The History of the UEFA Champions League

Football

Write-up by Dave Bartholomew

The UEFA Champions League started lifestyle as the European Champion Clubs’ Cup referred to as just the European Cup and was initially conceived as a knockout levels of competition in between the champion club of every region. Its format has been substantially expanded given that then and it now regarded as the premier club football levels of competition in the planet.

The tournament started in 1955 as a reaction to statements in the British press that Wolverhamptom Wanders had been the ‘Champions of the World’ right after a successful run of wins in friendlies against European levels of competition in the early fifties. A formal levels of competition commenced in the time 1955 -56 with teams playing two matches, house and away to progress to the the up coming knockout stage.

True Madrid quickly dispelled Wolves’ claim, winning the trophy for the very first 5 many years on the trot and True have because won it 9 times in total, the latest report. But English clubs did come to dominate the competitors in the 1970s and early 1980s when Liverpool won it 4 instances and Nottingham Forest twice.

A controversial five year ban for English clubs following the Heysel catastrophe in 1985 ended that dominance and it was not right up until Manchester United won the levels of competition in 1999 for the 2nd time that English clubs would once again arrive out on best.

Overall, Italian clubs have the best report with twelve wins and 14 runners-up, Spain are up coming with twelve wins and nine runners-up, while English clubs have eleven winners. Germany and Holland share six winners each.

Nowadays, the format of the tournament has significantly expanded this kind of that the strongest European Leagues supply as several as 4 entrants.

There are several preliminary rounds prior to the spherical robin group stages with the top rated teams in each group progressing to a two leg knockout stage progressing to the showcase final. Italy’s Internazional are the latest UEFA Champions League holders getting beaten Germany’s Bayern Munich 2 – in the 2010 last.

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