, this will be between Manchester United F.C. and Chelsea F.C. Associazione Calcio Milan, commonly referred to by the abbreviation AC Milan or simply Milan, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. ...
Liverpool Football Club are an English professional football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside, who play in the Premier League; they are historically the most successful club in the history of English football, having won more trophies than any other English club. ...
The Olympic Stadium (Greek: Ολυμπιακό Στάδιο) (also known as the Athens Olympic Stadium, and Spiridon Spiros Louis Stadium, named after the man to win the first Olympic marathon race) in 1896, is a stadium that is part of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex. ...
This article is about the capital of Greece. ...
is the 143rd day of the year (144th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 2007 (MMVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ...
For other uses, see Moscow (disambiguation). ...
The 2007-08 UEFA Champions League is the 53rd edition of the top-level European club football tournament and the 16th edition under the current UEFA Champions League format. ...
MUFC redirects here. ...
Chelsea Football Club (also known as The Blues or previously The Pensioners) are an English professional football club based in west London. ...
History -
The tournament was inaugurated in 1955, at the suggestion of the French sports journalist and editor of L'Équipe Gabriel Hanot,[1] as a continental competition for winners of the European national football leagues, as the European Champion Clubs' Cup, abbreviated to European Cup. Associazione Calcio Milan, commonly referred to by the abbreviation AC Milan or simply Milan, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. ...
{{Football club infobox | clubname = Liverpool FC | image = fullname = Liverpool FC | nickname = The Reds | founded = 1892 | ground = Anfield | capacity = 45,000 | chairman = D.R.Moores | Chief Executive Officer = R.N.Parry | manager = Rafael Benitez | league = FA Premiership | season = 2005-06 | position = FA premiership, 5th | pattern_la1=|pattern_b1=|pattern_ra1=| leftarm1=FFFFFF|body1=FF0000...
The history of the European Cup and Champions League is long and remarkable, with fifty years of competition finding winners and losers from all parts of the continent. ...
LEquipe logo LÉquipe (French for the team) is a French nationwide daily newspaper devoted to sports. ...
Gabriel Hanot was a French journalist (the editor of LÉquipe) who came up with the idea of having a Europe-wide football club competition. ...
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 European Cup holder. This qualification system continued until 1992. In the 1992–93 season, the tournament was renamed to UEFA Champions League and in 1997/98, eligibility was expanded to include not just domestic champions but also the best performing runners up according to UEFA's coefficient ranking list[2]. In UEFA's coefficient system, a team finishing second in the Spanish La Liga would be more deserving of an automatic place in the Champions League than a team finishing first in, for example, Polish Orange Ekstraklasa. As a result, the system was restructured to force "weaker" national champions to qualify for the group stages, while other, "stronger" national runners-up would automatically get places. The season 1955-56 of the European Cup football club tournament was won by Real Madrid in an exciting final victory against Reims. ...
The 1992-93 season of the UEFA Champions League football club tournament was won for the first time by Olympique de Marseille in the final against A.C. Milan. ...
In European football, the UEFA coefficients are statistics used for ranking and seeding teams in club and international competitions. ...
(Professional Football League), commonly known as the Primera División, is the professional football league in Spain. ...
Orange Ekstraklasa is the official name of the Polish football premier league. ...
Between 1960 and 2004 the winner of the tournament qualified for the now defunct Intercontinental Cup (against the winner of the Copa Libertadores of South America). Since then, with FIFA taking over, the winner automatically qualifies for the FIFA Club World Cup with other winners of continental club championships. 1980-2004 Logo The European/South American Cup, commonly referred to as the Intercontinental Cup or Toyota Cup, was a football competition endorsed by UEFA and CONMEBOL, contested between the winners of the European Champions League and the South American Copa Libertadores in a match played each year, from 1980...
The Copa Toyota Libertadores (also known as Copa Libertadores de América) (Portuguese: Copa Libertadores da América or Taça Libertadores da América, English: Liberators Cup) is a Football cup competition played annually by the top clubs of South America. ...
This article is about the international association football organization. ...
The FIFA Club World Cup, formerly known as the FIFA Club World Championship, is a football competition contested between the champion clubs from all 6 continental confederations, although since 2007 the champions of Oceania must play a qualifying play-off against the champion club of the host country. ...
