Football is the most popular sport in the world today. More than a billion people love it and over 250 million players play it all over the world. And football is the most popular sport in Europe as well, staying ahead of Athletics, Cricket, Formula One racing, and Basketball.
If anyone says that Europe is the crown jewel of Football, it is very hard to argue with that. If someone says Europe has the most-watched champions league tournament in the world, it is a fact. Apart from that, Football is a “big bucks making business” in Europe, meaning Football involves a lot of money and profits from football players, club owners and coaches to massive media corporations and sponsors.
Read also: The Current State Of European Football, Explained In 5 Maps And 6 Charts
In this article what we are going to talk about is the European Champions League. One of the most competitive, toughest and popular football leagues in the world that has the best football clubs in Europe fighting for the jewel of the European Football, the UEFA Champions League Trophy.
Did you know? UEFA stands for Union of European Football Associations
As the league features the best clubs in Europe, the cut-throat competition and larger-than-life battles between the best are the reasons that gain this enormous popularity across the world for this League.
Each club is selected out of the domestic leagues that each country organizes. The champions and runner-up(s) of these domestic league tournaments such as the English Premier League in England, Serie-A in Italy and La Liga in Spain are then qualified to compete in this billion-dollar league.
Now that you know about the UEFA Champions League and how teams are selected to play in it, a little bit of history on Champions league will definitely interest you even more.
The UEFA Champions League was played under the name for the first time in the 1992-93 season and became the successor to the previous European Cup that started in 1955.
Initially, only 8 clubs participated and by today the league has expanded to include 32 clubs from all over Europe.
UEFA Champions League Winners List And The Runner Ups
Top 10 Champions League Winners
- Real Madrid: 13 wins
- AC Milan: 7 wins
- Liverpool FC: 6 wins
- FC Barcelona: 5 wins
- Bayern Munich: 5 wins
- Ajax Amsterdam: 4 wins
- FC Internazionale: 4 wins
- Manchester United: 3 wins
- FC Porto: 2 wins
- Juventus FC: 2 wins
Nottingham Forest: 2 wins
SL Benfica: 2 wins
The Spanish superpower, Real Madrid is the uncontested champion of the European football theatre with a striking 13 Champion Leagues wins under their name. AC Milan and Liverpool FC of Italy and England completing the top 3.
Top 10 Champions League Finalists
- Real Madrid: 16 finals
- AC Milan: 11 finals
- Bayern Munich: 10 finals
- Liverpool FC: 9 finals
- Juventus FC: 9 finals
- FC Barcelona: 8 finals
- SL Benfica: 7 finals
- Ajax Amsterdam: 6 finals
- FC Internazionale: 5 finals
- Manchester United: 5 finals
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