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The
UEFA Champions
League
The
UEFA Champions
League, is a competitions
which evolved from the
European Cup. It is a
seasonal club football
competition which has been
organised by UEFA since
the year 1992 and is
exclusively for the most
successful football clubs in
Europe. The prize,, is the
most prestigious club trophy
in football today.
The
tournament
consists of several stages.
The present format begins in
mid-July with three
preliminary knockout
qualifying rounds. The sixteen
surviving teams join
sixteen seeded teams in a
group stage. Eight group
winners and eight
runners-up then go into the
final knockout stages, which
end with the
Champions League final in
May. Previously only the
champions of their
respective national league
could participate in the
competition; however,
this was changed in 1997
to allow for the runners up of
the stronger leagues
to compete in the
competition as
well.
The
Championship
has been held by a number
of different clubs, and some
have won the title on
more than one occassion.
The all-time record-holder is
Spanish club Real
Madrid who currently have
nine wins to their name.
Italian side AC Milan
have won the tournament
seven times, Liverpool FC five
times, Ajax and
Bayern Munich four times,
and Manchester United three
times.
The
present
holders are Manchester
United who won the
competition by beating
Chelsea on
penalties, in Moscow on the
21st May
2008.
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