With a history stretching back over 60 years, Champions League is an essential part of football’s symphony and has spawned some of the sport’s greatest names, including the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Arsenal and Liverpool. Originally open to champion clubs only, the competition has evolved over the years and today – with globalising forces of sponsorship and television pushing in – it is a tournament that can be watched and enjoyed by fans from all across the world.

Initially it was a simple knockout competition but in the 1990s the format changed to introduce a group stage and to allow more than one team from the same country to participate, leading to a system similar to that of a football league. In the current version, teams are drawn into four pools and face each other home and away (earning three points for a win and one point for a draw – just as they would in their domestic leagues or at a World Cup) and the top two from each pool progress to the quarterfinals.

A single-game semifinal and a final are played, with the winners crowned champions of Europe. The titleholders get to keep the famous trophy and, with the exception of Manchester United in 1968 and Liverpool in 1977 – who were able to claim the crown for two successive years – it has mostly been held by the continent’s best clubs. Milan, for example, under Fabio Capello and later Carlo Ancelotti, were early dominators with wins in 1994, 2003 and 2007 as they demonstrated the art of playing world-class soccer by combining solid defence with devastating attack.