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50 historical facts of UEFA Champions League
theNATION - 11/09/09


We serve you fifty historical facts since the inception of the Champions League, the most glamourous club competition in Europe.

•Marseille was the first club to lift the European trophy since its conversion to the Champions League format in 1993.

•No English club won the Champions League title (in its new format) until Manchester United.

•Milan, Liverpool, Ajax and Manchester United are the only teams to have won the trophy unbeaten twice

•Only two clubs have appeared in the final of the European Cup/Champions league more than once, with a 100% success rate: Nottingham Forest in 1979 and 1980, and Porto in 1987 and 2004.

•Five clubs have appeared in the final once, being victorious on that occasion: Feyenoord (1970), Aston Villa F.C (1982), PSV (1988), Red Star Belgrade (1991) and Borussia Dortmund (1997).

•Only two clubs have appeared in the final more than once, losing on each occasion: Stade Reims in 1956 and 1959, and Valencia in 2000 and 2001.

•Only Celtic has completed the ‘quadruple’ - which means that they have won their domestic league championship, their primary & secondary domestic cups, and the Champions League/European Cup. The Bhoys did it in the 1966-67 season.

•Five sides have won the European Cup as part of a ‘treble’? These were Ajax, PSV, Manchester United, Barcelona, and Liverpool.

•Juventus, Ajax and Bayern Munich are the only teams to have won the three major UEFA official Cups, namely UEFA Champions League/European Cup, the now defunct UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup, and UEFA Cup.

•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.

•Newcastle United in 2002-03 are the only team to have progressed past the group stage after losing their first three games.

•Arsenal broke the record for the most consecutive clean sheets in 2006 with ten shut-outs. They went without conceding a goal for 995 minutes between September 2005 and May 2006.

•AC Milan are the last team to successfully defend the European title, winning it in both 1989 and 1990.

•Only on three occasions has the Final of the Champions Cup/League involved two teams from the same country? They were Real Madrid versus Valencia in 2000, AC Milan vs. Juventus in 2003, and Manchester United vs Chelsea in 2008.

•The country providing the highest number of different winning clubs is England, with four. They are Liverpool, Manchester United, Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa.

•England has also provided the highest number of different finalists, with seven (Liverpool, Manchester United, Nottingham Forest, Aston villa, Leeds United, Arsenal and Chelsea).

•The city of Milan is the only one that won the Champions Cup with two different teams? Internazionale and AC Milan have both won the European Cup/Champions League.

•The city of London is the only one that has been represented by more than one team in the final of the Champions League and lost on each occasion (Arsenal in 2006 and Chelsea in 2008).

•The 2002-03 semi-final between bitter city rivals AC Milan and Internazionale was the first time both games of a two-legged tie were played in the same stadium. Both legs were played at the San Siro.

•Clarence Seedorf is the only player to win the Champions Cup with three different teams. The Dutchman won them with Ajax in 1994/95, Real Madrid 1997/98, and AC Milan in 2002/03 and 2006/07.

•Bob Paisley is the only man to coach three Champions Cup-winning sides in 1977, 1978 and 1981. It has to be noted that he won them all with Liverpool.

•Marcello Lippi is the only man to coach four Champions League finalists in 1996, 1997, 1998 and 2003. Juventus was the team in all four occasions.

•Hernan Crespo is the only player to have scored for five different teams in the competition. The teams were Parma, Lazio, Inter Milan, Chelsea and AC Milan.

•The fastest ever Champions League goal was scored after 10 seconds by Bayern Munich’s Roy Makaay against Real Madrid in 2007.

•The fastest ever Champions League hat-trick was scored in just nine minutes by Blackburn’s Mike Newell against Rosenborg in the 1995/96 season.