The UEFA Champions League o European Cup, is the most important football tournament in the world at club level organized by the Confederation of the old continent, where the best teams from different countries compete.
The history of the birth of this competition since since 1954 the idea of creating a championship that included the best teams in Europe was had.
This is how the round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League will be played
Thus, in April 1955 the UEFA He gave his approval for the realization of the tournament that was held for the first time that same year and was known as the European Champion Clubs Cup until 1991.
As of 1992 it received another name and would be renamed the UEFA Champions League, which is why they are considered as the same competition for statistical purposes.
The competition has been held annually since 1955, the first champion was Real Madrid, a team that managed to prevail on five consecutive occasions since the invention of the championship.
To date, the merengue team is the European club with the most titles obtained with 13 in total: six in the old format and seven in the new. He also holds the record of having played 16 tournament finals.
Real Madrid is the highest historical winner of the UEFA Champions League with 13 titles.
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Classification
To play the UEFA Champions League, the winning teams from the leagues of each country are classified and in the strongest European tournaments (defined by a coefficient stipulated by UEFA), the runners-up also get the ticket directly.
Since the 2009-10 season, the third of the three most important leagues manage to settle in the competition in turn.
There is also the preliminary round for the appointment of some places for teams that cannot enter the group stage directly.
Goalscorer table: Cristiano Ronaldo gets into the fight for the scoring leadership
Once the 32 teams that will compete for the champion trophy are known, a phase of eight groups of four clubs each begins. From there they classify the first two places to settle in the round of 16.
The 16 teams qualified for the round of 16 face another team, which cannot be from the same country, for a ticket among the best eight in the championship.
The qualifiers continue with the completion of the quarterfinals, from which the four teams that compete in the semifinals are obtained and subsequently the two representatives that are measured in the final to define the UEFA Champions League champion.
Historical honors
–13 titles: Real Madrid (1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1966, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018).
–7 titles: Milan (1963, 1969, 1989, 1990, 1994, 2003, 2007).
–6 titles: Bayern (1974, 1975, 1976, 2001, 2013 and 2020) and Liverpool (1977, 1978, 1981, 1984, 2005 and 2019).
–5 titles: FC Barcelona (1992, 2006, 2009, 2011, 2015).
–4 titles: Ajax (1971, 1972, 1973, 1995).
–3 titles: Inter Milan (1964, 1965, 2010) and Manchester United (1968, 1999, 2008).
–2 titles: Juventus (1985, 1996), Benfica (1961, 1962), Nottingham Forest (1979, 1980) y Porto (1987, 2004).
–1 title: Celtic (1967), Hamburg (1983), Steaua Bucharest (1986), Olympique Marseille (1993), Borussia Dortmund (1997), Chelsea (2012), Feyenoord (1970), Aston Villa (1982), PSV (1988) and Red Star (1991).
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