The Champions League is 70 years old! How it went from a competition for a select few to a tournament for 36+ teams

The most interesting format of international club competitions, where Ukrainian clubs regularly participate, celebrates its 70th anniversary this year! Different names, different formats, different numbers of participants - but it has always been a fierce competition with its pros, cons and sensations. Before the start of a new era of the Champions League, it's time to remember what it was like at the beginning of the century, why not only champions play there (contrary to the name), and how the idea came about. OBOZ.UA talks about the key stages of the formation of the main club tournament on the planet and how the Champions League became what we know today.

The birth of the Champions Cup: the first clubs were invited

It's hard to imagine it today, but Europe's most elite tournament, the European Champions Cup, was invented at the suggestion of French sports journalist Gabriel Ano, editor of L'Équipe newspaper. At that time, he heard a popular opinion in England that Wolverhampton Wanderers, Hungarian Gonved and Russian Spartak were supposedly the strongest clubs in the world. Ano said that to find out who is really the strongest, we need a competition with both home and away matches. It took a year from the idea to the first match of the CEC - it all started in the fall of 1955.

The first competition was held in France. The 16 strongest teams in the main stage fought for the right to play at the Parc de France and become the first winner of the new European tournament. There was no draw - L'Équipe independently identified the worthy ones and sent them invitations. Interestingly, Chelsea was invited to participate, but the English Federation advised them to focus on the Premier League rather than international competitions. The first match of the first round took place on September 4: Portuguese Sporting and Yugoslav Partizan drew 3:3. Then the teams determined the winner based on the results of two matches, with Real Madrid and Reims reaching the final - the creamy team won 4-3. It was the beginning of their legendary five-year winning streak.

60s: the first big idea for 32 teams

The 60s became the era of scaling - with each subsequent draw, the number of tournament participants increased. It got to the point that in '67, the main grid with 32 teams started. In each round, they play paired elimination matches to reach the final. In fact, it was 2 opponents in the fall and 3 more in the spring, if the team survived until the decisive match. For example, in the period of 77-82, the audience saw Nottingham win the CEC twice in a row, and Swiss Grasshoppers stopped Real Madrid at the beginning of the tournament. This format has existed for over 20 years.

The end of an era: UEFA starts experimenting with the format

The fateful conference takes place in the early 90s. First in England and then in Italy, the UEFA Executive Committee discusses a new format for the tournament. Instead of the Olympic knockout system, it was developed to include qualification, round 1, group and playoffs. In fact, the playoffs were already the final - one winner from each of the two quartets met for the right to raise the Cup above their heads. Even our Simferopol-based Tavria tried their luck then: after defeating Shelbourne in the qualifiers, they made it to the 1st stage, where they lost to Sion. Only the national champions took part; it was not surprising to see such unusual names as Lech, Gothenburg or Akranes.

In 1993, the tournament finally changed its name to the familiar Champions League. UEFA says that at the time, fans across Europe perceived this as the breath of new football and hope for a new tournament with innovative football. The group stage was reformed in '94, and there will be 16 participants in the main draw. The usual form emerges - the group winners (already 2 each) go on to compete in the knockout stages. There will be an additional group stage for a short time, which will later be replaced by the 1/8 stage.

Starting in '97, countries will be able to delegate silver medalists of national championships, but only to the top eight UEFA associations. In three years, clubs from small countries returned, and the tournament itself now began with two qualifying rounds. Further, the number of participants will only grow, there will be an opportunity to fly to the Europa League, and there will be as many as 3 (then 4 and even 5) teams from England or Germany. This way we will have 32 quartet members and several Ukrainian fairy tales, including Lucescu and Shovkovsky.

The winner began to get into the group only 20 years ago

A very fundamental story contributed to this. Where else would it have happened but in England, between two fierce rivals in Liverpool. In the 04/05 season, Liverpool won the Champions League, but finished 5th in the Premier League. Another Merseyside club, Everton, finished fourth in England. To determine who would play in the Champions League, the Football Association of England had to convene a meeting and decided to delegate the Toffees. However, UEFA intervened and gave both teams from Liverpool a ticket, but at different stages of qualification. Then the football officials realized the injustice of this decision and now we have a rule that the winner of the Champions League automatically qualifies for the group round of the next draw, regardless of their finish in their own country.

2024: joint table instead of group stage

It would be more accurate to say that this period began in the mid-2010s. That's when the idea to make an update first flashed through, which took 6 long years to develop! Everything was ready for launch in 2024, with Ibrahimovic explaining the rules, Buffon pulling out the balls, and Ronaldo showing off by running a supercomputer to select opponents.

The Champions League has changed dramatically: instead of predictable group results and the start of the fight only in the quarterfinals, we will see the first clashes this fall. What are the repeats of the last three CL finals alone! Or both German superteams for Shakhtar, who now have no room for error in the joint table.

In short, nothing is clear yet, but it is promising; the first round even had to be extended for 3 days. The Champions League has undergone a radical transformation from a tournament of elites to a comprehensive competition where we have a bunch of teams from the same country. A situation arises where, hypothetically, the weakest can push the mid-table, even if they lose to the eternal giants. 8 matches for each team is a celebration of football and a lot of challenges for the coaching staff. That's why we love the Champions League!