UEFA Champions League Winners List (1955-2022)

The UEFA Champions League has been one of soccer’s main fan attractions for a number of decades.

Getting to see the best European teams battle it out against each other on the biggest stage is simply something to marvel.

This competition used to be known as the European Cup, but it underwent a rebrand when the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) decided to go ahead with the name change that commenced from the 1992-1993 season.

It comprises teams who are the league champions in all UEFA member associations (apart from Lichtenstein that doesn’t have a league competition), not to mention the clubs that finish in second to fourth place in the world’s strongest leagues.

One of the things that makes this tournament so popular is the fact that teams must play in a group stage format before advancing on to the higher-stakes knockout rounds.

Because of the high concentration of talented teams involved, progressing to the latter stages is immensely difficult and a lot of players hold this competition in very high regard because of its sporting quality.

With all that said, here’s a full list of winners of this competition since it was introduced to the world in 1955:

Who has won the most Champions League titles?

Naturally, you’d be quite curious to know which team has dominated the world’s most prestigious cup competition.

So, we’ll get straight to the point!

Real Madrid holds the trophy for having won the most UEFA Champions League titles, as they’ve taken first prize in the competition a total of 14 times.

In recent years, the Spanish giants have performed supremely well in this competition.

This is because they’ve managed to finish as victors four out of five times between 2013 and 2018.

More so, they managed to attain “La Decima” status when they won the UEFA Champions League/ European Cup for the tenth time in their history with a 4-1 win over arch-rivals Atletico Madrid in the 2014 final.

When you reflect on these records more carefully, you’ll notice how astonishing they are.

Such feats are especially impressive due to the considerable quality of teams involved in the tournament.

For instance, state-backed clubs like Manchester City and Paris Saint Germain – who have an almost endless amount of financial resources – have been participating in this competition for several years now.

And none of the aforementioned clubs have managed to win the Champions League on even a single occasion.

That in itself is a testament to how good Real Madrid’s sporting capabilities are.

Who are the top 10 Champions League winners?

Following on from Real Madrid’s impressive 13-time winning tally, there are a bunch of other clubs who have won this competition on multiple occasions.

The top 10 Champions League winners include:

• Real Madrid;
• AC Milan;
• Liverpool;
• Bayern Munich;
• Barcelona;
• Ajax;
• Inter Milan; 
• Manchester United;
• Juventus; and 
• S.L. Benfica 

For a more detailed breakdown of the winning tallies of each club listed above, check out the following table:

Which club first won the Champions League?

Now, there are two ways in which this question can be answered.

This is because in a literal sense, the first edition of the UEFA Champions League took place in the 1992-1993 season.

In this year, the trophy was lifted by Olympique de Marseille, who emerged 1-0 victors at the expense of AC Milan.

The match was played at the Olympiastadion in Germany, with approximately 64,400 fans in attendance that day.

However, if you interpret the question above to include European Champion Clubs’ Cup results from the 1991-1992 season all the way back to the 1955-1956 campaign, then the answer will be different.

In this case, Real Madrid were the first winners as they defeated the French side Stade de Reims in a final that took place at the Parc de Princes in Paris.

Which English team has won the most Champions Leagues?

A lot of fans who grew up in an era dominated by an Alex Ferguson-led Manchester United team would instinctively think that this English club had won the most Champions League trophies.

Well, that’s not quite the case!

Instead…

Liverpool are the English team with the most UEFA Champions League wins, as they’ve lifted this trophy on six separate occasions.

These Champions League final victories came in each of the following campaigns:

• 1976/1977;
• 1977/1978;
• 1980/1981;
• 1983/1984;
• 2004/2005; and
• 2018/2019

Their most recent triumph saw them defeat Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 in a cagey game where Mohamed Salah’s penalty in the 2nd minute was the ultimate difference maker.

Who are the managers with the most Champions League wins?

Coaches can be analyzed in the same way with regard to how many Champions League wins they’ve picked up in their careers.

Here’s how that looks like:

Carlo Ancelotti tops the list with his most recent addition, followed closely by Zinedine Zidane and Bob Paisley who’ve managed three wins each.

Pep Guardiola, Sir Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho – all managers with insane coaching pedigree – follow closely behind with each of them having two Champions League trophies under their belts.

Closing thoughts

This article has offered major insight into all the historic Champions League winners since the competition was launched back in 1955.

Hopefully you’ll have found the information provided very useful.

If so, you can also check out the past top goal scorers in this competition going all the way back to 1955.

• Author
• Recent Posts

Samuel Waihenya

CEO & Digital Publisher at Cosy Content Limited

Samuel Waihenya is 27 years of age and has been watching, discussing, as well as playing soccer for well over 10 years.

With a solid educational background in business management, the Soccer Whizz website is his first foray into the digital web space and it has been created with the intention of providing the absolute best soccer content for its readership.

Have a read through Samuel Waihenya's author bio page here.

Latest posts by Samuel Waihenya (see all)

• Future Icons: Europe’s Emerging Midfield Maestros Set for Glory - December 4, 2023
• Kickstarting a Revolution: How Soccer Transformed the United States Over the Last Four Years - October 7, 2023
• 4-1-4-1 Soccer Formation [Analysis] - September 23, 2023