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October 19, 2015
Have some fun and discover UEFA Champions League football trivia and interesting facts.
A nation of champions
England has had more clubs win the Champions League than any other country. Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool have all claimed the European title. England also ties with Italy for the record for most clubs making the Champions League final, with six English clubs having succeeded in doing this.
The only quadruple in European football history
While eight clubs have achieved a “treble” of Champions League and domestic league and knockout cup titles, Scottish side Celtic are the only club that have the distinction of completing a “quadruple”. The club won two domestic knockout cups, the domestic league and the Champions League, in the 1966/1967 season.
From qualifiers to knockout round contenders
Liverpool is the only team to have reached the final knockout stages after starting the competition in the first qualifying round. The club started the 2005/2006 competition in the first qualifying round, topped the group and were then knocked out of the tournament by Benfica in the first knockout round.
Milanese magic
Italian city Milan is the only city to host two UEFA Champions League winning teams – AC Milan and Inter Milan.
The rise of national dominance
Before the year 2000, no single Champions League final featured two sides from the same country. Since 2000, however, a total of five finals have been contested by teams from the same country. These include Real Madrid vs Valencia in 2000, AC Milan vs Juventus in 2003, Man United vs Chelsea in 2008, Bayern Munich vs Borussia Dortmund in 2013 and Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid in 2014.
A drawn out exit
Athens achieved the unusual feat of drawing every one of their six group stage games in 2003. This achievement earned them a third place finish and relegation to the UEFA Cup.
Unbeaten champions
Nine teams have managed to win the UEFA Champions League without losing a single game – Ajax, Manchester United, Barcelona, Liverpool, Inter Milan, AC Milan, Nottingham Forest, Red Star Belgrade and Marseille.
The impenetrable defence
In 2006, Arsenal produced the best defensive effort in the history of the UEFA Champions League, going 10 games without conceding a goal.
Flawless finalists
Only two teams have managed to appear in a Champions League final more than once and win every final they competed in. These are Nottingham Forest, with wins in 1979 and 1980, and Porto, with wins in 1987 and 2004.
The Eastern European era
English teams were banned from the UEFA Champions League between 1986 and 1991 following a series of stadium disasters and hooliganism problems. The absence of English teams opened the title up to some lesser-known teams from mainland Europe. PSV Eindhoven, Red Star Belgrade and Steaua Bucuresti all won the title before England returned to the UEFA Champions League fold in 1991.
