champions league

Tournament

The tournament proper begins with a group stage of 32 teams, divided into eight groups. Seeding is used whilst making the draw for this stage, whilst teams from the same country may not be drawn into groups together. Each team meets the others in its group home and away in a round-robin format. The winning team and the runners-up from each group then progress to the next round. The third-placed team enters the UEFA Europa League.

For this stage, the winning team from one group plays against the runners-up from another group, and teams from the same association may not be drawn against each other. From the quarter-finals onwards, the draw is entirely random, without association protection. The tournament uses the away goals rule: if the aggregate score of the two games is tied, then the team who scored more goals at their opponent’s stadium advances.

The group stage is played from September to December, whilst the knock-out stage starts in February. The knock-out ties are played in a two-legged format, with the exception of the final. This is typically held in the final two weeks of May.

Referees

Ranking

The UEFA Refereeing Unit is broken down into five experience-based categories. A referee is initially placed into Category 4 with the exception of referees from France, Germany, England, Italy, or Spain. Referees from these five countries are typically comfortable with top professional matches and are therefore directly placed into Category 3. Each referee’s performance is observed and evaluated after every match; his category may be revised twice per season, but a referee cannot be promoted directly from Category 3 to the Elite Category.^[59]

Appointment

In co-operation with the UEFA Refereeing Unit, the UEFA Referee Committee is responsible for appointing referees to matches. Referees are appointed based on previous matches, marks, performances, and fitness levels. To discourage bias, the Champions League takes nationality into account. No referee may be of the same origins as any club in his or her respecting groups. Referee appointments, suggested by the UEFA Refereeing Unit, are sent to the UEFA Referee Committee to be discussed and/or revised. After a consensus is made, the name of the appointed referee remains confidential up to two days before the match for the purpose of minimising public influence.^[59]

Limitations

Since 1990, a UEFA international referee cannot exceed the age of 45 years. After turning 45, a referee must step down at the end of his season. The age limit was established to ensure an elite level of fitness. Today, UEFA Champions League referees are required to pass a fitness test even to be considered at the international level.^[59]

• the UEFA Champions League is sponsored by a group of multinational corporations, in contrast to the single main sponsor typically found in national top-flight leagues. When the Champions League was created in 1992, it was decided that a maximum of eight companies should be allowed to sponsor the event, with each corporation being allocated four advertising boards around the perimeter of the pitch, as well as logo placement at pre- and post-match interviews and a certain number of tickets to each match. This, combined with a deal to ensure tournament sponsors were given priority on television advertisements during matches, ensured that each of the tournament’s main sponsors was given maximum exposure.From the 2012–13 knockout phase, UEFA used LED advertising hoardings installed in knock-out participant stadiums, including the final stage. From the 2015–16 season onwards, UEFA has used such hoardings from the play-off round until the final.
• Heineken
• MasterCard
• Nissan
• PepsiCo
  • Pepsi/Pepsi Max,Gatorade, and Lay’s/Walkers are the brands being advertised.
• Sony
  • PlayStation and Xperia are the brands being advertised.
• UniCredit

Adidas is a secondary sponsor and supplies the official match ball, the Adidas Finale, and referee uniform, as they do for all UEFA competitions.^[74] Konami‘s Pro Evolution Soccer is also a secondary sponsor as the official Champions League video game. Hublot is also a secondary sponsor as the official fourth official board of the competition.

For the 2018-2021 cycle, sponsors already confirmed are:

• Banco Santander
• Heineken
• MasterCard
• Nissan
• PepsiCo

Individual clubs may wear jerseys with advertising. However, only one sponsorship is permitted per jersey in addition to that of the kit manufacturer (exceptions are made for non-profit organisations), which can feature on the front of the shirt, incorporated with the main sponsor or in place of it; or on the back, either below the squad number or on the collar area.

If clubs play a match in a country where the relevant sponsorship category is restricted (such as France’s alcohol advertising restriction), then they must remove that logo from their jerseys. For example, when Rangers played French sides Auxerre and Strasbourg in the 1996–97 Champions League and the UEFA Cup, respectively, Rangers players wore the logo of Center Parcsinstead of McEwan’s Lager (both companies at the time were subsidiaries of Scottish & Newcastle).

As of 2016–17, the fixed amount of prize money paid to the clubs is as follows:

• First qualifying round: €220,000
• Second qualifying round: €320,000
• Losers third qualifying round: €420,000
• Losers play-off round: €3,000,000
• Winners play-off round: €2,000,000
• Base fee for group stage: €12,700,000
• Group match victory: €1,500,000
• Group match draw: €500,000
• Round of 16: €6,000,000
• Quarter-finals: €6,500,000
• Semi-finals: €7,500,000
• Losing finalist: €11,000,000
• Winning the Final: €15,500,000

This means that at best, a club can earn €57,200,000 of prize money under this structure, not counting shares of the qualifying rounds, play-off round and/or the market pool.

