X-Nico

3 unusual facts about UEFA Champions League


European Champions Cup

UEFA Champions League, formerly known as the "European Cup", a football (soccer) club tournament

John Graham Davies

In Spring 2009, Graham-Davies' play 'Beating Berlusconi', based on Liverpool FC's remarkable 2005 UEFA Champions League victory over AC Milan began touring across venues on Merseyside including the Unity Theatre in Liverpool, and has subsequently toured internationally, with a Norwegian production opening in the autumn of 2011.

One Day in Europe

The Champions League match between Galatasaray and Deportivo La Coruña which takes place in Moscow on that particular day only worsens the problem.


1960 European Cup Final

The 1960 European Cup Final was the fifth final in the history of the European Cup, and was contested between Real Madrid of Spain and Eintracht Frankfurt of Germany.

1992–93 Rangers F.C. season

Rangers became the first British club to the club appear in the UEFA Champions League after defeating Danish side Lyngby BK and Leeds United in a match dubbed the Battle of Britain.

2000 in association football

UEFA Champions League: Spanish giants Real Madrid and Valencia faced off in the first ever all-country European cup final with Madrid winning 3-0.

2004 Intercontinental Cup

The 2004 Intercontinental Cup was a football match that took place on 12 December 2004 between Porto of Portugal, winners of 2003–04 UEFA Champions League, and Once Caldas of Colombia, winners of the 2004 Copa Libertadores.

Adriano Pimenta

During the away leg of the qualifying match for the 2005/06 Champions League group stage against Malmö FF Adriano scored the deciding goal in Thun's 1:0 win.

Allan Johnston

At the end of the 1999–00 season, having not featured for Sunderland in the entire campaign, Johnston moved to Rangers on a free transfer, scoring on his debut in a Champions League qualifying match against FBK Kaunas.

André Bergdølmo

He made his debut for F.C. Copenhagen in a match against FC Nordsjælland on 31 July 2005, and his last match for the club was an UEFA Champions League match in Group F against Scottish Celtic on 26 September 2006.

Claudemir de Souza

In Copenhagen's next UEFA Champions League campaign, in the 2013-14 season, Claudemir scored a late goal in the 3-1 loss against Galatasaray at Türk Telekom Arena on 23 October 2013.

Coen Moulijn

Coenraadt "Coen" Moulijn OON (15 February 1937 – 4 January 2011) was a Dutch footballer who played for Feyenoord from 1955 to 1972 and was part of their European Cup victory in 1970.

Dupnitsa

Marek finished with a victory of 2:0 over the current UEFA Champions League holder - FC Bayern Munich at a football match at Marek's home stadium - Bonchuk Stadium as part of the 1977–78 UEFA Cup.

Elek Schwartz

After this Benfica overcame Real Madrid in the quarterfinals of the European Cup of Champions and eventually even made it all the way to the final, where the "Eagles" had to yield to the masters of the Catenaccio, the Helenio Herrera coached team of Inter Milan, if just 0-1.

Eren Derdiyok

On 27 August 2008, he scored the winning goal in FC Basel's 2–1 win over Vitória S.C. at St. Jakob-Park which meant that Basel qualified for the UEFA Champions League.

France Football European Team of the Year

In 1970 after winning the domestic double (Scottish League and Scottish League Cup) and getting to the European Cup Final of 1970, Celtic F.C. were presented with European Team of the Year by France Football.

Generali Arena

Sparta was hit by a 55,000 CHF fine from European football governing body UEFA in 2001 following racist slurs from the crowd targeted at black Brazilian Luis Robson in a UEFA Champions League match at Letna against Spartak Moscow.

Gordon Chisholm

As Rangers had already qualified for the UEFA Champions League qualifiers through their Scottish Premier League position, Queens entered the 2008–09 UEFA Cup competition, being drawn in a qualification round against Danish club FC Nordsjælland.

Graham Carey

Carey was due to play on the left wing in Bohemians Champions League qualifiers against the Austria Champions Red Bull Salzburg but the loan deal could not be extended in time.

History of Arsenal F.C.

