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.

Contents

1 Structure 2 Qualification 3 History 4 1955 to 1960 - First Real Madrid Era 5 1961 to 1966 - Benfica and the Milan clubs dominate, though Madrid win a sixth final 6 1967 and 1968 - Two British Victories 7 1969 to 1973 - Dutch Domination 8 1974 to 1976 - The Rise of Bayern 9 1977 to 1984 - Made In England 10 European Cup and Champions League finals 11 Performance by nation 12 Trivia 13 See also 14 External links 14.1 Betting

Structure

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 while the system has changed and evolved radically over the years, the competition currently 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 for 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).

Qualification

Qualification for the competition is decided by competitor teams placing in their domestic league championship, on a quota system, with countries with stronger domestic league competition 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. Domestic league champions from countries with poor UEFA ratings receive no place in the Champions League, and instead receive entry to the secondary UEFA Cup.

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.

History

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.

Tracing the history of the Champions League back to its beginning, it is possible to easily pick out periods when specific teams or countries dominated the competition, only to find themselves rapidly superceded by another dominant team or teams. With that in mind, it is easy to view the European Cup and Champions League by era:

1955 to 1960 - First Real Madrid Era

Real Madrid dominated the first five competitions, with the team led by di Stefano, Puskas, Gento, Del Sol and Santamaria winning each of the first five finals comfortably. While this was most definitely the case, Manchester United and several Italian clubs did offer some resistance during the late 1950s, however the combined factors of the 1958 Munich Air Crash and the unorthodox and cavalier playing style of Real meant that little real competition could be found.

This era culminated in the famous 1960 European Cup Final, at Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland, where Real Madrid obliterated Eintracht Frankfurt of the then West Germany 7:3 in front of BBC and other Eurovision television cameras and a crowd of over 135,000 - still the largest attendance for a European Cup or Champions League final.

1961 to 1966 - Benfica and the Milan clubs dominate, though Madrid win a sixth final

Real Madrid's domination was ended by their biggest domestic rivals, Barcelona, in the first round of the 1961 competition. Barca went all the way to the final that year at the Wankdorf Stadion in Berne, Switzerland, where they were defeated in a close game by Benfica of Lisbon. This team, captained by the impressive Mario Coluna from Mozambique, were joined by the legendary Eusébio the following season, where they defended the trophy beating Real Madrid 5:3 in the final at the Olympisch Stadion , Amsterdam, Holland.

Benfica would then go on to reach a third successive final in 1963, but lost to Milan, whose city rivals Internazionale would win the trophy in both 1964 and 1965 beating Real Madrid and Benfica in the process. The 1965 competition is memorable more for the infamous and controversial semi-final between Internazionale and Liverpool, with widespread allegations of bribery and match-fixing being levelled at the Italian side following a 3:0 home win in Milan.

This era was ended by Real Madrid, who defeated Internazionale in the 1966 semi-final, before going on to win a sixth European Cup against Partizan Belgrade in the King Baudouin Stadium, Brussels (then Heysel Stadium). Of the great 1950's side, only Paco Gento played in all six winning teams.

1967 and 1968 - Two British Victories

In 1967, Celtic became the first British team to win the competition, beating Internazionale in the Estadio Nacional, in Lisboa, Portugal. The side, managed by Jock Stein, were all born within 25 miles of Celtic Park in Glasgow, and as such remain unusual by the event's longstanding nature of attracting the best and most cosmopolitan players from all over the planet. By way of contrast, while Real Madrid fielded many Spaniards in the 1950s, their major stars were from elsewhere - Alfredo di Stefano had arrived from Argentina, while Ferenc Puskás had defected from Hungary in 1956.

One year later, Manchester United became the first English team to win the competition, beating Benfica 4:1 after extra time at Wembley Stadium, London, UK. This game was incredibly close, and though United scored three times in extra time, Benfica should have won the game in normal time when the usually imperious Eusébio contrived to miss an easy chance (for him) in the last seconds.

Coming 10 years after the Munich Air Crash though, many fans all across the continent were happy for Matt Busby (the longtime Manchester United manager), who was later knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for services to football.