Qualification - See also: UEFA coefficients
 The Champions League flag is shown on the centre of the pitch before every game in the competition The UEFA Champions league is open to the league champions of all UEFA member associations (except Liechtenstein, which has no league competition), as well as to the clubs finishing from second to fourth position in the strongest leagues. Since January 2007 the two lowest-ranked league competitions (currently the Andorra and San Marino leagues) can also represent their domestic champions in the Champions League. In European football, the UEFA coefficients are statistics used for ranking and seeding teams in club and international competitions. ...
Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution‎ (1,024 × 768 pixels, file size: 536 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. ...
Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution‎ (1,024 × 768 pixels, file size: 536 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. ...
The number of places in the competition depends on the association's rank in the UEFA coefficients table: In European football, the UEFA coefficients are statistics used for ranking and seeding teams in club and international competitions. ...
- associations ranked 1 to 3 have four positions,
- associations ranked 4 to 6 have three positions,
- associations ranked 7 to 15 have two positions,
- associations ranked 16 or lower have one position.
An association's rank also determines the stage at which the clubs enter the competition. For example, the three highest-ranked associations have two places in the group stage (for champions and runners-up) and two in the third qualifying round (for third and fourth-placed teams), whereas the lowest-ranked associations have only one place in the first qualifying round for their champions. Nine highest-ranked associations have at least one automatic place in the group stage.
The situation with the European Cup holders has not been clearly defined. There was controversy when Liverpool won the competition in 2004-05 but finished outside the top four in the FA Premier League. The Football Association ruled that Everton (who finished fourth) should get the final English place in the 2005-06 European Cup. UEFA came to an agreement that both Merseyside rivals would be allowed to enter the competition with Liverpool starting from the first qualifying round and Everton starting from the third qualifying round. UEFA's current rule is that if the European Cup winners fail to finish in one of its national league's qualifying positions, it will take the place of the lowest placed team in its league. The superseded team will go to the UEFA Cup. Although they were the champions of Europe, Liverpool FCs domestic performance meant the team had finished outside the top four of the Premiership (the requirement for entry to the Champions League) and therefore unable to defend their title. ...
For the Scottish equivalent see Scottish Premier League The FA Premier League (often referred to as the Barclays Premiership in England and the Barclays English Premier League or just simply The EPL internationally) is a league competition for football clubs located at the top of the English football league system...
The Football Association (The FA) is the governing body of football in England and the Crown dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. ...
Everton Football Club is an English football club located in the city of Liverpool. ...
The Merseyside Derby is the name of the football match played between the Everton and Liverpool football clubs, the two most successful clubs from the Merseyside area of England. ...
For the current season, see UEFA Cup 2007-08. ...
In 2005-06, Liverpool and Artmedia Bratislava of Slovakia became the first teams to reach the Champions League group phase after playing in all three qualifying rounds. FC Artmedia Bratislava, also known as FC Artmedia Petržalka, is a Slovak football club from the Petržalka district of the capital, Bratislava. ...
In addition to sporting criteria, any club must be licensed by its national association to participate in the Champions league. To obtain a license, club must meet certain stadium, infrastructure and finance requirements.
FC Barcelona, Manchester United, and FC Porto are the teams that have appeared most often in the group stages: thirteen each. However, each has won the Champions League only once since the group stage was established. Manchester United in 1999, Barcelona in 2006, and FC Porto in 2004. Wikinews has related news: 2007/08 UEFA Champions League: Manchester United vs. ...
MUFC redirects here. ...
Futebol Clube do Porto (pron. ...
The stages
 The European Champion Clubs' Cup. The tournament consists of several stages and begins with three preliminary knockout qualifying rounds. Different teams start in different rounds, according to their position in domestic league and the UEFA coefficients of their league, while the sixteen top ranked teams spread across the biggest domestic leagues qualify directly. Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 450 × 600 pixelsFull resolution‎ (1,920 × 2,560 pixels, file size: 519 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. ...
Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 450 × 600 pixelsFull resolution‎ (1,920 × 2,560 pixels, file size: 519 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. ...
In European football, the UEFA coefficients are statistics used for ranking and seeding teams in club and international competitions. ...
