The Champions League is considered to be the most prestigious club competition in world football and is contested between the best clubs from around Europe.
The annual tournament in its current format sees 36 teams from across Europe’s top leagues compete to be crowned the champions of European club football. Winning the distinguished trophy writes teams and players alike into the annals of history as they can hold their accomplishments up against the very best that the sport of football has to offer.
Seeing the best of the best face each other head-to-head never fails to capture the imagination of football fans across the world with some of the tournament’s most historic moments forever etched into the minds of supporters from across multiple generations and becoming part of football folklore.
Both the financial and sporting rewards that the Champions League offers mean that success in the competition will immediately elevate any club that wins it into the upper echelon of club football and cement their name among the elite teams in the sport’s history.
Champions League Origins
How the illustrious competition was born
The first tournament of its kind was introduced in 1955 and was named the ‘Coupe des Clubs Champions Européens’ (which means European Champion Clubs’ Cup in French), commonly known as the European Cup among football fans. Originally, the competition only included the champions of Europe’s top domestic leagues, who competed in a straight knockout-style tournament to determine the best club on the continent.
From the original tournament in the 1955/56 season to the 1959/60 edition, Real Madrid lifted the trophy on five consecutive occasions, a record that still stands to this day.
In 1992 the competition was rebranded as the Champions League and introduced a round-robin group stage that took place before the knockout stages of the tournament. The new-look competition also allowed multiple teams from certain countries to compete for the first time, a choice that has remained to this day with some of Europe’s top leagues now having up to four Champions League representatives.
The most successful nation in the tournament is Spain, who have had a club from their nation win the tournament on 20 occasions (Real Madrid winning 15 and Barcelona winning 5). England lead the way with the most winning teams, with six different clubs lifting the trophy (Liverpool, Man Utd, Chelsea, Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa and Manchester City). An elusive list of Champions League winners.
Football Club | Champions League/European Cup Titles |
|---|---|
Real Madrid | 15 |
AC Milan | 7 |
Bayern Munich | 6 |
Liverpool | 6 |
Barcelona | 5 |
In the 2019/20 season, Bayern Munich became the first, and only (at the time of writing), team to win the Champions League with a perfect record. The German giants won each of their six group stage matches and all five of their knockout games, eventually defeating Paris Saint Germain in the final, thanks to a goal from Kingsley Coman.
The World is Watching
The Champions League has become one of the most-watched sporting events in the world. In terms of football, it is the most-watched club competition in the world and third overall, only behind the UEFA European Championships and FIFA World Cup tournaments.
The tournament transcends the continent in which it is competed and pulls in a huge worldwide audience each year. Over the last few years, it has become the most-watched annual sporting competition in the world. The 2012/13 tournament, which was won by Bayern Munich, pulled in an approximate viewership of 360 million television viewers – this remains the Champions League’s highest TV rating to date.
Player | Champions League Goals |
|---|---|
Cristiano Ronaldo | 140 |
Lionel Messi | 129 |
Robert Lewandowski | 94 |
Karim Benzema | 90 |
Raúl | 71 |
Prize Money
The key factor in the competition’s prestige
The prize money and distributed revenue associated with the competition are big money-makers for the clubs involved and are determined by the television market value of each country, skyrocketing the prestige and importance of the Champions League as a whole. During the 2019/20 season, PSG (the runners-up) earned more money overall than the eventual winners Bayern Munich. PSG earned a total of €126.8 million (€101.3 million in prize money) while Bayern received €125.46 million (€112.96 million in prize money).
The global success of the Champions League has seen it become one of the most lucrative football tournaments on the planet. The prize money for the 2024/25 competition will see clubs earn €2,100,000 for each victory in the league phase of the tournament with the overall winners earning €25,000,000 just from winning the final.
Real Madrid, the most successful in the competition’s history, have continued their dominance in recent years, adding five titles to their collection between 2016 and 2024, giving them a total of 15 Champions League victories and putting them far out in front of second place AC Milan, who have won the competition on seven occasions.
Data sourced by UEFA.