1969 to 1973 - Dutch Domination

The European Cup was now to spend almost the whole of the next decade and a half as the property of just three clubs - each winning at least three finals, and appearing regularly in the latter stages of the competition.

The first club to dominate was AFC Ajax, who first lost the 1969 final to Milan and then had to watch deadly rivals Feijenoord win the same title in 1970. After that though, the Total Football of Johan Cruijff, Barry Hulshoff , Ruud Krol, Johan Neeskens, Arie Haan , Gerrie Mühren and Piet Keizer dominated for three comfortable years, despatching Panathinaikos of Athens, Internazionale and Juventus of Turin in swift succession.

Each player was able to adapt to play in any number of positions and roles, strikers switching with defenders at will, Krol creating nearly as many chances as Mühren, Cruijff stopping as many as Hulshoff. Created by Rinus Michels and refined by Stefan Kovacs , Ajax seemed unbeatable until Cruijff opted to join former coach Michels at Barcelona later in 1973. With that, the rapid aging of several players and the loss of Neeskens later, Ajax struggled in the premier European competition for over 20 years.

1974 to 1976 - The Rise of Bayern

Bayern Munich became the next club to dominate the competition, winning it three times consecutively in the mid 1970s.

Led by Franz Beckenbauer, and starring Sepp Maier, Gerd Müller, Uli Hoeness and Paul Breitner, Bayern continued on from Total Football, adding their own version of rigidity and organisation to the mix to make an equally as imposing mixture.

Defeating first Atlético Madrid after a replay in 1974, Bayern then beat Leeds United 2:0 in a bad tempered and crowd trouble affected final at the Parc des Princes, Paris, France in 1975, and finally St.-Étienne at Hampden Park, Glasgow, in 1976. Yet again, this side aged rapidly and Bayern would win no more victories in the European Cup era.

1977 to 1984 - Made In England

In 1977, Liverpool started a domination of the competition by English clubs which would see six consecutive victories, and a total of seven in eight years. Liverpool beat Borussia Mönchengladbach 3-1 in Rome, then in 1978 retained the trophy with victory over Club Brugge at Wembley.

Liverpool lost in the first round of the 1979 competition to fellow English side Nottingham Forest who went on to win the tournament in arguably the most impressive rise to the top of continental football in the European game's history. Forest defeated Swedish side Malmö 1-0 in the Munich final; then disposed of Hamburg SV in Madrid by the same scoreline to defend the trophy successfully in 1980. Liverpool returned to the final in 1981 where they picked up their third trophy with a 2-0 win over Real Madrid in Paris.

To show the English game's strength in depth, Aston Villa won the competition in 1982 with a 1-0 win over Bayern in Rotterdam. Hamburg won in 1983 as no English side reached the final for the first time in seven years, but Liverpool were back in 1984 to defeat AS Roma on their home turf after a penalty shoot out. Liverpool returned to defend the trophy in Brussels a year later, but the 1-0 defeat by Juventus was rendered meaningless due to the death of 39 Juventus fans in the Heysel Stadium. English clubs immediately began a six year ban from the competition.

European Cup and Champions League finals

Season	Winner	Score	Runner-up	Venue
2006/07				Olympic Stadium, Athens
2005/06				Stade de France, Saint-Denis
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, and an additional year for Liverpool.
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
1961/62	Benfica	5 - 3	Real Madrid	Olympisch Stadion , Amsterdam
1960/61	Benfica	3 - 2	Barcelona	Wankdorf Stadium , Berne
1959/60	Real Madrid	7 - 3	Eintracht Frankfurt	Hampden Park, Glasgow
1958/59	Real Madrid	2 - 0	Stade de Reims	Neckarstadion , Stuttgart
1957/58	Real Madrid	3 - 2 aet	AC Milan	Heysel Stadium, Brussels
1956/57	Real Madrid	2 - 0	Fiorentina	Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid
1955/56	Real Madrid	4 - 3	Stade de Reims	Parc des Princes, Paris

aet = after extra time; asdet = after sudden death extra time

Performance by nation