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The European Cup enters its 60th year of existence since it was established in 1955, although these days it goes by the name of the UEFA Champions League after being rebranded by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) in 1992. The annual club competition pits all the best top division European clubs against each other in a dual round robin system, following which it becomes a knockout-style system till the winner is determined.
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Here is a table stating the number of participants from each league and the total number of participations from them since the beginning of the Champions League Era:
| Country | League | Number participants from each league in the Champions League (since 1992) | Total number of times participations in the Champions League (since 1992) |
| Spain | La Liga | 13 | 75 |
| Germany | Bundesliga | 11 | 63 |
| France | Ligue 1 | 10 | 53 |
| England | Premier League | 9 | 71 |
| Italy | Serie A | 9 | 65 |
La Liga
Spain has had the maximum number of teams representing its top division league in Europe’s premier competition, with 13 La Liga sides playing in Europe over the past 23 years.
Barcelona and Real Madrid are expectedly on top of the appearances list having made 20 appearances each, although it is quite surprising to note that both teams have missed four Champions League campaigns respectively.
Valencia are third in the list with 10 appearances since 1992 and are followed by 2013-14 finalists Atletico Madrid (6). Deportivo La Coruna (5), Villareal (3), Sevilla (3), Real Sociedad (2), Athletic Bilbao (2), Mallorca (1), Celta Vigo (1), Real Betis (1) and Malaga (1) wrap up the list of 13 clubs.
Bundesliga
The German Bundesliga has had 11 different teams who have participated in Europe’s top competition during the Champions League era.
Bayern Munich have the highest number of appearances in that time, managing 19 of them including two title wins in 2000-01 season and the 2012-13 season. Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Dortmund are tied for second place with 10 appearances each while Werder Bremen and Schalke 04 have 7 appearances to take the third spot.
Stuttgart (3), Hamburg (2), Wolfsburg (2), Kaiserslautern (1) and Hertha BSC (1) are the other clubs that have made appearances and are joined by Borussia Monchengladbach this year, after they qualified for the 2015-16 edition.
Ligue 1
Despite the French league having the status of an ‘inferior’ competition in Europe as compared to the other big leagues, 10 Ligue 1 clubs have participated in the Champions League after its rebranding in 1992.
Olympique Lyon, who will be playing their first Champions League in 4 years, are top of the appearances charts with 13 and are followed by Marseille (9) and Paris Saint-Germain (8).
Monaco (5) have been quite irregular in their appearances in the tournament since winning the Champions League in 1992, and they will be missing out on the action this time out. Lille (5), Bordeaux (4), Auxerre (3), Nantes (2), Lens (2) and Montpellier (1) round off the list of 10 French clubs.
Premier League
The Premier League has only had 9 teams that have previously participated in the tournament but still managed the second highest total number of times participated in comparison with Europe’s top five leagues.
Manchester United (20) and Arsenal (18) have been ever-present over the past 23 years, with Chelsea (14) and Liverpool (9) not far behind. Only Arsenal haven’t won the Champions League out of the four mentioned clubs in this period while the other three have a combined 4 Champions League titles amongst them.
Manchester City are next up with all their appearances coming over the past five seasons.
Newcastle United (2), Blackburn Rovers (1), Leeds United (1) and Tottenham Hotspur (1) are the other Engish clubs to have tasted the highest level of European football.
Serie A
AC Milan, Juventus and most recently Inter Milan brought the Champions League title to Italian shores, but the Serie A have had only 9 teams that have taken part in Europe’s elite competition.
The three aforementioned clubs have 17, 16, and 11 appearances respectively and have won a combined 5 Champions Leagues, with AC Milan winning three of them.
Roma (9), Lazio (5), Fiorentina (3), Napoli (2), Parma (1) and Udinese (1) are the remaining Serie A clubs that have participated in the Champions League.
Conclusion:
While many might come to a conclusion that Spain does have the best league in terms of the statistics listed in the table, the numbers actually reflect a totally different picture.
Barcelona and Real Madrid dominate a league that has very few teams that can beat them, making the race for the third and fourth spots a very heated contest between several other clubs. The clubs that don’t make it to the top four spots can also now try to qualify for Europe’s premier football event by winning the Europa League, with an example being Sevilla’s recent success in the Europe’s secondary tournament.
The Premier League, in contrast, has a very tough competition for the four spots which is usually contested by five clubs, who are all vying for the title in reality. This means that the teams in the lower end of the top 10 don’t get much of a chance to compete for a Champions League spot.
Italian Serie A is similar to the Premier League in the same way, although things are slowly changing with teams like Roma, Lazio and Napoli slowly entering the fray on a more regular basis.
In France and Germany, there is usually one runaway winner for the title, allowing other teams to get a shot at making an appearance in Europe courtesy finishing in one of the qualification spots.
