UEFA Champions League

The UEFA Champions League is an annual international inter-club football competition for Europe's most successful clubs. It is one of the most prestigious club trophies in the sport along with South America's Copa Libertadores. The current holders are Liverpool F.C. The UEFA Champions League is not to be confused with the UEFA Cup, the second most important championship for European club teams.

Trivia

• The Champions Cup's first hat-trick was scored by Péter Palotás of Budapesti Vörös Lobogó SE against R.S.C. Anderlecht on September 7, 1955, in the second match ever played in the competition. http://www.uefa.com/competitions/UCL/news/Kind=1/newsId=336519.html
• Francisco Gento is the only player to be on 6 Champions Cup-winning sides.
• Bob Paisley is the only man to coach 3 Champions Cup-winning sides with Liverpool F.C. in 1977, 1978 and 1981.
• Clarence Seedorf is the only player to win the Champions Cup with 3 different teams:
• Ajax Amsterdam 1995
• Real Madrid 1998
• A.C. Milan 2003
• The city of Milan, Italy, is the only one that won the Champions Cup with two different teams: Inter & Milan (the two clubs have won 8 cups in total).
• Many clubs won the Cup unbeaten: Internazionale (1964), Ajax Amsterdam (1972) and Liverpool (1984) are those with the best record, 7 wins and 2 draws. Ajax, Liverpool and A.C. Milan are the only teams to have won the trophy unbeaten twice.
• Real Madrid have the record number of consecutive participations in the Champions' Cup with 15, from 1955/56 to 1969/70.
• Only on two occasions has the Final of the Champions Cup/League involved two teams from the same country: Real Madrid v Valencia (1999/00) and A.C. Milan v Juventus (2002/03).
• In the long history of the cup, only four derbies between teams of the same city have been played:
• 1958/59 Real Madrid vs Atlético de Madrid (semifinal)
• 2002/03 Internazionale (Milan) vs A.C. Milan (semifinal)
• 2003/04 Chelsea vs Arsenal (quarterfinal)
• 2004/05 Internazionale vs A.C. Milan (quarterfinal) - 2nd leg was abandoned because of disturbances among the Inter fans.
• Only four teams have completed the "treble" — win their domestic league championship, their primary domestic cup, and the Champions League/European Cup. These were (in order) Celtic, Ajax Amsterdam, PSV Eindhoven and Manchester United. Celtic managed this in 1966/67, also winning the Scottish League Cup and Glasgow Cup that year. In 1972 Ajax won the European Cup, their domestic league and cup. The following season they also won the European Super Cup and the European/South American Cup. PSV did this in 1987/88. Manchester United won their treble during the 1998/99 season.
• Ajax Amsterdam was unbeaten in the Champions Cup/League for 20 matches from 1985/86 to March 1996, when they lost 0-1 to Panathinaikos in Amsterdam.
• The 2002/03 semifinal between bitter city rivals A.C. Milan and Internazionale was the first time both games of a two-legged tie were in the same stadium (San Siro). This matchup was repeated in the 2004/05 quarterfinals.
• Only two individuals have won the Champions League with the same club as a player then later as a coach. Miguel Muñoz of Real Madrid did it as a player in 1955/56 and 1956/57, before winning it as a coach in 1965/66. Carlo Ancelotti did it as an A.C. Milan player in 1988/89 and 1989/90 before coaching them to victory in 2002/03.
• Cesare Maldini and his son Paolo are the only father and son duo to skipper the same club to victory in the competition. Cesare led A.C. Milan to victory in 1962/63, and Paolo captained them to victory in 2002/03.
• The anthem of the Champions League, which is played during prematch ceremonies before each match and introduces television coverage of the competition, is by Tony Britten, based on George Frideric Handel's coronation anthem "Zadok the Priest", and is performed by the Chorus of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
• Ottmar Hitzfeld and Ernst Happel are the only coaches in the history of the European Cup/UEFA Champions League to win the title with two different clubs. Hitzfeld did so with Borussia Dortmund in 1997 and Bayern Munich in 2001; Happel led Feijenoord (now Feyenoord) in 1970 and Hamburg in 1983.
• Olympique de Marseille were the first winners of the new format UEFA Champions League in 1993.
• Manchester United's treble-winners of 1998/99 were the first winners of the tournament to have won neither their domestic title nor the European Cup/Champions League the previous season. In 1997/98, United finished runners-up in the Premiership to Arsenal and lost in the quarterfinals of the Champions League to Monaco.
• Nottingham Forest are the only club to have won the European Cup more times (twice) than they have won their domestic league (once). Forest won the English League in 1978 before winning the European Cup in 1979 and defending it in 1980.
• Nottingham Forest also have the unfortunate distinction of being the only winners of the European Cup to have later been relegated out of the top two divisions in their country (they remain in the English football league system's third tier (Football League One) today).
• Paolo Maldini of Milan scored the fastest ever goal in Champions League in 2005 final against Liverpool inside 53 seconds. He was also the oldest (37 year old) to score in Champions League final.
• All 11 goals, including the penalty shoot-out, were scored in the same goal in 2005's final between AC Milan and Liverpool.
• With Liverpool's win in the 2005 final, the number of teams permitted to wear UEFA's special badge of honour is now five. The badge is awarded in perpetuity to teams that have either won the competition a total of five times, or have won it three years in succession.
• Five or more wins: Real Madrid, AC Milan, Liverpool
• Three wins in succession: Ajax Amsterdam, Bayern Munich
• Five men have scored a hat-trick on their debut in the Champions League
• Marco van Basten (A.C. Milan), Faustino Asprilla (Newcastle United), Aiyegbeni Yakubu (Maccabi Haifa), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Vincenzo Iaquinta (Udinese)
• Four men have also scored 4 goals in one Champions League match
• Marco van Basten (A.C. Milan), Filippo Inzaghi (Juventus), Dado Prso (AS Monaco FC) Ruud van Nistelrooy (Manchester United)
• Raúl becomes the first player in the history of the competiton to reach 50 goals, he did this by scoring in Real Madrid 2:1 victory over Olympiakos in the UEFA Champions League 2005-06 season.