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The Champions League, or the European cup as it was known prior to the name change in 1992/1993 season, has been the greatest of venues for among the most brilliant displays of football over the years. When the best clubs from across Europe go head to head, it is only fair to expect the most scintillating of football games, and the Champions League has not disappointed.With the kind of nail-biting finishes, dominating displays, and sheer determination on display, that comes only when the best go head to head, the European Cup and the Champions league have played a pivotal role in scripting the history of many a European powerhouse. It has been the stage of the highest level where legends have been forged, and players have written their names into folklore.With the Champions League group stages about to kick off, here are 7 things you might not have known about the continent’s most elite club competition.
#1 No team has won the UEFA Champions League twice in a row
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The name of the competition was changed to The UEFA Champions League only in the 1992-93 season, prior to which it was known as the European Cup. After this particular transformation, not once has a defending champion been able to retain the crown.
Back when the competition was called the European cup, back to back winners were more common, with Real Madrid winning the first five editions of the competition, and Benefica, Inter, Ajax, Nottingham Forest, Liverpool and Bayern Munich, all having won back to back titles in their glory days. But with the advent of modern football, and more intense competition from across europe, in the UEFA Champions league era no one has achieved the feat.
Milan came the closest in the 1994-95 season, with only an 85th minute goal from Patrick Kluivert of Ajax being the differnce between the two teams. Juventus in 1997 and Manchester United 2009 are the only other defending champions to feature in the finals of the competition, only to be thwarted by Borrusia Dortmund and Barcelona respectively.
#2 It is the most popular footaball league or association on both Facebook and Twitter
With nearly 9.6 million followers on twitter, and more than 47 million fans on Facebook, UEFA's multi-platform social media presence has been growing exponentially. Since the facebook page was set up in 2011, the page has seen a tremendous increase in the fan following, increasing each year by leaps and bound.
The fan following has increased by nearly 10 million in the last two years itself from 37 million by the end of 2013 till the 47.5 million followers at present. The Champions league also has the largest following on twiiter, with almost 3 to 4 times the number of followers as of the next closest leagues, the Premier League, La Liga and the Bundesliga.
With official pages on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ engaging fans worldwide, the Champions league has the widest reach amongst all football leagues or associations across the world.
#3 Juventus have lost a record 6 European Cup/Champions League finals
Juventus have the dubious record for appearing in the finals the most times without actually winning it. Juventus have won the Champions league twice, but the Old Lady have been runners up in 6 editions of the tournament. They first featured in the final in 1973, losing out narrowly to an Ajax side that retained the crown for the third successive year.
They would go on to feature in the final once more, losing to Hamburg in 1983 before finally winning it for the first time against Liverpool in 1985. They went on to extract revenge against Ajax, winning it again in 1996 on penalties, but that would be the last of their success in the Champions league. Juve have gone on to feature in four more finals since then, losing all of them.
In fact, they were the runners-up in both the 1997 and 1998 Finals, narrowly missing out by one goal to Real Madrid in the ‘98 edition. Juventus have been runners-up 6 times in the competition
#4 Nottingham Forest have won the European Cup more times than the English League
Nottingham Forest, have been out of the Premier League since 1999 and currently plays in the English Championship, but in their glory years, under Brian Clough, they lifted back to back European Cups in 1979 and 1980. In fact, they have won the English first division only once in their entire history in the 1977-78 season.
The 1979 final was held at the Olympiastadion in Munich where Forest defeated Malmo of Sweden by a solitary goal, scored by Trevor Francis, the first British £1 million footballer, in his first ever European club game.
Neither team being one of the european powerhouses, the final was far from being a packed to the rafters event that you would expect the European cup final to be. The 1980 Final was a differenta affair though, with Forest retaining their title against a Hamburg team that featured the likes of Freddie Ljunberg.
#5 Barcelona and Real Madrid have met 15 times but never in the finals
Real Madrid and Barcelona have been amongst the most successful teams to ever grace the competition, winning it between themselves a total of 15 times (Real have won it 10 times, and Barcelona have won 5).
The teams have also met exactly 15 times in the competition, but there has never been a Champions League or European cup final that hasfeatured El Clasico. Real’s glory days in the competition in the initial stages, where they won the first five editions of the league, was when Barcelona weren’t as much of a footballing powerhouse. Out of Barcelona’s five titles, four have been won in the past nine years presence of a certain Lionel Messi.
With both teams being at the pinnacle of world football now, going head to head in every respect, one would be forgiven for hoping for the mother of all El Clasicos in the near future.
#6 The heaviest European final defeat was inflicted on Barcelona in 1994
Barcelona were favourites to win their second European Cup/UEFA Champions League in three years in 1994, having just won La Liga for the fourth year in a row.
Milan's team before the final was in disarray: legendary striker Marco Van Basten was still out with a long-term injury, and £13 million young sensation Gianluigi Lentini (then the world's most expensive footballer) was also injured and their sweeper and captain, Franco Baresi was suspended, and UEFA regulations at the time that limited teams to fielding a maximum of three non-nationals meant that coach Fabio Capello was forced to leave out the likes of Jean-Pierre Papin and Brian Laudrup.
On Barcelona's side, the rule saw Johan Cruyff choosing not to pick Michael Laudrup in his squad for the final which caused Capello to state after the game: "Laudrup was the guy I feared but Cruyff left him out, and that was his mistake".
Perhaps spurred on by their loss in the finals the previous year to Marseille, a resurgent Rossoneri inflicted a 4-0 defeat on the Catalans. The heaviest defeat in the Champions League final to date.
#7 The Premier League has provided the highest number of Champions League/European Cup winners
While they may not have had the kind of sustained success as their counterparts from La Liga, the premier league has provided the maximum number of winning teams to the Champions League, with Liverpool (5), Manchester United (3), Nottingham Forest (2), Chelsea (1), and Aston Villa (1) all having won the cup, taking it to a total of 12 for the English League.
In fact, during the period of 1976-77 to 1981-82, English teams had dominated the Cup, with Liverpool, Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa, between themselves winning it for five back-to back years.
After 1984, there was a barren period for English football which was broken only by Manchester United in 1999 by Alex Ferguson’s now legendary class of ‘92. Only the Spanish League (15) have won a total of more times, but the spoils have been split between the two Spanish giants with Real winning it 10 times and Barcelona winning 5.