A large part of the distributed revenue from the UEFA Champions League is linked to the “market pool”, the distribution of which is determined by the value of the television market in each country. For the 2014–15 season, Juventus, who were the runners-up, earned nearly €89.1 million in total, of which €30.9 million was prize money, compared with the €61.0 million earned by Barcelona, who won the tournament and were awarded €36.4 million in prize money.

In 1991, UEFA asked its commercial partner, Television Event and Media Marketing (TEAM), to help “brand” the Champions League. This resulted in the anthem, “house colours” of black and white or silver and a logo, and the “starball”. The starball was created by Design Bridge, a London-based firm selected by TEAM after a competition. TEAM gives particular attention to detail in how the colours and starball are depicted at matches. According to TEAM, “Irrespective of whether you are a spectator in Moscow or Milan, you will always see the same stadium dressing materials, the same opening ceremony featuring the ‘starball’ centre circle ceremony, and hear the same UEFA Champions League Anthem”. Based on research it conducted, TEAM concluded that by 1999, “the starball logo had achieved a recognition rate of 94 percent among fans”.

Top UEFA Champions League scorers (excluding qualifying)
120: Cristiano Ronaldo (POR, Manchester United, Real Madrid)
100: Lionel Messi (ARG, Barcelona)
71: Raúl González (ESP, Real Madrid, Schalke)
56: Ruud van Nistelrooy (NED, PSV Eindhoven, Manchester United, Real Madrid)
53: Karim Benzema (FRA, Lyon, Real Madrid)
50: Thierry Henry (FRA, Monaco, Arsenal, Barcelona)
48: Zlatan Ibrahimović (SWE, Ajax, Juventus, Internazionale Milano, Barcelona, AC Milan, Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester United)
48: Andriy Shevchenko (UKR, Dynamo Kyiv, AC Milan, Chelsea)
46: Filippo Inzaghi (ITA, Juventus, AC Milan)
45: Robert Lewandowski (POL, Dortmund, Bayern)

• A rule introduced in 1968/69 stipulates that the cup becomes the property of any club who win the competition five times or three years in a row. The club then start a new cycle from zero. Real Madrid, Ajax, Bayern München, Milan, Liverpool and Barcelona all have a version in their trophy rooms. The rule was changed ahead of 2008/09, with the original trophy remaining with UEFA and the clubs awarded a replica.

The winners of the Champions league

The Champions League is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs. It is one of the most prestigious tournaments in the world and the most prestigious club competition in European football, played by the national league champions (and, for some nations, one or more runners-up) of the strongest UEFA national associations. The UEFA Champions League final is the most watched annual sporting event worldwide. The final of the 2012–13 tournament had the highest TV ratings to date, drawing 360 million television viewers.

Introduced in 1992, the competition replaced the European Champion Clubs’ Cup, or simply European Cup, which had run since 1955, adding a group stage to the competition and allowing multiple entrants from certain countries. The pre-1992 competition was initially a straight knockout tournament open only to the champion club of each country. During the 1990s, the format was expanded, incorporating a round-robin group stage to include clubs that finished runner-up of some nations’ top-level league. While most of Europe’s national leagues can still only enter their national league champion, Europe’s strongest national leagues now provide up to five teams for the competition. Clubs that finish next-in-line in each nation’s top level league, having not qualified for the UEFA Champions League competition, are eligible for the next-level UEFA Europa Leaguecompetition.

In its present format, the UEFA Champions League begins in mid-July with three knockout qualifying rounds and a play-off round. The 10 surviving teams enter the group stage, joining 22 other teams qualified in advance. The 32 teams are drawn into eight groups of four teams and play each other in a double round-robin system. The eight group winners and eight runners-up proceed to the knockout phase that culminates with the final match in May. The winner of the UEFA Champions League qualifies for the UEFA Super Cupand the FIFA Club World Cup.

Real Madrid is the most successful club in the competition’s history, having won the tournament 12 times, including its first five seasons. Spanish clubs have accumulated the highest number of victories (17 wins), followed by England and Italy (12 wins apiece). England has the largest number of different winning teams, with a total of 5 clubs having won the title. The competition has been won by 22 different clubs, 12 of which have won it more than once. The reigning champions are Real Madrid, who secured their twelfth title in the competition after defeating Juventus 4–1 in the 2017 final. Thus, they became the first team in the UEFA Champions League era to successfully defend their title.