Under current manager Arsène Wenger, Arsenal have won two more Doubles and the league unbeaten, and reached the UEFA Champions League final for the first time in their history, as well as moving to the new Emirates Stadium in 2006.

Ivan Bebek

Bebek is considered the best Croatian referee and is the only Croatian referee who supervised two UEFA Champions League group stage matches (Lazio v. Werder Bremen during the 2007–08 season and Bordeaux v. CFR Cluj in the 2008–09 season).

Jacob Mellis

Mellis made his only senior appearance for Chelsea against MŠK Žilina in the UEFA Champions League on 23 November 2010, coming off the bench to replace Josh McEachran in added time.

Joaquín Sánchez

In the following campaign's UEFA Champions League, Joaquín appeared in all six group stage games for Betis, including the 1–0 triumph over Chelsea and a 0–0 draw against Liverpool, at Anfield (third-place finish, UEFA Cup "demotion").

John Edward Smith

Still, Benfica led was able to win the 1949-50 Primeira Liga, and the biggest success of Ted Smith, the Latin Cup, the predecessor of UEFA Champions League, contested by Latin European nations of France, Italy, Spain and Portugal, in a tournament organized at the end of the season, defeating Bordeaux at Estádio Nacional.

Juan Gutiérrez Moreno

In 2004–05 he netted four goals in 33 games, as Betis achieved qualification honours to the UEFA Champions League, while also winning the 2005 domestic cup.

Ken Mulhearn

Mulhearn started the following season as first choice, but was dropped following a European Cup defeat to Fenerbahçe, in which his failure to claim a cross resulted in a winning goal for the Turkish side, leading Malcolm Allison to blame him for the defeat.

Knut Torbjørn Eggen

During his later years, he also worked frequently as a commentator and match analyst with Norwegian TV channel Viasat 4 as part of the channel's coverage of the UEFA Champions League.

Kostas Mendrinos

Until the end of 2013 Mendrinos has 11 international appearances with Olympiakos and Aris in UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League.

Kristinn Jakobsson

He has been a FIFA-listed referee since 1997, but did not referee his first UEFA Champions League qualifying match until August 2001, when he took charge of a second qualifying round match between Sloga Jugomagnat and Steaua Bucureşti.

Ligue de Football Professionnel

Another committee, which monitored professional clubs and the status of professional players also existed during this time and was headed by Gabriel Hanot, who was later responsible for the creation of the European Cup, now the UEFA Champions League.

Luís Martins

He made his official debut for the club on 2 November 2011, starting in a UEFA Champions League group stage game against FC Basel and being replaced at the hour-mark of the 1–1 home draw by Miguel Vítor.

Martí Riverola

On 7 December Riverola made his first official appearance for the main squad, coming on as a substitute for Sergi Roberto in the dying minutes of a 4–0 home success against FC BATE Borisov for the season's UEFA Champions League.

Mertan Caner Öztürk

On July 6, 2012 Mertan Caner Öztürk was brought to the A squad by Fatih Terim and will be training in the camp in Austria alongside Semih Kaya, Tomáš Ujfaluši, Milan Baroš, Fernando Muslera, and the rest of the Galatasaray squad so they can prepare for the Süper Lig, Turkish Cup and the UEFA Champions League.

Michael Mols

However, during a UEFA Champions League clash against FC Bayern Munich, he collided with opposing goalkeeper Oliver Kahn, which resulted in a serious knee injury – in the same competition, he previously helped his club crush PSV Eindhoven 4–1 at home by scoring twice, whilst in the league, he put four past former Ranger Andy Goram's Motherwell.

Mohamed Salah

He made his official Basel debut in a UEFA Champions League preliminary stage match against the Norwegian club Molde on 8 August, coming on as a substitute in the 74th minute.

Olimpia Elbląg

Most famous players which career has started in Olimpia youth teams are: Adam Fedoruk (former Poland International, UEFA Champions League participant with Legia Warsaw), Bartosz Białkowski (Southampton F.C. goalkeeper) and Maciej Bykowski (former Panathinaikos Athens player).

