30 greatest Champions League teams of all-time
By Adam McGee
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the foundation of UEFA’s European Cup, now better known as the Champions League since its rebranding in 1992. The World Cup remains to this day the biggest draw in global soccer, but there’s something special about the Champions League that makes it a genuine competitor.
In the last 20 years or so, there has been a growing debate among lovers of “The Beautiful Game” across the world as to what competition best epitomizes the qualities that they value most about their sport.
Sure, the World Cup brings the added dimension of patriotism, and due to its lesser frequency (held once every four years) can feel like more of an event than a soccer tournament, but that doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily the home of the highest quality of play.
Club football has a great advantage in this regard. It’s open market allows the best players in the world the opportunity to team up or compete against each other in the most competitive domestic leagues on the planet, but more significantly, on top of that players are afforded greater time with their teammates, therefore breeding greater coherence and consistency.
That reduces the potential for luck to influence proceedings quite severely. Therefore it allows development and progression, and in most cases a product and a spectacle that can be more polished on the pitch.
A consequence of that can be that the entertainment value found in watching the rise and fall of great soccer dynasties, and the rivalries that ensue from them. The potential for the best teams from around Europe to butt heads on a yearly basis is one that sounds great in theory, and the Champions League is the proof that it has worked exceptionally well in practice too.
Who should we look to for the greatest examples of elite teams from the history of Europe’s premier club competition then? Who are the teams immortalized in text, video, and the memories of supporters who we may never see matched again?
Let’s count down the 30 greatest European Cup/Champions League teams in order to find out.
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