The Champions League

Founded at the suggestion of the French sports journalist and editor of L'Équipe Gabriel Hanot, the first Champions league tournament was inaugurated in 1955, but became the more recognisable tournament we know today in 1992 when it was completely reformatted and re branded. The Champions League is a continental competition for winners of national football leagues in Europe. The European Champion Club's Cup (which is more commonly known as the European Cup) is the prize awarded to winners of the Champions league, and is considered to be one of the most prestigious club trophies in football today. The Champions League tournament is made up of several stages, the first beginning in mid-July with three knock-out qualifying rounds. Only 16 teams survive this knock-out, and join 16 other seeded teams in a group stage. After this, eight group winners and eight runners up will join the final knock-out wounds, with the final match held in May. Up until 1997, only the champions of their respective national leagues were able to participate in the Champions League, but the rules were relaxed to allow runners-up of the stronger leagues to also compete, which has allowed a much greater range of teams to participate, and has proved very popular with fans. The current holder of the Champions League cup are Manchester United, after they beat Chelsea 6-5 on penalties after a 1-1 extra time draw in Moscow, on the 21st of May 2008.

Champions League Facts

The titles of Champions League champion has been held by 21 different clubs in total, with 12 of these clubs winning the trophy more than the once. The club that has won the Champions League the most times is Real Madrid, with nine separate wins in total. When it comes to a fan base, the Champions League attracts a huge amount of viewers - not just in Europe, but all across the globe. Matches are broadcasted by radio and television to over 70 countries in more than 40 different languages, with some of the matches attracting over 200 million TV viewers. Because of this, the Champions League one of the most popular events, not only in European football terms but compared to all world sports viewing figures. The Champions League flag, a rounded football with black star shapes, taken to and displayed at centre of the pitch before every game in the competition. Like many European football cups, the Champions League is sponsored by a host of big brands. Currently the Champions League is being sponsored by Ford, MasterCard, Heineken (although not in France where sponsorship of alcohol is restricted), Sony and Vodafone. The current secondary sponsor for the Champions League is Adidas, and they supply the official ball used for the matches.

Champions League Greats

Each of the big Champions League winners has their own star players that have scored the biggest amount of goals and ensured their success. Currently Real Madrid holds the record for the star player - Raúl González, who debuted in 1996 and has scored over 63 goals in matches. Close runners up include Milan player Andriy Shevchenko with 59 goals, followed by Manchester United star Ruud van Nistelrooy with 54 goals and Arsenal player Thierry Henry with 53 goals in total.