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

1962–63 European Cup

The 1962–63 European Cup was the eighth season of the European Cup, a football competition for European clubs. The competition was won by Milan, who beat two-time defending champions Benfica in the final at Wembley Stadium in London. Milan's victory was the first by an Italian club.
Albania entered its champion for the first time this season.

Teams that participated in the tournament;

Bracket;

Top scorers of the 1962-63 European Cup;

Top scorer of the tournament José Altafini;

José João Altafini (born 24 July 1938), also known as "Mazzola" in Brazil (as when he started to play it was noted that he resembled the Italian legend Valentino Mazzola), is an Italian-Brazilian former footballer, who played as a forward. Although he began his career with Palmeiras in Brazil, he soon moved to play football in Italy, and is mostly remembered for his highly successful stint with Italian club AC Milan, with which he achieved great domestic and international success; he later also played for Napoli and Juventus, before ending his career in Switzerland with spells at Chiasso and Mendrisiostar. A highly prolific goalscorer, Altafini also held the record for the most goals scored in a single European Cup campaign for over 50 years; he is also one of only eight players to have scored five goals in a single European Cup match. He is the joint-fourth highest scorer in Italian Serie A history (along with Giuseppe Meazza) with 216 goals, and also holds the record for being the fifth-youngest player in Serie A history to score 100 goals, a feat which he managed at the age of 24 years and 239 days. At international level, he represented both Brazil and Italy; he was a member of the Brazilian side that won the 1958 FIFA World Cup, and later also represented Italy at the 1962 FIFA World Cup.


Regarded as one of the best and most complete strikers of his generation, and as one of Serie A's and Milan's greatest ever players, Altafini was a well-rounded striker with an eye for goal, who was quick, skilful, and powerful.
He is currently a well-known football pundit on Italian TV for SKY Italia and a commentator on Italian radio for RTL 102.5. He is also the secondary commentator on Pro Evolution Soccer video games in Italy. As a pundit, he is popular and known in Italy for coining the expression "golaço" (or the Italianised "golazzo") whenever a notable goal is scored, as well as his iconic exclamation "incredibile, amici!" ("incredible, friends!"). In his career, Altafini scored 630 goals.

References;

1.  Not national champion. Qualified due to leading the 1961–62 Norwegian Main League standings at the summer break on 1 July 1962, after 21 of 30 matches had been played.
2. ^ "Dinamo București v Galatasaray, 9 September 1962" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
3. ^ "Vorwärts Berlin v Dukla Prague, 26 September 1962" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
4. ^ "Union Luxembourg v Milan, 19 September 1962" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
5. ^ "Ipswich Town v Milan, 28 November 1962". UEFA.com. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
6. ^ "Milan v Benfica, 22 May 1963" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
7. ^ "Season 1962/63 Player stats". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
8.  Carlisle, Jeff (28 February 2009). Soccer's Most Wanted™ II: The Top 10 Book of More Glorious Goals, Superb Saves, and Fantastic Free-Kicks. Potomac Books, Inc. pp. 185–. ISBN 9781597976589. Retrieved 27 November 2012.
9. "José Joao ALTAFINI ("Mazola")" (in Italian). magliarossonera.it. Retrieved 28 December 2014.
10. Stefano Bedeschi. "Gli eroi in bianconero: Josè ALTAFINI" (in Italian). TuttoJuve. Retrieved 28 December 2014.