In the subsequent preliminary round, participating teams are paired, with aggregate winners proceeding into the next round. Qualifying rounds span from mid-July to late August. The losers of the third qualifying round are transferred to the UEFA Cup, while the sixteen winners of the final qualifying round are joined by the sixteen teams who have qualified directly, to participate in the group stage. For the current season, see UEFA Cup 2007-08. ...
Teams are drawn into eight groups of four teams, each team playing every other team in the group twice (home and away). The group stage is played between mid-September and early December. The teams finishing third in their groups are transferred to the UEFA Cup, while the top two teams from every group qualify for the next round. Here the sixteen remaining teams take part in the knock-out stage, which starts in late February and ends with the final match in May.
All qualifying rounds and knock-out ties are two-legged, with each team hosting one match. The team which scores the greater aggregate number of goals qualifies for the next round. The away goals rule applies. Extra time and penalty kicks are used to determine the winner, if necessary. An exception is the final, which is a single match played at a predetermined venue. The away goals rule is a method of breaking ties in football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each teams home ground. ...
Extra time is an additional period played at the end of some games of football (soccer) if the score is tied after the two standard periods (halves) of play. ...
The draws are currently structured to ensure that clubs representing the same national association cannot play each other until the quarter-finals. This rule however was lifted for Liverpool's entry in 2006, as England had 5 representatives in the competition. As a result Liverpool were drawn against Chelsea in the group stages. In addition, seeding of the teams according to their UEFA coefficients is used. The competition system has been undergoing changes since the 1991-92 season (see history). The current system was adopted in 2003. Liverpool Football Club are an English professional football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside, who play in the Premier League; they are historically the most successful club in the history of English football, having won more trophies than any other English club. ...
The season 1991-92 of the European Cup football club tournament was won for the first time by FC Barcelona after extra time in the final against U.C. Sampdoria. ...
The history of the European Cup and Champions League is long and remarkable, with fifty years of competition finding winners and losers from all parts of the continent. ...
Changes from 2009 forward
 Map of UEFA countries, teams from which have reached the group stage of the UEFA Champions League. UEFA member country that has been represented in the group stage UEFA member country that has not been represented in the group stage Not a UEFA member At a meeting in Lucerne on 30 November 2007, UEFA decided to introduce a new qualification system[3] for the period 2009-2012 which will give an automatic qualifying berth to the group stage for 22 teams instead of 16 (6 new entrants: 3rd-placed teams from associations 1-3 + champions from associations 10-12). Remaining 10 teams will be given through a double qualification path: one reserved for the champions of the associations ranked 13 or lower, and one reserved for non-champions of associations ranked 1-15. Both paths will be held independently to each other and each will be given by 5 winners - last participants in group stage. The main idea was to enable champions coming from low-ranked associations much easier access to the main tournament through their head-to-head matches than through matches against non-champions from high-ranked associations which failed to qualify directly for group stage through their domestic league. Image File history File links UEFA_members_Champs_League_group_stage. ...
Image File history File links UEFA_members_Champs_League_group_stage. ...
For other uses, see Lucerne (disambiguation). ...
Champions League finals -
The Champions League final is the most important match of the season in European club football. The stadium to host the final is selected by UEFA two years before the match. This page lists all the finals of the European Cup and Champions League. ...