Oliver Norwood

2009–10 was a big season for Norwood, as he made the full step up to the reserve team and also received his first call-up to the first-team for their Champions League group stage match away to Wolfsburg.

Paul Walsh

As Liverpool's campaign to defend the European Cup gathered pace, Walsh scored crucial goals in the latter stages of the competition, including two in the quarter-finals against Austria Vienna, missing out on a hat-trick when the opposing goalkeeper Friedrich Koncilia saved his penalty.

Plaza de Cibeles

The fountain of Cibeles has been adopted by the football club Real Madrid, whose fans use the area to celebrate its triumphs in competitions such as La Liga, the Champions League or the Copa del Rey.

Scott Nisbet

He scored what was described as a lucky goal against Club Brugge on March 17, 1993 in the 1992-93 UEFA Champions League, when his deflected effort towards goal went over the Brugge goalkeeper Dany Verlinden before going into the net.

Simon Brotherton

In 1990 Brotherton joined the BBC network, where, as well as commentating on the Premier League, he has commentated on a variety of football tournaments including the FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 1996, UEFA Euro 2000, UEFA Euro 2004, the African Cup of Nations, the UEFA Champions League Final and the UEFA Cup Final.

Símun Samuelsen

On 20 July 2010 he scored a goal for HB Tórshavn in the UEFA Champions League match against FC Red Bull Salzburg, the match was played in Tórshavn.

Vladimir Jugović

Born in Milutovac, a village near Trstenik, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia, Jugović played throughout his career for numerous top European teams, winning the Champions League twice (with Red Star Belgrade and Juventus).

Volkswagen Arena

The stadium hosted Wolfsburg's first ever game in the Champions League along with their first win in the UEFA Champions League when Brazilian striker Grafite scored a hat-trick against CSKA Moscow, beating them 3–1, on 15 September 2009.

Yael Averbuch

After the end of the 2011 WPS season and suspension of the league, Averbuch headed to Moscow, Russia for a month to join WFC Rossiyanka for the quarterfinal of the UEFA Champions League.

You're On Sky Sports

The program usually aired at 10pm either the night of a UEFA Champions League match or a Premier League match that is aired on Sky Sports.

Zakaria Bakkali

After Bakkali's superb Champions League-debut, Belgium coach Marc Wilmots selected him in the 25-man squad in the friendly-game against France.

Zdeněk Ščasný

Ščasný took over in the middle of Panathinaikos' UEFA Champions League campaign, and with two impressive draws against Arsenal, another draw in Norway against Rosenborg and a resounding win over PSV Eindhoven in Athens, Ščasný guided the Greek side to finish 3rd in a difficult group, thus moving them to the UEFA Cup.


see also

1997–98 UEFA Champions League knockout stage

The knockout stage of the 1997–98 UEFA Champions League began on 4 March 1998 and ended with the final at the Amsterdam ArenA in Amsterdam on 20 May 1998.

2006–07 West Ham United F.C. season

1. Since the finalists of the 2006–07 FA Cup (Manchester United and Chelsea) and the League Cup winners (Chelsea) had already qualified for the 2007–08 UEFA Champions League through their Premier League positions, their 2007–08 UEFA Cup places were given to the 6th- and 7th-placed Premier League teams.

2011–12 in Welsh football

Cefn Druids, playing in the 2011–12 Cymru Alliance, will qualify for the first qualifying round of the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League, even though they lost to The New Saints (themselves qualifiers for the UEFA Champions League), in the final of the 2011–12 Welsh Cup
.

BTV Action

the final of the UEFA Champions League was aired in 3D.

European Champions Cup

European Champion Clubs' Cup, the cup given to the winners of the UEFA Champions League

Mihai Neșu

In the season 2006–2007 Steaua with Mihai as a titular player eliminated Standard Liège and succeeded after 10 years to qualify in UEFA Champions League groups in a group with Real Madrid, Olympique Lyonnais and Dynamo Kiev.

Miralem Pjanić

On 29 September 2010, Pjanić scored his first goal of the season in the team's 3–1 win over Israeli club Hapoel Tel Aviv in the UEFA Champions League.