The UEFA Champions League (historically known as the European Cup and mostly abbreviated worldwide as the UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competition winners through a round robin group stage to qualify for a double-legged knockout format, and a single leg final. It is the most watched club competition in the world and the third-most watched football competition overall, behind only the UEFA European Championship and the FIFA World Cup. It is one of the most prestigious football 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 their national associations.
Introduced in 1955 as the Coupe des Clubs Champions Européens (French for European Champion Clubs' Cup), and commonly known as the European Cup, it was initially a straight knockout tournament open only to the champions of Europe's domestic leagues, with its winner reckoned as the European club champion. The competition took on its current name and format in 1992, adding a round-robin group stage in 1991 and allowing multiple entrants from certain countries since the 1997–98 season. It has since been expanded, and while most of Europe's national leagues can still only enter their champion, the strongest leagues now provide up to four teams. Clubs that finish next-in-line in their national league, having not qualified for the Champions League, are eligible for the second-tier UEFA Europa League competition, and since 2021, for the third-tier UEFA Europa Conference League.
In its present format, the Champions League begins in late June with a preliminary round, three qualifying rounds and a play-off round, all played over two legs. The six surviving teams enter the group stage, joining 26 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 late May or early June. The winner of the Champions League automatically qualifies for the following year's Champions League, the UEFA Super Cup, the FIFA Club World Cup and as of 2024 the new FIFA Intercontinental Cup which serves as a replacement for the previous annual format of the Club World Cup.(This format will be changed once again as of 2024)
Spanish clubs have the highest number of victories (19 wins), followed by England (15 wins) and Italy (12 wins). England has the largest number of winning teams, with six clubs having won the title. The competition has been won by 23 clubs, 13 of which have won it more than once, and eight successfully defended their title. Real Madrid is the most successful club in the tournament's history, having won it 14 times and the only club to have won it three times consecutively (in the years 2016, 2017 and 2018), which occurred with Zinedine Zidane as head coach. Only one club has won all of their matches in a single tournament en route to the tournament victory: Bayern Munich in the 2019–20 season. Manchester City are the current European champions, having beaten Inter Milan 1–0 in the 2023 final for their first title.


Cristiano Ronaldo holds the records for most appearances (183), goals (140) and assists (42). Here the link is that has all Cristiano Ronaldo's (GOAT) UCL goals;
https://youtu.be/UK5cu3LJ9qk?si=6gxD9mAmbjZ6KBse

Here are the UEFA Champions League winners up to the 2023-2024 season:

1955-56: Real Madrid
1956-57: Real Madrid 1957-58: Real Madrid 1958-59: Real Madrid 1959-60: Real Madrid 1960-61: Benfica 1961-62: Real Madrid 1962-63: AC Milan 1963-64: Inter Milan
1964-65: Inter Milan
1965-66: Real Madrid 1966-67: Celtic 1967-68: Manchester United 1968-69: AC Milan 1969-70: Feyenoord 1970-71: Ajax 1971-72: Ajax 1972-73: Ajax 1973-74: Bayern Munich 1974-75: Bayern Munich 1975-76: Bayern Munich 1976-77: Liverpool 1977-78: Liverpool 1978-79: Nottingham Forest 1979-80: Nottingham Forest 1980-81: Liverpool 1981-82: Aston Villa 1982-83: Hamburg 1983-84: Liverpool1984-85: Juventus1985-86: Steaua Bucharest 1986-87: FC Porto 1987-88: PSV Eindhoven 1988-89: AC Milan 1989-90: AC Milan 1990-91: Red Star Belgrade 1991-92: FC Barcelona 1992-93: Marseille 1993-94: AC Milan 1994-95: Ajax 1995-96: Juventus 1996-97: Borussia Dortmund 1997-98: Real Madrid 1998-99: Manchester United1999-00: Real Madrid 2000-01: Bayern Munich 2001-02: Real Madrid 2002-03: AC Milan 2003-04: FC Porto 2004-05: Liverpool 2005-06: FC Barcelona 2006-07: AC Milan 2007-08: Manchester United 2008-09: FC Barcelona 2009-10: FC Internazionale Milano (Inter Milan) 2010-11: FC Barcelona 2011-12: Chelsea 2012-13: Bayern Munich 2013-14: Real Madrid 2014-15: FC Barcelona 2015-16: Real Madrid 2016-17: Real Madrid 2017-18: Real Madrid 2018-19: Liverpool2019-20: Bayern Munich 2020-21: Chelsea2021-22: Real Madrid 2022-23: Manchester City