| Season | Winner | Score | Runner-up | Venue | 2009/10
Details | To be played. | Santiago Bernabéu,
Madrid
 | 2008/09
Details | To be played. | Stadio Olimpico,
Rome
 | 2007/08
Details | To be played. | Luzhniki Stadium,
Moscow
 | 2006/07
Details | AC Milan
| 2 – 1 |
 Liverpool FC | Olympic Stadium,
Athens
 | 2005/06
Details | FC Barcelona
| 2 – 1 |
Arsenal FC | Stade de France,
Paris
 | 2004/05
Details | Liverpool FC
| 3 – 3 a.e.t.,
3–2 pen. |
AC Milan | Atatürk Olympic Stadium,
Istanbul
 | 2003/04
Details | FC Porto
 | 3 – 0 |
AS Monaco FC | Arena AufSchalke,
Gelsenkirchen
 | 2002/03
Details | AC Milan
| 0 – 0 a.e.t.,
3–2 pen. |
Juventus FC | Old Trafford,
Manchester
| 2001/02
Details | Real Madrid CF
| 2 – 1 |
Bayer 04 Leverkusen | Hampden Park,
Glasgow
 | 2000/01
Details | FC Bayern Munich
| 1 – 1 a.e.t.,
5–4 pen. |
Valencia CF | San Siro,
Milan
| 1999/00
Details | Real Madrid CF
| 3 – 0 |
Valencia CF | Stade de France,
Paris
| 1998/99
Details | Manchester United FC
| 2 – 1 |
FC Bayern Munich | Camp Nou,
Barcelona
| 1997/98
Details | Real Madrid CF
| 1 – 0 |
Juventus FC | Amsterdam ArenA,
Amsterdam
 | 1996/97
Details | Borussia Dortmund
| 3 – 1 |
Juventus FC | Olympiastadion,
Munich
| 1995/96
Details | Juventus FC
| 1 – 1 a.e.t.,
4–2 pen. |
AFC Ajax | Stadio Olimpico,
Rome
| 1994/95
Details | AFC Ajax
| 1 – 0 |
AC Milan | Ernst Happel Stadium,
Vienna
 | 1993/94
Details | AC Milan
| 4 – 0 |
FC Barcelona | Olympic Stadium Spiros Louis,
Athens
| 1992/93
Details | Olympique de Marseille
| 1 – 0 |
AC Milan | Olympiastadion,
Munich
| 1991/92
Details | FC Barcelona
| 1 – 0 a.e.t. |
UC Sampdoria | Wembley Stadium,
London
| 1990/91
Details | Red Star Belgrade
 | 0 – 0 a.e.t.,
5–3 pen. |
Olympique de Marseille | Stadio San Nicola,
Bari
| 1989/90
Details | AC Milan
| 1 – 0 |
SL Benfica | Prater Stadium,
Vienna
| 1988/89
Details | AC Milan
| 4 – 0 |  FC Steaua Bucureşti | Camp Nou,
Barcelona
| 1987/88
Details | PSV Eindhoven
| 0 – 0 a.e.t.,
6–5 pen. |
SL Benfica | Neckarstadion,
Stuttgart
| 1986/87
Details | FC Porto
| 2 – 1 |
FC Bayern Munich | Prater Stadium,
Vienna
| 1985/86
Details | FC Steaua Bucureşti | 0 – 0 a.e.t.,
2–0 pen. |
FC Barcelona | Sánchez Pizjuán,
Seville
| 1984/85
Details | Juventus FC
| 1 – 0
(see: Heysel tragedy) |
Liverpool FC | Heysel Stadium,
Brussels
 | 1983/84
Details | Liverpool FC
| 1 – 1 a.e.t.,
4–2 pen. |
AS Roma | Stadio Olimpico,
Rome
| 1982/83
Details | Hamburger SV
| 1 – 0 |
Juventus FC | Olympic Stadium Spiros Louis,
Athens
| 1981/82
Details | Aston Villa FC
| 1 – 0 |
FC Bayern Munich | De Kuip,
Rotterdam
| 1980/81
Details | Liverpool FC
| 1 – 0 |  Real Madrid CF | Parc des Princes,
Paris
| 1979/80
Details | Nottingham Forest FC
| 1 – 0 |
Hamburger SV | Santiago Bernabéu,
Madrid | 1978/79
Details | Nottingham Forest FC
| 1 – 0 |
 Malmö FF | Olympiastadion,
Munich
| 1977/78
Details | Liverpool FC
| 1 – 0 |
Club Brugge KV | Wembley Stadium,
London
| 1976/77
Details | Liverpool FC
| 3 – 1 |
Borussia Mönchengladbach | Stadio Olimpico,
Rome
| 1975/76
Details | FC Bayern Munich
| 1 – 0 |
AS Saint-Étienne | Hampden Park,
Glasgow
| 1974/75
Details | FC Bayern Munich
| 2 – 0 |
Leeds United AFC | Parc des Princes,
Paris
| 1973/74
Details | FC Bayern Munich
| 1 – 1 a.e.t.,
4 – 0 (replay) | | |
