[14] Three years later, in 1900, the champions of Belgium, Netherlands and Switzerland, which were the only existing leagues in continental Europe at the time, participated in the Coupe Van der Straeten Ponthoz, thus being dubbed as the "club championship of the continent" by the local newspapers.

[19] After receiving reports from his journalists over the highly successful South American Championship of Champions of 1948, Gabriel Hanot, editor of L'Équipe, began proposing the creation of a continent-wide tournament.

[23][24] Sixteen teams participated (some by invitation): AC Milan (Italy), AGF Aarhus (Denmark), Anderlecht (Belgium), Djurgården (Sweden), Gwardia Warszawa (Poland), Hibernian (Scotland), Partizan (Yugoslavia), PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands), Rapid Wien (Austria), Real Madrid (Spain), Rot-Weiss Essen (West Germany), Saarbrücken (Saar), Servette (Switzerland), Sporting CP (Portugal), Reims (France) and Vörös Lobogó (Hungary).

[23][24] The inaugural final took place at the Parc des Princes between Stade de Reims and Real Madrid on 13 June 1956.

[28][29] The final, held in Heysel Stadium, went to extra time where Francisco Gento scored the game-winning goal to allow Real Madrid to retain the title for the third consecutive season.

[34][35][36] Reinforced by Eusébio, Benfica defeated Real Madrid 5–3 at the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam and kept the title for a second consecutive season.

[36][37][38] Benfica wanted to repeat Real Madrid's successful run of the 1950s after reaching the showpiece event of the 1962–63 European Cup, but a brace from Brazilian-Italian José Altafini at Wembley gave the spoils to Milan, making the trophy leave the Iberian Peninsula for the first time ever.

[39][40][41] Inter Milan beat an ageing Real Madrid 3–1 at the Ernst-Happel-Stadion to win the 1963–64 season and replicate their local-rival's success.

[42][43][44] The title stayed in Milan for the third year in a row after Inter beat Benfica 1–0 at their home ground, the San Siro.

[50] The 1967–68 season saw Manchester United become the first English team to win the European Cup, beating two-times winners Benfica 4–1 in the final.

[51] This final came ten years after the Munich air disaster, which had claimed the lives of eight United players and left their manager, Matt Busby, fighting for his life.

[61][62] UEFA commissioned Britten in 1992 to arrange an anthem, and the piece was performed by London's Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and sung by the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields.

[61] Stating that "the anthem is now almost as iconic as the trophy", UEFA's official website adds it is "known to set the hearts of many of the world's top footballers aflutter".

[64] The anthem's chorus is played before each UEFA Champions League game as the two teams are lined up, as well as at the beginning and end of television broadcasts of the matches.

These versions were performed by Andrea Bocelli (Italian; Rome 2009, Milan 2016 and Cardiff 2017), Juan Diego Flores (Spanish; Madrid 2010), All Angels (Wembley 2011), Jonas Kaufmann and David Garrett (Munich 2012) and Mariza (Lisbon 2014).

[68] The anthem has been released commercially in its original version on iTunes and Spotify with the title of Champions League Theme.

[69] In 1991, UEFA asked its commercial partner, Television Event and Media Marketing (TEAM), to help brand the Champions League.

Based on research it conducted, TEAM concluded that by 1999, "the starball logo had achieved a recognition rate of 94 percent among fans".

In 2005–06, Liverpool and Artmedia Bratislava became the first teams to reach the Champions League group stage after playing in all three qualifying rounds.

Real Madrid and Barcelona hold the record for the most appearances in the group stage, having qualified 25 times, followed by Porto and Bayern Munich on 24.

UEFA gave special dispensation for Liverpool to enter the Champions League, giving England five qualifiers.

[73] UEFA subsequently ruled that the defending champions qualify for the competition the following year regardless of their domestic league placing.

[77] In 2007, Michel Platini, the UEFA president, had proposed taking one place from the three leagues with four entrants and allocating it to that nation's cup winners.

After the round of 16 the competition follows the traditional knockout format with quarter-finals, semi-finals (both two legged and without association draw protection) and then the final at a venue chosen prior to the season.

The format of the remainder of the tournament was temporarily amended as a result, with the quarter-finals and semi-finals being played as single match knockout ties at neutral venues in Lisbon, Portugal in the summer with the final taking place on 23 August 2020.

It was designed by Jürg Stadelmann, a jeweller from Bern, Switzerland, after the original was given to Real Madrid in 1966 in recognition of their six titles to date, and cost 10,000 Swiss francs.

When the Champions League was created in 1992, it was decided that a maximum of eight companies should be allowed to sponsor the event, with each corporation being allocated four advertising boards around the perimeter of the pitch, as well as logo placement at pre- and post-match interviews and a certain number of tickets to each match.

[96] Exceptions are made for non-profit organisations, which can feature on the front of the shirt, incorporated with the main sponsor or in place of it; or on the back, either below the squad number or on the collar area.

For example, when Rangers played French side Auxerre in the 1996–97 Champions League, they wore the logo of the holiday chain Center Parcs instead of their primary sponsor, McEwan's Lager (both companies at the time were subsidiaries of Scottish & Newcastle).

[109] The final of the 2012–13 tournament had the competition's highest TV ratings to date, drawing approximately 360 million television viewers.