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

1963–64 European Cup

The 1963–64 season of the European Cup club football tournament saw Inter Milan win the title with a 3–1 victory over Real Madrid. It was the second consecutive season that an Italian team had won the competition.
Milan, the defending champions, were eliminated by Real Madrid in the quarter-finals.
Cyprus entered its champion for the first time this season.

Teams that participated in the tournament;

Bracket;

Top scorers of the 1963-64 European Cup;

Top scorer of the tournament Vladica Kovačević;

Vladimir "Vladica" Kovačević (7 January 1940 – 28 July 2016) was a Yugoslav and Serbian footballer who played as a forward.
Born in Ivanjica, Kovačević moved to Belgrade in 1955 and joined the youth system of Partizan. He was promoted to the first team in 1958, making his official debut in a 2–1 home league win over Rijeka. During the next eight seasons, Kovačević helped Partizan win the Yugoslav First League on four occasions (1960–61, 1961–62, 1962–63, and 1964–65). He was also a member of the team that lost the 1966 European Cup Final to Real Madrid. Two years earlier, Kovačević was the competition's joint top scorer with seven goals, along with Sandro Mazzola and Ferenc Puskás.


In 1966, Kovačević moved abroad to France and signed with Nantes, spending there just one season. He subsequently returned to Yugoslavia to perform his compulsory military service and rejoined Partizan. In late 1969, Kovačević moved back to France and joined Angers.

References;

1.  "Dinamo București v Real Madrid, 13 November 1963" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
2. ^ "Real Madrid v Milan, 29 January 1964" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
3. ^ "Milan v Real Madrid, 13 February 1964" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
4. ^ "Internazionale v Real Madrid, 27 May 1964" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
5.  "Kovačević Vladimir" (in Serbian). reprezentacija.rs. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
6. ^ "Dva asa ceo vek vernosti" (in Serbian). danas.rs. 28 October 2008. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
7. ^ "Kada su divovi igrali u Humskoj" (in Serbian). rts.rs. 19 March 2018. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
8. ^ "European Champions' Cup and Fairs' Cup 1963-64 - Details". RSSSF. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
9. ^ "Sportski spomenar" (in Serbian). rts.rs. 8 May 2011. Retrieved 23 November 2019.