For over seven decades, the best clubs in Europe have fought it out for glory. Real Madrid is the current king of this competition, with 15 titles, followed by AC Milan, Barcelona, and Liverpool. It is a tournament that consecrates the best, but also immortalizes those clubs that manage to break logic and defeat giants.
In its first days, the Champions League was a pure knockout tournament where the champions of different European nations would fight it out for glory. It was later revamped in 1992 and since then it has prospered as one of the most lucrative media sport commodities in the world.
Today’s Champions League features 32 teams that are split into eight groups of four and play each other twice in a round-robin format. The top two sides from each group advance to the round of 16.
From 2024-25, a new format was introduced that has replaced the group stage with a league system where each team plays eight games against eight different opponents, playing half of their matches at home and the other away. The seeding process for the knockout phase has changed, as there is no country protection anymore; teams are ranked based on their final league-phase position and placed into four pots.
Since its inception, the competition has featured thirteen nations in the final, and teams from ten of them have won the title. England, Germany, and Italy have each produced six winners, while Spain and Portugal have each provided three.