Today I’d like to talk about a legendary football competition that’s been played since 1955/56 called UEFA Champions League. This type of competition has been by far the most popular tournament in football for years and it heats up football fans as much as, if not more than, it does year after year.

The tournament was initiated by Gabriel Hanot, a reporter for the French sports daily L’Équipe. The first edition of this competition was won by the Spanish club Real Madrid. Over time, and more precisely in 1992/93, when these competitions began to become more and more popular around the world, the UEFA organization took over the competition and the name of the competition was changed to UEFA Champions League and this name is still in use today.

So far, the teams that have won the Champions League most often are: Real Madrid, A.C. Milan, Liverpool, Bayern Munich and FC Barcelona. As for the overall tournament schedule, it was changed two years ago. Currently, the Champions League has a group stage where all the top men’s teams from around the world are in one group. There are 36 teams playing in this phase of the Champions League. In the new format, the top eight teams in the league table will advance directly to the Round of 16, while teams ranked 9-24 will compete for a place in the Round of 16 through the playoffs.. Teams ranked 25-36 will be eliminated.

The entire match is accompanied by the legendary Champions League anthem, which is an adaptation of George Frideric Handel’s coronation anthem Zadok the Priest made by Tony Britten in 1992. The CL anthem was recorded and performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. The tournament’s prestigious sports trophy is a Cup made of 925 silver, weighing 11 kg and standing 74 cm high. The winner of the competition receives the trophy on loan from UEFA for 10 months.

⚽ VOCABULARY: ⚽

heats up – grzać; rozgrzewać;  

initiated – zapoczątkowany;

schedule – rozkład/harmonogram;

directly – bezpośrednio;

anthem – hymn;

loan – pożyczka

SOURCE: 1,

PHOTOS: Header photo:  AA.com

🏆 2025/2026 ©  Piotr Rosicki, 2 rok, Logistyka,  Akademia Nauk Stosowanych w Koninie