UEFA Champions League History - Football Competition

Confederation:

Founded:

1954

Region:

Europe

Number of Teams:

Level:

Current champions:

Manchester United

Sponsors:

Official website:

History

1 UEFA Champions League
2 History
3 Trophy
4 Team Honours
5 Past Winners
- 5.1 List of Past UEFA Champions League Winners
- 5.2 Most Successful Teams
6 Important Links
7 References

UEFA Champions League

The UEFA Champions League, was previously called the Champion's Cup after the first place trophy. In 1954, English team Wolverhampton made an European tour, playng with almost all the most important clubs in the continent. They got amazing results, beating also the Hungarian Giants of Honved, with Puskas, Hidegkuti, Kocsis. The English press celebrated the Wolves' success writing they were “the best team in the World”, or “the best in Europe”. French journalist Gabriel Hanot did not like this, he stated there were at least three European teams stronger than the English: Real Madrid, Honved and AC Milan. And, just as a French, also Saint Etienne. So, Hanot proposed through the columns of “L'Equipe” a European Championship for clubs. In 1955 UEFA gave their approval of the competition, and the first edition had 16 teams for 16 countries, no English team, low interest in the media.

History

Real Madrid Domination

Real Madrid immediately won the cup after defeating Saarbrucken and Rapid Wien, the final played in Paris against Reims. The French went ahead twice, but at the end Héctor Rial scored the decisive 3-2 goal. For the second edition with 22 starting clubs, Real was again the title holder, this time the venue of the final was Madrid, the opponents were Italian Fiorentina. It took 70 minutes for Real Mardridto score, with a penalty of Di Stefano, then Gento for the 2-0 final. Third season was 1957-1959, English FA decided to take part with Manchester United, but again Madrid won over AC Milan, in Brussels, 2-1 after extra time. United were knocked-out in semi-final by AC Milan, but after the air disaster in Munich, where eirght players died and others got serious injuries, the 'Busby boys' couldn't do more. In 1959 again Real, this time it's easier against Reims. In 1960 another success of the Merengues, 7-3 over Frankfurt: Real Madrid is in the history with 5 consecutive wins.

Benfica, then Milan, Rules

In 1960-61, Madrid was sent out by their historical rivals, FC Barcelona. The Catalans reached the final round, where Portuguese Benfica won 3-2 in a fantastic match in Berne. Benfica repeated their success one year later, 5-3 with two goals by the 'Black Panther' Eusebio. Southern Europe domination continued in 1963: the venue is the Empire Stadium in Wembley, and AC Milan of Rivera, Altafini and Trapattoni beat the title holders 2-1, and Altafini was the Top Scorer with 14 goals. After AC Milan, Inter Milan won in 1964 in Vienna (3-1 over Real Madrid) and in 1965 in their own stadium, San Siro, beating Benfica 1-0 under the rain. Currently, Milan is still the only city in Europe with two different teams winning the Champions Cup. In 1966, Real Madrid defeated Partizan Belgrad in Brussels 2-1. Again, a winner from Southern Europe.

In 1967, tournament underdogs Celtic - a team with 9 players born and raised in the surroundings of the Celtic Park - won an unexpected Champions' Cup in Lisbon, 2-1 over Inter Milan. One year later Manchester United was the first English winner, with a supreme extra time (4-1, after 90 mins the score was 1-1). Again AC Milan in 1969, this time with a newcomer on the top of Europe, Ajax Amsterdam. Anyway, they were not the first Dutch team to win the Cup. In 1970, Feyenoord Rotterdam got the title beating Celtic after extra time. This was the first of 4 Dutch titles in a row, but the next three came from Ajax: Crujff, Suurbier, Neeskens and Muhren lead the Amsterdam team in the wins over Panathinaikos, Inter Milan and Juventus. After Ajax, the title went to Bayern Munich, that won once 4-0 in the replay over Atletico Madrid, then Leeds in 1975 and Saint Etienne one year later.

The English Empire

Between 1977 and 1984, seven of the eight Champions League finals were won by an English team, with the only exception of Hamburg SV in 1983. Liverpool won the Cup in a tough final in Rome (3-1 against Moenchengladbach) in 1977. Now there are 33 competitors, all European countries are in the competition. In 1978 Liverpool (with Clemence, Neal, Kennedy, Keegan) repeted their win in London, defeating Club Brugge, that dominated the domestic scene in Belgium. Liverpool took part to the 1978-79 edition as title hoders, but went out after the first round, defeated by English Campions, Nottingham Forest. The “other” Reds, with Trevor Francis, beat Swedish surprise Malmoe, then in 1980 they won as title holders, 1-0 again over Hamburger SV. Forest are now fallen down to League One, and are still the only club winning more Champions Cup, two, than domestic titles, just one. Again Liverpool in 1981, the in 1982 it's the turn of Aston Villa. Hamburger SV won the Champions Cup in 1983 (1-0 over Juventus in Athens) and Liverpool in 1984, after penalty shootouts, in Rome over AS Roma.

