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 Milan1 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

1964–65 European Cup

The 1964–65 European Cup, the 10th season of the football club tournament, was won by Internazionale for the second time in row, in a final match against two-time former champions Benfica, making it three consecutive titles for Italy (Milan had won it in 1962–63).
Iceland entered its champion for the first time this season, while Cyprus did not enter this time around.
Before the final, Herrera spoke confidently of his teams chances ''We are now more conscious of our strength. Last year we were not so sure of ourselves. Now, with so much in our favour we know we can win well and win attractively. We hope to lead Europe for many many years''
With eight of the side that had so brilliantly defeated the great Real Madrid just three years earlier still in their line-up, however, Benfica had enough experience to know that they had every chance of spoiling the San Siro party.
Playing the mighty Internazionale in front of 89,000 of their fanatical supporters in a wet San Siro stadium, however, was to prove too much, even for a team as good as Benfica. The Portugese club had complained to UEFA beforehand at having to play Inter on their own pitch and had even threatened to send their youth team, but UEFA were never going to change the venue. Despite an inspirational performance from their captain Coluna in midfield, Benfica were undone by a single goal from Jair just before half-time when his tame shot slipped through the arms of Costa Pereira. Only one team had managed to score a European Cup goal against Inter at the San Siro that season, and that had come for Rangers when they were already three goals behind, so a solitary goal was always likely to be enough for the holders on their home ground. As expected, the door bolt was fixed firmly in place throughout the second half and, with Benfica further hampered by injury to their goalkeeper Costa Pereira which saw Germano having to take over in goal, the game petered out with the familiar score line of 1-0 to Inter. The European Cup stayed in Milan for another year and it looked as though it would take something remarkable to prise it away. Catenaccio now ruled Europe and, despite what the football world may have said about its ugliness and negativity, it was proving impossible to overcome, with Inter now holding the championships of both Europe and Italy. For many it was as though a dark cloud was hanging over the continent, but for those in and around Internazionale this was a glorious era that had no end in sight. Now they were out to collect a hat-trick of European titles, and there was no reason to think that Herrera and catenaccio would fail in their quest.

Teams that participated in the 1964-65 tournament;

Bracket;

Top scorer of the tournament Eusébio;

Eusébio da Silva Ferreira (25 January 1942 – 5 January 2014), nicknamed the "Black Panther", the "Black Pearl" or "O Rei" ("The King"), was a Portuguese footballer who played as a striker. He is considered one of the greatest players of all time as well as Benfica's best player ever. He was known for his speed, technique, athleticism and right-footed shot, making him a prolific goalscorer, accumulating 733 goals in 745 matches.


Eusébio helped Portugal reach third place at the 1966 FIFA World Cup, being the top goalscorer of the tournament with nine goals. He won the Ballon d'Or in 1965 and was runner-up in 1962 and 1966. He is Benfica's all-time top scorer with 473 goals in 440 competitive matches. There, his honours include eleven Primeira Liga titles and a European Cup, also being integral in reaching additional European Cup finals in 1963, 1965 and 1968. He is the second-highest goalscorer, behind Alfredo Di Stéfano, in the pre-Champions League era of the European Cup with 48 goals. He was the European Cup top scorer in 1964–65, 1965–66 and 1967–68. He also won the Bola de Prata for the Primeira Liga top scorer a record seven times. He was the first ever player to win the European Golden Boot, in 1968, a feat he replicated in 1973.


From his retirement until his death, Eusébio was an ambassador of football and was one of the most recognizable faces of his generation. His name often appears in best player of all time lists and polls by football critics and fans. He was elected the ninth-best footballer of the 20th century in a poll by the IFFHS and the tenth-best footballer of the 20th century in a poll by the World Soccer magazine. Pelé named Eusébio as one of the 125 best living footballers in his 2004 FIFA 100 list. He was seventh in the online poll for UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll. In November 2003, to celebrate UEFA's Jubilee, he was selected as the Golden Player of Portugal by the Portuguese Football Federation as their most outstanding player of the past 50 years. Shortly after Eusébio's death, Di Stéfano stated: "For me Eusébio will always be the best player of all time"

Here is a video that Original FIFA youtube account shared about Eusebio;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yySFaJe1yg

Here is Eusebio's skills&goals video I recommend you to watch;

References;

1. ^ "Partizani v Köln, 9 September 1964" . Union of European Football Associations. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
2. ^ "Real Madrid v Dukla Prague, 18 November 1964" . Union of European Football Associations. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
3. ^ "Real Madrid v Benfica, 17 March 1965" . Union of European Football Associations. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
4. ^ "Internazionale v Benfica, 27 May 1965" . Union of European Football Associations. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
5.  "Eusébio: Profile". worldfootball.net. HEIM:SPIEL. Archived from the original on 3 July 2019. Retrieved 22 May 2020.
6. ^ Pierrend, José Luis (29 October 2005). "Eusébio Ferreira da Silva – Goals in International Matches". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 10 March 2009.
7. ^ "Gone but not forgotten". fifa.com. FIFA. 31 December 2014. Archived from the original on 3 January 2015. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
8.  "From Africa to posterity: How Eusébio lit up the World Cup". The Guardian. 6 June 2010. Archived from the original on 24 March 2019. Retrieved 7 June 2013.
9. ^ "Eusébio". dnoticias.Pt. Archived from the original on 11 January 2014. Retrieved 11 January 2014. Segundo António Vitalino Dantas, "Eusébio foi realmente o primeiro e maior futebolista da África e de Portugal" e um "grande embaixador" de Moçambique e de Portugal e é considerado "o rei" do futebol." [According to António Vitalino Dantas, "Eusébio was actually the first and greatest footballer of Africa and Portugal" and a "great ambassador" for Mozambique and Portugal and is considered "the king" of football."]
10.  "Eusébio destaca nível de CR7". noticias-do-futebol.com. Archived from the original on 11 January 2014. Retrieved 11 January 2014. Hoje e sempre o Rei do futebol português, Eusébio ... [Now and always the king of Portuguese football, Eusébio ...]