UEFA Champions League

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.

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.

There is one exception to this rule: the current Champions League titleholder is normally an automatic qualifier for the group stage, regardless of where it finished in its domestic league.

However, if the Champions League winner is from a country that is entitled to send four clubs to the competition, it is not assured of entry unless it is in the top four. This issue is currently relevant in England as Liverpool have qualified for this year's final. Liverpool finished fifth in the English Premier League, one spot outside automatic qualifying position. Should Liverpool win the Champions League, The FA will be forced to choose whether to send Liverpool to the 2005–06 competition at the expense of the team that finished fourth—namely Everton, the other major club in Liverpool. The FA eventually decided that the top four Premiership clubs would qualify for the competition regardless of how Liverpool fares in the final, although they intend to continue to lobby for a fifth Champions League place if Liverpool beat AC Milan in Istanbul. Later, UEFA president Lennart Johansson went on record as saying that the Champions League winner should be able to defend its title regardless of its league position. If and when the fourth placed team (Everton) is denied a Champions League place for this reason, it will be granted a place in the UEFA Cup.

The last time such a scenario played out was in 2000, when Real Madrid won the title but finished sixth in the Spanish League. As a result, Real Zaragoza was forced into the UEFA Cup. Two years later, Zaragoza was relegated, an unfortunate turn of events that some fans believed to be a direct result of the lost prestige and revenue.

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, Puskás, 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. Barça 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, Netherlands.

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 Lisbon, Portugal. The team, which became known as the Lisbon Lions, 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. The consequence was a 5-year ban from European competition for English clubs, with a 6-year ban on Liverpool.

1986 to 1988 – Bucharest, Porto and PSV

With English clubs banned from participating in European football, the spell of dominance was well and truly over. In the few years that followed the Heysel Disaster, the European Cup was contested between other European Clubs. 1986, 1987 and 1988 saw the trophy lifted by Steaua Bucharest of Romania, FC Porto of Portugal and PSV Eindhoven of the Netherlands respectively. Only the final lost by Bayern Munich to FC Porto was really eventful, and regarded among the greatest European Cup finals of all time.

1989 to 1991 – AC Milan and Red Star Belgrade

AC Milan, one of the most famous football clubs in the world, won the European Cup in 1989 and retained it the following year. They missed out on a third successive European crown in 1991, when the trophy went to Yugoslav league champions Red Star Belgrade who beat Marseille on penalties after a goalless draw. The ban on English clubs in European football was lifted for the 1990–91 season, but English champions Liverpool were unable to compete in the European Cup because they had to serve an extra year.

1992 to 1996 – Spanish, French, Italian and Dutch dominance

English clubs made their return to the European Cup in the early 1990's, but none reached even the last eight let alone the final. Arsenal (1991–92), Leeds United (1992–93), Manchester United (1993–94 and 1994–95) and Blackburn Rovers (1995–96) struggled to make an impact in Europe and were ofted blown out of the way by far weaker sides. This was mainly down to the strict 'three foreigner' rule which prevented teams from fielding some of their top players.

Instead, the European crown remained on the heads of continental clubs. The 1992 final, played at Wembley Stadium, was won by Barcelona. Marseille won the 1993 final, but were later banned from defending their crown in what was only the beginning of a collapse which arose from domestic match fixing committed by chairman Bernard Tapie. The club eventually lost their French First Division status after it was revealed that Tapie had cooked the club's financial books. Meanwhile, the 1994 final saw Barcelona comprehensively beaten by 4–0 winners AC Milan, who reached the following year's final but lost 1–0 to an exciting young Ajax side powered by the brilliant 19-year-old striker Patrick Kluivert. Ajax did reach the 1996 final, but surrendered their crown to Juventus after a penalty shoot out.

By this time, the Bosman ruling, which would radically change the face of European football, had been handed down.

1997 and 1998 – German and Spanish success

Borussia Dortmund joined the list of European Cup winners in 1997 when they beat holders Juventus in the final. They had already disposed of English champions Manchester United in the semi-final. But 1996–97 was a season of progress for English clubs in the European Cup, because United had become the first team to progress to the last eight of the European Cup in the post-Heysel era.

In 1997–98, the runners-up of some European leagues were allowed to compete in the European Cup (now officially the European Champions League) as UEFA was determined for as many competitors to be top clubs rather than minnows from countries like Wales, Albania or Northern Ireland. The 1998 European title went to Real Madrid, who lifted the trophy for the seventh time in their history and for the first time since 1966.

1999 – Manchester United bring the European Cup home

1998–99 will be forever remembered for Manchester United's treble success which was completed with dramatic 2–1 win over Bayern Munich in injury time, after a Mario Basler goal had appeared to have won the game for the Germans. But the referee allowed three minutes of stoppage time in which Teddy Sheringham equalised and looked to have forced extra time. Then, just as all participants were preparing for extra time, Ole Gunnar Solskjær scored United's winner and made history. Manchester United became the first club to win the Premiership/FA Cup/European Cup treble and were champions of Europe for the first time since 1968. It was the first time that an English club had won the European Cup since Liverpool won it in 1984.

