UEFA Champions League

The UEFA Champions League is an annual European football (soccer) tournament organized by the Union of European Football Associations. The winner receives the European Champion Clubs' Cup trophy.

The European Champions Cup tournament was founded in 1955 and competition began during the 1955-1956 season. The tournament has been organized by UEFA since 1992 for the most successful European football clubs. Real Madrid has been the most successful football club in UEFA Champions League play. The tournament begins with 32 teams, determined by a coefficient that assigns the number of spots per national league based on that league's strength.

The annual UEFA Champions League is the most prestigious European club title that can be won in Europe and arguably the world. It is composed of the best teams in Europe and has a much higher standing than the UEFA Cup. Ideas had been floating around in Europe about such a cup even before World War II, since 1927 with the Mitro-Cup and similar tournaments such as the Coupe Latine. However these cups did not involve as many nations as desired and it was the goal of the European Champion Club's Cup, out of which the Champions League emerged, to include more nations and to some degree to put an end to British claims that their teams were the best in the world. In 1955/1956 the first cup was held which included 16 teams and was won by Real Madrid. In 1992 UEFA took over the management of the cup and in the same season (1992/1993) Olympique Marseille won.

The 2010 UEFA Champions League shows off the elite soccer players in the World. Each season the teams in the UEFA League compete to make it to the 2010 Champions League and play in the Final. This year Chelsea lead the League with 83 points with Liverpool and Manchester United not far behind. The final will be played between Atletico and Fulham on May 12, 2010.

In order to make it to the final, Atletico had to beat Hamburg while Fulham had to beat Liverpool in the semi-finals. Both teams advance and will be each other in the finals to the UEFA Cup Champion. http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/index.html

The trophy as it is known today was first presented in 1967 and was designed by the German designer Horst Heeren and is 62 cm tall. Winning the title three years in a row or five times in total allows the team to keep the trophy, otherwise the trophy changes hands every year.

In 1992 the UEFA established that a maximum of eight companies should sponsor the event in a joint effort, as opposed to having one single main sponsoring corporation. Currently the main sponsors are MasterCard, Heineken, Ford, Sony and Vodafone with Adidas playing a secondary role as supplier of the official match ball and clothing. These sponsors enjoy privileged advertisement times on TV broadcasts and in all areas in and around match events such as billboards.

Manchester United - Bayern Munich (1999) in which Manchester won by scoring two goals in injury time to win with 2-1 after having been dominated throughout most of the game.

FC Liverpool - AC Milan (2005) was won by Liverpool even though they were losing 3-0 at half time, three goals in six minutes and then prevailing in the penalty shoot out gave the title to Liverpool.

• 2008-2009: Barcelona
• 2007-2008: Manchester United
• 2006-2007: AC Milan
• 2005-2006: FC Barcelona
• 2004-2005: Liverpool
• 2003-2004: Porto
• 2002-2003: AC Milan
• 2001-2002: Real Madrid
• 2000-2001: FC Bayern Munich
• 1999-2000: Real Madrid
• 1998-1999: Manchester United
• 1997-1998: Real Madrid
• 1996-1997: Borussia Dortmund