The first tournament started in 1955 season and ended in 1956 season. At that time, it was called the European Champions Club Cup, abbreviated as the European Cup [1], and only local league champions from European Football Association member countries participated. During the period of 1990, UEFA carried out a series of reforms in the Champions League. First of all, from 199 1 season to 1992 season, the competition system with group elimination system is no longer a pure cup in the traditional sense. The following year, in the season of 1992-93, the championship was renamed as the current "European Champions League". 1997-98 season, for the first time, the second place in the stronger league was allowed to participate according to the UEFA points ranking, and then the restrictions were relaxed year by year until the top four in the top leagues such as England and Spain could participate.
rules of a contest/competition
The famous "Big Ear" Cup: the European Champions Cup Club Cup is mainly composed of three stages, including qualifying, group stage and elimination stage. Among them, scores such as qualifying goals will not be used as part of the selection of awards such as top scorer.
Make qualified
The first qualifying round is divided into four rounds, which adopts the elimination system of subject and object, and sets the visiting team's goal discount. Teams participating in the qualifiers will be arranged at different stages of the qualifiers according to the five-year points of the UEFA system and the strength of each team. In the first round, the teams participating in the competition were mainly the league champions with the lowest strength (such as Faroe Islands, Kazakhstan and Luxembourg). In the second and third rounds, they will join the champions in minor leagues (such as Scotland, Denmark and Sweden), and in the third and fourth rounds, they will join the top teams in the top leagues. The winning team can qualify for the group stage.
group match
There are 32 teams participating in the group competition. The draw is divided into eight groups, with four teams in each group (teams from the same country will not be divided into the same group). The competition is played in the form of double round robin. The winner gets three points, the winner gets one point, and the loser gets zero point. The first and second place in the group can advance to the quarterfinals. The third place will go to the UEFA Cup (UEFA Cup after 20 10). If two or more teams in a group have the same score, the winners will be determined in turn according to the following criteria:
The side with better performance in the relevant team competition;
The team with higher score in the competition;
The side with more goals scored by the visiting team in the related team competition;
This team always scores better goals;
A team with better overall goals;
According to UEFA's "ranking coefficient".
elimination game
1/4 finals, 1/4 finals (1/4 finals) and semi-finals (semi-finals) are held in two rounds, with the goal of preferential treatment for guests. The eighth final will be decided by drawing lots, but according to the following criteria:
The name of this group must be the second name of another group;
Teams from the same country will not meet, but the defending teams participating in the competition according to special terms are not subject to this restriction;
The first leg will be played at the home of the second place in the group.
After the team that advanced to the 1/4 finals is produced, the opposing team will be drawn and the promotion table of the 1/4 finals will be determined. There is no group ranking, national differences or home and away restrictions in this lucky draw.
final
The final will be held in the neutral stadium. The two teams will play and will go into overtime. If overtime is played, the penalty exchange will decide the outcome. The winner of the final is the champion of this season's UEFA Champions League, who can participate in the World Champions Club Cup, the European Super Cup in the same year and the UEFA Champions League next season.
Qualifications and other rules
The number of places in the European Champions League is arranged according to a scoring system established by UEFA, and the performance of each league club in various international or European competitions in the past five years is calculated through the index, and the number of places is allocated accordingly. At present, the top two leagues such as La Liga, Serie A, Premier League, Bundesliga and Ligue 1 can qualify directly. The fourth place in La Liga, Serie A and Premier League needs to participate in the qualifiers held at the beginning of each season, while only the third place in Bundesliga and Ligue 1 can participate in the qualifiers (as of 2009). However, other leagues with lower levels only have direct participation places, or even only qualifying places, and the champion teams in some emerging football countries may rely on the less demanding UEFA Cup to achieve ideal results to improve their indicators and qualify for seat allocation.
Liverpool won the championship for the fifth time in 2005. Unfortunately, they are ranked fifth in the Premier League (only the top four players can participate in the European Champions Cup) and cannot advance to the next tournament. Therefore, they can't participate in the next tournament in principle, which has aroused great concern. At one time, the Welsh League champion network-wide solution once proposed to play a friendly match with Liverpool in exchange for qualification, but the result was opposed by the Welsh Football Association and UEFA. In the end, FIFA ruled that Liverpool can participate in this tournament, but it needs to start from the first round. Uefa revised the rules of the European champions league. If this happens again in the future (failing to qualify for the European Champions Cup in the domestic league), if the defending champion national team wins the quota of 1-3, the defending champion can get an extra quota. If the defending champion country gets four places, the defending champion can get one place, but it ranks fourth. However, Liverpool failed to grasp this offer, and was eliminated by Benfica 3-0 in the eighth final, and failed to defend its title.
New competition system
On June 30th, 2007, 165438+ European Football Association decided to introduce a new competition system in the 2009/ 10 season. The biggest change is that the qualifiers are divided into two parts, one for the champions of low-level leagues and the other for the non-champions of high-level leagues. In addition, the top leagues have gained more direct qualifications.
Team lineup
According to UEFA regulations, each team must submit the list of players participating in this season's competition before the deadline. This list is divided into two parts. In the first part, the total number of A-level players does not exceed 25, and there are no other restrictions. The second part has no limit on the total number of B-level players, but they must be under 22 years old and have been registered in the team for more than two seasons since 15 years old. The main purpose is to encourage teams to pay attention to their own youth training system.
When the winter transfer window closes every season, each team that has been eliminated can add three players. If the total number of A-level players exceeds 25, the registered players must be disqualified accordingly. Of these three extra players, only one can be allowed to represent other teams in the UEFA European League in the same season, and the other two are not allowed to represent other teams in any European club competition in the same season. [3]
theme song
According to the regulations of the European Football Association, the theme song of the Champions League must be broadcast live 3 minutes before the competition on each competition day. The theme song of Champions League is passionate, solemn and magnificent. 1992, Tony Breeden composed the song Champions League based on Handel's coronation ode Reverend Zadoc. English, French and German phrases "major events", "These are men", "These are champions" and "champions" appear repeatedly in this song. This song is played by Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, England, and sung by the choir of St Martin's College.
National anthem of the European Champions League [4]
Composer: British composer Tony Britton.
Time: 1992
Chorus: the field chorus of St. Martin's College.
Performance: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
Original song: "Pastor Zadoc" Pastor Zadok (from "Coronation Carol"), chanted style.
Composer: Handel (British, German-born, 1685-1759),18th century Baroque composer.
Time: 1727
sponsor
The logo of the Champions League is displayed before the game, just like the World Cup. The European Champions League will also be sponsored by some big companies, and it is also related to some events such as the Premier League, the Libertadores Cup of South America, Serie A, etc. When the European Champions Cup 1992 was established, it was stipulated that there could be a maximum of 8 sponsors in each session, which would be displayed on billboards in venues, and sponsors would visit before and after the games. We should also cooperate with TV broadcasters to ensure that sponsors can get the most coal for advertising. [5]
The following companies sponsored UEFA competitions:
Ford Motor Company (USA)
Heineken beer (Netherlands-note: excluding France where alcohol is banned)
MasterCard (USA)
Sony (Japan)
The PlayStation series is owned by Sony and one of its sponsors.
Vodafone Vodafone (Netherlands)
UniCrdeit (Italy)
Adidas (Germany) sponsors football used by UEFA. Adidas provides football for every Champions League and UEFA Cup match.
KONAMI's football games PES2009 and PES20 10 have become the official designated games of the European Football Champions League. Players can manipulate their favorite teams to participate in the Champions League and friendship matches. The game truly restores many factors such as the stadium, players and fans. Let the players feel that they are in the exciting Champions League.