The Heysel Tragedy

The 1985 Champions League final is remembered not for the result, but for what happened before the game: a wall fell down under the Liverpool fans pressure, and 39 people, mainly Juventus supporters, died. Juventus won a sad cup, the English clubs were banned until further notice. This changed the scenario of the Champions Cup, in fact in 1986 Steaua Bucuresti won after penalty shootouts in Sevilla, against FC Barcelona. The hero of the match was the Romanian goalie, Helmut Duckadam: he saved all the Spanish penalties, but he had to stop playing after a hand injury. One year later, surprise Porto defeated favourite Bayern Munich, and the Algerian striker Madjer scored with a back-heel an incredible goal. PSV Eindhoven in 1988 became the third Dutch team to win the Cup, curiously they did not win a game as from the quarter-finals, they got through for the away goals rule, and the final against Benfica was won after penalty shootouts. Steaua tried again to win a historical second title, but AC Milan of the Dutch trio Gullit-van Basten-Rijkaard was too strong. The Italians won also the 1990 Champions Cup, that time against Benfica, 1-0 with a goal by Rijkaard.

Manchester United's Treble

After Steaua, the Cup went again to Eastern Europe again in 1991, with Crvena Zvezda Belgrad of Prosinecki, Pancev and Savicevic. The Yugoslavian and Olympique Marseille finished the game with clean sheets and the Red Star won after penalty shootouts. Finally FC Barcelona won the title with a free kick by Ronald Koeman. The format changed that year, two groups of four replaced quarterfinals and smifinals. In 1992-93, the competition did not change the format but just the name, becoming UEFA Champions League. Olympique Marseille won in the final over AC Milan. Another format change in 1994, after the Group stage, a semifinal with just one leg (winners played at home against the other Group's runner-up). AC Milan won 4-0 in the Athens final. The Rossoneri got their third final in a row in 1995, but Ajax won their Cup no.4, thanks to a Kluivert goal.

New format change: preliminary round, four groups, then knockout stages, starting from quarter finals. Ajax tried to repeat, but Juventus won the title in Rome, May 22 1996, on penalties. Then Juventus lost the final act of the competition twice, in 1997 in Munich with Borussia Dortmund, in 1998 when Real Madrid, 32 years after the last success, won 1-0 with a goal (probably in off-side) by Mijatovic. The Millennium ended with an incredible win by Manchester United - the Red Devils were loosing when Sheringham and Solskjaerscored during injury time. United won the treble that year - The FA Cup, the Champions Leagueand the Premiership. In the meantime, since 1997-98 the groups became six, and the runners-up of the first 8 countries were admitted to the Champions League.

A New Millennium

The never ending duel between AC Milan and Liverpool
Another change in format in 1999-2000, with the top 3 football associations represented by 4 teams, the other main championships by 3, 2 or 1. Eight Groups of four, then a second Group stage, then the knockout stages starting from the quarterfinals. The Champions League was won by Real Madrid, winner of Valencia. Three Spanish teams in the Semifinal, it will happen also in 2003 with three Italian teams and in 2005, with three English. Valencia lost their second consecutive final in Milan, in 2001, on penalties against Bayern. Madrid won their ninth Champions League, in a final remembered for the incredible Zidane goal against Leverkusen.

After a Champions League tournament with an Italian final in Manchester (AC Milan won on penalties), for the 2003-2004 series the second group stage was replaced by a Last 16 knockout stage. Porto - Monaco was the surprise final, won by the Portuguese. Mourinho was the coach of Porto, after that win he was hired by Chelsea. Maniche, Ricardo Carvalho, Deco were the rising star of Portuguese underdogs. A crazy final in 2005, in Istanbul, AC Milan was winning 3-0 at half time, Liverpool drew in the second half and won the Cup on penalty shootouts, the goalie Jerzy Dudek played the game of his life. FC Barcelona comeback win over Arsenal was decided by a goal of a defender, Juliano Belletti. Then, in 2007, AC Milan had their revenge over Liverpool: 2-1, again in a Mediterranean city, Athens, where the Italians had already won thirtheen years ago. Filippo Inzaghi scored two goals, Dutch striker Kuyt just one, but it was too late.

Champions League 2007/2008 The 2007/ 2008 Champions League, which was the 16th season of UEFA’s premier competition was dominated by English Premier League teams. Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea defeated tough opponents in their groups such as A.S Roma, and Barcelona in order to advance into semi-finals of the competition.

However, in the finals, held at Luzniki Stadium in Moscow, the two greatest English rivals, Manchester United and Chelsea FC faced each other in order to compete for greatest title in football. This was the second time that year that these two teams faced each other in a final for prestigious trophy, (the first of which was the FA Cup) and the first Champions League final in which two teams from England contested against each other. After 90 minutes of play the game ended in a 1-1 tie and went into penalty kicks. Christian Ronaldo, the top scorer of the competition, scored the game winning goal and Manchester United lifted its third Champions League trophy.

Champions League 2009

The Champions League 2008 / 2009 should be another highly anticipated tournament. Teams from all over Europe will again battle for one of the most prestigious trophies in football. New club teams will emerge as champions and new players will become superstars. Dreams will become fulfilled and hopes will shatter as players will be representing not only their teams but also their home country. Even though the outcome of next years tournament will be impossible to predict, the only thing that is for certain is that there will be drama, chaos and excitement as the best football teams from all over the continent of Europe compete for honors, pride and the title of Champions League winners.

Trophy

The Champions Cup

Team Honours

Curent title holders: AC Milan won last Champions League, defeating Liverpool 2-1 at Spyridon Louis Stadium in Athens, on May 23, 2007

Past Winners

Country with Most Wins: Italy and Spain have won 11 titles each, England follows with 10, then Germany and The Netherlands with 6, Portugal with 4, France, Romania, Yugoslavia and Scotland with 1 each.

Country with Most Winning Teams: England, with 4 teams (Liverpool, Manchester United, Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa). Italy, Germany and Netherlands have 3 teams in the list of winners.