The Uefa Champions League is the world's most prestigious club football competition. This competition is held annually since 1955 when it was founded at the proposal of the French sports journalist Gabriel Hanot. At it's beginning is was named the European Cup and included the winners of national championships in Europe.
Since the 1992-1993 season the competition changed it's name and format becoming the Champions League. This new competition included not only the national champions of European leagues but top teams that proved their strength in valuable national leagues.
The Champions League consists on three preliminary knockout qualifying rounds before the group stage. Teams enter the competition in different qualifying rounds or directly to the Champions League groups.
The Champions League groups are composed of 4 teams that play 6 matches, 3 outside and 3 on their own pitch. The first 2 teams that finish the group stage go forward in the competition's knock out stage where they will face teams from the other groups. The team that finishes third is qualified for the Uefa Cup knock out stage.
The final of the Champions League is held in May on a stadium prior chosen and catches the attention of millions of football fans.
The teams that have won the Champions League in their history are: Real Madrid, A.C. Milan, Liverpool F.C., AFC Ajax, FC Bayern München, SL Benfica, Internazionale, Manchester United, FC Juventus, FC FC Porto, FC Barcelona, Celtic FC, Feyenoord, Aston Villa, FC Hamburger SV, Steaua Bucharest, PSV Eindhoven, FK Red Star, Olympique de Marseille, BV Borussia Dortmund, FC Nottingham Forest.
Only 10 nations have teams that won the Uefa Champions League, here they are in order of the number of trophies they have won: Spain (11),Italy (10), England (10), Germany (6),Netherlands (6), Portugal (4), France (1), Romania (1), Scotland (1), Yugoslavia (1).

Champions League Results Champions League groups Champions League fixtures