UEFA Champions League

What is the UEFA Champions League?

The UEFA Champions League is the most famous and vital official football tournament in Europe at the club level.

The Champions League was known as the European Cup until the 1992/93 season. The final of the UCL is the most anticipated sporting event of the season, which is seen by more than 300 million people approximately.

In its current format, the UCL begins in late June with a preliminary round, three qualifying rounds and a play-off round, all played over two legs. The six surviving clubs enter the group stage, joining 26 clubs qualified in advance. The 32 teams are drawn into eight groups and play with each other twice.

Who are traditional favourites?

As always, several top European teams are the front-runners to claim the UEFA Champions League; Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, and Manchester City are teams that are favourites in recent years.

Real Madrid is the most extensive team in the history of this tournament: no one has ever lifted more trophies (a legendary 13 titles). In addition, they have done it to claim in three years in a row.

The Los Blancos have played a total of 51 editions of the UEFA Champions League and the European Cup, eleven more than their nearest rival, the Liga NOS giants Benfica), playing a total of 451 games in the competition, 89 more than the German heavyweights Bayern Munich, which ranks second in this standings.

Each year, the team that wins the trophy is presented with the European Champion Clubs’ Cup, Any team that won the Champions League three times in a row or five times overall will be awarded the trophy permanently. Each time a team achieved this, a new official trophy had to be forged for the following campaign. Five teams own a version of the official trophy: Real Madrid, Liverpool, AC Milan, Bayern Munich and Ajax.

UEFA Champions League odds (the 2021-22 season)

Last season’s defending champions, Chelsea, are 9.0 favourites to claim the title once again as the runner-up Man City is still on top of the betting odds ahead of the next campaign.

Man City, 3.75
Bayern Munich, 6.00
Liverpool, 9.00
Chelsea, 9.00
Man Utd, 11.00
Barcelona, 13.00
PSG, 13.00
Real Madrid, 15.00
Juventus, 21.00
Atletico Madrid, 26.00
Borussia Dortmund, 34.00
Inter Milan, 41.00
RB Leipzig, 51.00
Atalanta, 51.00
Sevilla, 67.00
AC Milan, 67.00
FC Porto, 67.00
Ajax, 67.00
Lille, 101.00