UEFA Champions League

The UEFA Champions League is an annual club football competition that is organized in the continent of Europe by the Union of European Football Associates (UEFA). The tournament is contested by the top 36 clubs across Europe. Real Madrid are the holders of the latest Champions League competition.

The Champions League is one of the most stellar club football tournaments in world football and the most prestigious in the European continent. The continent sees the champions of all the top-tier leagues across Europe enter the fray along with one or more teams depending on the strength of the league in which they feature. UEFA has a feature by which it measures the co-efficient of each league and each club according to which the qualification and league phase draws are made.

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  UEFA Champions League

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Sport	Soccer
Founded	1955
Teams	78
Teams promoted / relegated	0
Website	www.uefa.com

The grand finale of the UEFA Champions League is the most watched annual sporting event in the world. The competition previously went by the name of the European Cup or the European Champion Club’s Cup. The first European Cup was conceived in Paris back in 1955.

Format

The current name for the tournament was introduced in 1992. However, the group format introduced in 1992 changed in 2024 into a 36-team league phase, before knockout stages. While most countries are still able to enter one or two clubs for the tournament, Europe’s top leagues are now afforded up to four slots in the premier club competition.

Every season, the Champions League usually begins in mid-July prior to the beginning of the regular club football season in Europe’s top leagues. The first stage is usually the qualification stage and involves three qualifying rounds and a play-off round that sees the competitors fight for a spot in the Group stage.

A total of 36 teams feature in the league phase of the competition. Teams are split into four pots of nine teams and drawn to face eight opponents at random.

From there, the top-eight ranked teams in the 36-team league receive a bye into the last 16. Teams ranked ninth to 24th enter the knockout stage play-offs, while teams ranked 25th to 36th are eliminated from Europe.

The knock-outs sees the two sides who are drawn together play home and away legs. The team which has the lead on aggregate or has an advantage with respect to scoring more away goals compared to the opposition when the tie finishes level on aggregate goes through to the next round.

The team that wins the competition also qualifies for the UEFA Super Cup that is played between the champions of the Champions League and the Europa League as well as the FIFA Club World Cup.

History

Having won the competition 15 times in their history, Spanish giants Real Madrid are the most successful club in the competition. AC Milan have seven titles and Bayern Munich and Liverpool have won six times.

The competition has been won by 23 different clubs in its history and 13of those sides have won it on more than one occasion.

Real Madrid have dominated the competition in recent times, winning in 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2022 and 2024.