European Cup and UEFA Champions League History

European Cup And UEFA Champions League History

The history of the European Cup and Champions League is long and remarkable, with fifty years of competition finding winners and losers from all parts of the continent.

Tracing the history of the Champions League back to its beginning, it is possible to pick out periods when specific teams or countries dominated the competition, only to find themselves rapidly superseded by another dominant team or teams. The format of the tournament has also undergone several significant changes throughout the years, with the creation of the group stage in 1991 and the inclusion of the runners-up of domestic leagues in the tournament in 1997 as the some of the most noteworthy examples.

Read more about European Cup And UEFA Champions League History:  1955 To 1960 — "Los Blancos", 1961 To 1966 — Benfica and Milan Rivals' Dominance, 1967 To 1968 — Notable British Successes, 1969 – Milan Again, 1970 To 1973 — Dutch Dominance, 1974 To 1976 — Bayern Munich Victories, 1977 To 1985 — English Dominance and Heysel Disaster, 1986 To 1988 — Steaua, Porto and PSV, 1989 and 1990 — The Return of Milan, 1991 – Red Star, 1992 — Barcelona's First Victory, 1993 — The Birth of The Champions League: Marseille Attain First Title, 1994 To 1996 — Italian Consistency Juventus, 1997 To 2002 — Spanish and German Prominence, Evolution of The Championship Format, Nations By First Entry, Further Reading

Famous quotes containing the words european, cup, champions, league and/or history:

    No European spring had shown him the same intermixture of delicate grace and passionate depravity that marked the Maryland May.
    Henry Brooks Adams (1838–1918)

    Sunday morning may be cheery enough, with its extra cup of coffee and litter of Sunday newspapers, but there is always hanging over it the ominous threat of 3 P.M., when the sun gets around to the back windows and life stops dead in its tracks.
    Robert Benchley (1889–1945)

    Myths and legends die hard in America. We love them for the extra dimension they provide, the illusion of near-infinite possibility to erase the narrow confines of most men’s reality. Weird heroes and mould-breaking champions exist as living proof to those who need it that the tyranny of “the rat race” is not yet final.
    Hunter S. Thompson (b. 1939)

    Stereotypes fall in the face of humanity. You toodle along, thinking that all gay men wear leather after dark and should never, ever be permitted around a Little League field. And then one day your best friend from college, the one your kids adore, comes out to you.
    Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)

    The history of medicine is the history of the unusual.
    Robert M. Fresco, and Jack Arnold. Prof. Gerald Deemer (Leo G. Carroll)