Let's look at the details of 1958–59 European Cup

The 1958–59 European Cup was the fourth season of the European Cup, Europe's premier club football tournament. The competition was won by Real Madrid, who beat Reims 2–0 in the final at Neckarstadion, Stuttgart, on 3 June 1959. This was Real Madrid's fourth European Cup title in a row. The two finalists also competed in the final of the first European Cup in 1956.
It was the first time that a team from Finland participated, while Turkey's representative returned to the competition in the presence of Beşiktaş. They were drawn againts Olympiacos, but Greece's first ever entrants withdrew for political reasons before playing their first tie.
Also, Manchester United were invited to the competition following Munich air disaster in the previous season, but were not allowed to participate by the Football League, meaning that first ever walkovers took place in the UEFA organised competition. Had they played, England would be first nation in European Cup history to have more than one team in the competition, apart from title holder's association.

Teams that participated in the tournament;

A total of 28 teams were placed in the competition bracket, but finally only 26 participated.
Spain continued to be represented by its runners-up, as its champions Real Madrid had already qualified as holders. This was the first time that Rapid Wien and AGF Aarhus failed to qualify for the tournament, which made Real Madrid the only club to appear in all four editions of European Cup. Wiener Sport-Club, Standard Liège, Kjøbenhavns Boldklub, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Helsingin Palloseura, Schalke 04, Drumcondra, Juventus, Jeunesse Esch, VV DOS, Ards, Polonia Bytom, Petrolul Ploiești, Hearts, Atlético Madrid, IFK Göteborg, Beşiktaş and NK Dinamo Zagreb made their debut in the competition.
All entrants were their respective associations champions, except for KB, Manchester United, Polonia Bytom and Atlético Madrid.

Bracket;

Top scorers of the 1958-59 European Cup;

Top scorer of the tournament Just Louis Fontaine;

Just Louis Fontaine (18 August 1933 – 28 February 2023) was a French professional footballer who played as a striker. He scored the most goals ever in a single edition of the FIFA World Cup, with thirteen in six matches in the 1958 FIFA World Cup tournament. In March 2004, Pelé named him one of the 125 Greatest Living Footballers at a FIFA Awards Ceremony.

I highly recommend you to watch a mini documentary about Louis Fontaine that shared by FIFA's official youtube account;

https://youtu.be/74Z6ysO7GzQ?si=R4Cgf6DNT8-SuOVh

Also you can watch his skills and goals video that shared on youtube;

https://youtu.be/x-s_qOkqV9Q?si=-QoIgdrlaF4YLUqC

References;

1.  Corriere dello Sport, 3 July 1958.
2. ^ Manchester United was in pot 2 because they could not play against an English club before the round of 16.
3. ^ Corriere dello Sport.
4. ^ Gardner, Stewart (18 September 2018). "United's lost 'European Cup' tie with Young Boys". ManUtd.com. Manchester United. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
5. ^ "Standard Liège v Hearts, 3 September 1958" . Union of European Football Associations. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
6.  "Entreprise Fab Amenagement Constructions Sports" [Company Fab Amenagement Constructions Sports] (in French). Manageo. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
7. "Just Fontaine". BFM Business (in French). Retrieved 2 February 2019.
8. ^ Kaufman, Michelle. "Countdown to the World Cup – Total Soccer, Fútbol Total". MiamiHerald.com. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
9. a b "Pele's list of the greatest". BBC Sport. 4 March 2004. Retrieved 18 November 2013.
10. ^ "1958 FIFA World Cup star: Just Fontaine". Retrieved 31 December 2016.