The first time the champions of two European leagues met was in what was nicknamed the
1895 World Championship, when English champions
Sunderland beat Scottish champions
Heart of Midlothian 5–3. The first pan-European tournament was the
Challenge Cup, a competition between clubs in the
Austro-Hungarian Empire. Three years later, in 1900, the champions of
Belgium,
Netherlands and
Switzerland, which were the only existing leagues in continental Europe at the time, participated in the
Coupe Van der Straeten Ponthoz, thus being dubbed as the "club championship of the continent" by the local newspapers. The
Mitropa Cup, a competition modelled after the Challenge Cup, was created in 1927, an idea of Austrian
Hugo Meisl, and played between Central European clubs. In 1930, the
Coupe des Nations (), the first attempt to create a cup for national champion clubs of Europe, was played and organised by Swiss club
Servette. Held in
Geneva, it brought together ten champions from across the continent. The tournament was won by
Újpest of Hungary. After receiving reports from his journalists over the highly successful
South American Championship of Champions of 1948,
Gabriel Hanot, editor of ''
L'Équipe'', began proposing the creation of a continent-wide tournament. In interviews,
Jacques Ferran (one of the founders of the European Champions Cup, together with Gabriel Hanot), said that the South American Championship of Champions was the inspiration for the European Champions Cup. After
Stan Cullis declared
Wolverhampton Wanderers "Champions of the World" following a successful run of friendlies in the 1950s, in particular
a 3–2 friendly victory against
Budapest Honvéd, Hanot finally managed to convince UEFA to put into practice such a tournament. Sixteen teams participated (some by invitation):
AC Milan (Italy),
AGF Aarhus (Denmark),
Anderlecht (Belgium),
Djurgården (Sweden),
Gwardia Warszawa (Poland),
Hibernian (Scotland),
Partizan (
Yugoslavia),
PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands),
Rapid Wien (Austria),
Real Madrid (Spain),
Rot-Weiss Essen (
West Germany),
Saarbrücken (
Saar),
Servette (Switzerland),
Sporting CP (Portugal),
Reims (France) and
Vörös Lobogó (Hungary). The Spanish squad came back from behind to win 4–3 thanks to goals from
Alfredo Di Stéfano and
Marquitos, as well as two goals from
Héctor Rial. After a scoreless first half, Real Madrid scored twice in six minutes to defeat the Italians. The final, held in
Heysel Stadium, went to extra time where
Francisco Gento scored the game-winning goal to allow Real Madrid to retain the title for the third consecutive season. West German side
Eintracht Frankfurt became the first team not to compete in the Latin cup to reach the European Cup final. The
1960 final holds the record for the most goals scored, with Real Madrid beating Eintracht Frankfurt 7–3 at
Hampden Park, courtesy of four goals by
Ferenc Puskás and a
hat-trick by Alfredo Di Stéfano. Barcelona were defeated in the final by Portuguese side
Benfica 3–2 at the
Wankdorf Stadium. Reinforced by
Eusébio, Benfica defeated Real Madrid 5–3 at the
Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam and kept the title for a
second consecutive season. Benfica wanted to repeat Real Madrid's successful run of the 1950s after reaching the showpiece event of the
1962–63 European Cup, but a brace from Brazilian-Italian
José Altafini at
Wembley gave the spoils to Milan, making the trophy leave the
Iberian Peninsula for the first time ever.
Inter Milan beat an ageing Real Madrid 3–1 at the
Ernst-Happel-Stadion to win the
1963–64 season and replicate their local-rival's success. The title stayed in Milan for the
third year in a row after Inter beat Benfica 1–0 at their home ground, the
San Siro. Under the leadership of
Jock Stein, Scottish club
Celtic beat Inter Milan 2–1 in the 1967 final to become the first British club to win the European Cup. The Celtic players that day, all of whom were born within of Glasgow, subsequently became known as the "
Lisbon Lions".
1968–1976 The
1967–68 season saw
Manchester United become the first English team to win the European Cup, beating two-times winners
Benfica 4–1 in the final. In the
1968–69 season,
Ajax became the first Dutch team to reach the European Cup final, but they were beaten 4–1 by Milan, who claimed their second European Cup, with
Pierino Prati scoring a hat-trick. The
1969–70 season saw the first Dutch winners of the competition.
Feyenoord knocked out the defending champions, Milan in the second round, before beating Celtic in the
final. In the
1970–71 season, Ajax won the title, beating Greek side
Panathinaikos in the final. The season saw a number of changes, with
penalty shoot-outs being introduced, and the
away goals rule being changed so that it would be used in all rounds except the final. It was also the first time a Greek team reached the final, as well as the first season that Real Madrid failed to qualify, having finished sixth in
La Liga the previous season. Ajax went on to win the competition three years in a row (1971 to 1973), which
Bayern Munich emulated from 1974 to 1976. The era was characterized by the dominance of football clubs from the Netherlands and West Germany, who together won 7 back-to-back European Cups between 1970 and 1976.
1977–1997: Heysel Disaster and rebrand into Champions League (pictured in 1972) won the European Cup three times in a row with
Ajax.
Liverpool won their first two titles in 1977 and 1978. The following seasons saw victories in 1978–79 and 1979–80 for Brian Clough's
Nottingham Forest. The following year Liverpool won their third title before Aston Villa continued the sense of English dominance in
1982. In 1982–83,
Hamburger SV broke the English dominance. Liverpool regained it in 1983–84 before losing to Juventus (1984–85). All English clubs were banned for five years (Liverpool for six years) following the
1985 European Cup final due to the
Heysel Stadium disaster. Following the five-year ban on English teams,
Steaua București won the European Cup in 1985–86, followed by Porto in 1986–87,
PSV Eindhoven in 1987–88;
AC Milan (2),
Red Star Belgrade and
Barcelona became champions before the competition was re-formulated as the
UEFA Champions League. The
1996-97 season was the final Champions League tournament in which only European league champions were allowed to compete; the tournament was won by
Borussia Dortmund. The era was characterized by the dominance of football clubs from England between 1977 and 1984, winning seven European Cup finals, and later the dominance of Italian football clubs in the 1990s; in a nine-year period from 1989 to 1998, Italian clubs reached nine Champions League finals.
1998–present: League expansion The era was characterized by the dominance of football clubs from Spain, who won 3 out of 5 finals from 1998–2002 and dominated the competition from 2014–18, with Real Madrid winning three back-to-back Champions League titles in 2016, 2017, and 2018, and England, who won 3 times between 2005–12 (as did Barcelona) and had 3 wins from 2018–23. From the expansion of the Champions League in 1997–98 to the 2023-24 final, Spanish clubs reached 17 finals and English clubs reached 16 finals. During the 2020
COVID-19 pandemic, the tournament was suspended in mid-March 2020 and resumed in August 2020. Games were played at neutral venues and without spectators. ==Anthem==