The Champions League brings fans around the world a showcase of elite football filled with drama and unpredictability. The tournament’s long-standing history adds to its prestige, while major advertising and sponsorship deals provide financial incentives for teams to participate. These factors combined with the competition’s global appeal help to make it one of the most popular sports in the world.

Originally known as the Champion Clubs’ Cup, the tournament kicked off in September 1955 and was dominated by Real Madrid throughout its early years before being revamped in 1992. This new version of the tournament would grow to be one of the most lucrative media sport commodities in the world, a status that continues today.

Since the revamp, no club has managed to win back-to-back titles and only two clubs have won the championship three times in a row. Ajax and Milan were among the early powerhouses to have a major impact on the modern Champions League with victories in 1994, 2003 and 2007. The latter, led by the likes of Paolo Maldini, Franco Baresi and later Andrea Pirlo, displayed a style of soccer that was characterized by superb defensive discipline with devastating attacking play.

For the 2024-25 season, UEFA has revamped the Champions League to eliminate the group stage and replace it with a league phase that will see each team face eight other sides (four at home and four away) in a table ranked according to their UEFA coefficient. This will emphasise the importance of finishing as high as possible in order to ensure that a team qualifies automatically for the last 16, while those that finish ninth to 24th will compete in a two-legged knockout playoff round.