The New Millennium – Spanish, German, Italian and Portugese success

The first European Cup of the 21st century was won by Real Madrid, champions of Spain, who beat Spanish league runners-up Valencia 3–0. 1999–2000 also saw some national leagues, including the English Premiership, entering three teams into the European Cup. But the ultimate European title has yet to be lifted by another English team.

Bayern Munich won the 2001 title, while Real Madrid were again winners (for the ninth time) in 2002. The losing side in the 2002 final, German side Bayer Leverkusen, had the distinction of being the only European Cup finalists never to have won a league title. The 2003 final was played in England, but the winners were AC Milan of Italy. 2004 saw FC Porto defeat Monaco to lift the European Cup, while 2005 saw Liverpool reach the final for the first time since 1985 and AC Milan for the second time in three years.

European Cup and Champions League finals

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

Performance by nation

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Trivia

• Francisco Gento is the only player to be on 6 Champions Cup-winning sides.
• Clarence Seedorf is the only player to win the Champions Cup with 3 different teams:
  • Ajax Amsterdam 1995
  • Real Madrid 1998
  • A.C. Milan 2003
• The city of Milan, Italy, is the only one that won the Champions Cup with two different teams: Inter & Milan (the two clubs won 8 cups in total).
• Many clubs won the Cup unbeaten: Inter Milan (1964) and Ajax Amsterdam (1972) are those with the best record, 7 wins and 2 draws.
• Real Madrid have the record number of consecutive participations in the Champions' Cup with 15, from 1955/56 to 1969/70.
• Only on two occasions has the Final of the Champions Cup/League involved two teams from the same country: Real Madrid v Valencia (1999/00) & A.C. Milan v Juventus (2002/03).
• In the long history of the cup, only four derbies between teams of the same city have been played:
  • 1958/59 Real Madrid vs Atlético de Madrid (semifinal)
  • 2002/03 Internazionale (Milan) vs A.C. Milan (semifinal)
  • 2003/04 Chelsea vs Arsenal (quarterfinal)
  • 2004/05 Internazionale vs A.C. Milan (quarterfinal) – 2nd leg was abandoned because of disturbances among the Inter fans.
• Manchester United, Celtic and PSV Eindhoven are the only teams to complete a "treble"—win their domestic league championship, their domestic cup, and the Champions League/European Cup. Man United did so during the 1998/99 season. Celtic managed this in 1966/67, also winning the Scottish League Cup and Glasgow Cup that year. PSV did this in 1987/88, while Liverpool won the European Cup, the league title and the League Cup in 1980/81.
• Ajax Amsterdam was unbeaten in the Champions Cup/League for 20 matches from 1985/86 to March 1996.
• The 2002/03 semifinal between bitter city rivals A.C. Milan and Internazionale was the first time both games of a two-legged tie were in the same stadium (San Siro). This matchup was repeated in the 2004/05 quarterfinals.
• Only two individuals have won the Champions League with the same club as a player then later as a coach. Miguel Muñoz of Real Madrid did it as a player in 1955/56 and 1956/57, before winning it as a coach in 1965/66. Carlo Ancelotti did it as an A.C. Milan player in 1988/89 and 1989/90 before coaching them to victory in 2002/03.
• Cesare Maldini and his son Paolo are the only father and son duo to skipper the same club to victory in the competition. Cesare led A.C. Milan to victory in 1962/63, and Paolo also captained Milan to victory in 2002/03.
• The anthem of the Champions League, which is played during prematch ceremonies before each match and 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.
• Ottmar Hitzfeld and Ernst Happel are the only coaches in the history of the European Cup/UEFA Champions League to win the title with two different clubs. Hitzfeld did so with Borussia Dortmund in 1997 and Bayern Munich in 2001; Happel led Feijenoord (now Feyenoord) in 1970 and Hamburg in 1983.
• Olympique de Marseille were the first winners of the new format UEFA Champions League in 1993.
• Manchester United's treble-winners of 1998/99 were the first winners of the tournament to have won neither their domestic title nor the European Cup/Champions League the previous season. In 1997/98, United finished runners-up in the Premiership to Arsenal and lost in the quarterfinals of the Champions League to Monaco.
• Nottingham Forest are the only winners of the European Cup to have later been relegated out of the top two leagues in their country.

See also

• UEFA Cup
• UEFA Intertoto Cup
• List of sporting events

External links

• UEFA Official Site
• Unofficial European Cup database
• UEFA Champions League 2004/05 News and Information
• A Tribute to the Aston Villa European Cup winning side of 1982

Betting

• bestbetting.com – compilation of latest betting companies odds