2007 UEFA Champions League Final

The 2007 UEFA Champions League Final was an association football match between A.C. Milan of Italy and Liverpool F.C. of England on 23 May 2007 at the Olympic Stadium, Athens, Greece. The showpiece event was the final match of the 2006–07 season of Europe's premier cup competition, the UEFA Champions League. The teams were appearing in the final two years after facing each other in the 2005 final which Liverpool won 3–2 in a penalty shootout after the match finished 3–3.

Both teams had to pass through five rounds before they reached the final. They both entered in the third qualifying round and won their respective groups before they reached the knockout stage, where matches were contested over two legs, with a match at each team's home ground. Milan's victories varied from close affairs to comfortable victories. They defeated Celtic by a single goal over two legs, while they beat Manchester United 5–3 on aggregate in the semi-final. Liverpool's matches were mainly all close affairs; they beat defending champions Barcelona on the away goals rule in the first knockout round and beat Chelsea in a penalty shootout in the semi-finals, although they did record a 4–0 aggregate win over PSV Eindhoven in the quarter-finals.

2012 UEFA Champions League Final

The 2012 UEFA Champions League Final was a football match which took place on Saturday, 19 May 2012 between Bayern Munich of Germany and Chelsea of England at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany. The match was to decide the winner of the 2011–12 season of the UEFA Champions League, Europe's premier club football tournament. Bayern were making their ninth appearance in the competition's final, having won four and lost four, most recently losing in 2010. Chelsea were appearing in their second final, having lost their last in 2008.

It was the first Champions League final to be held at the Allianz Arena (known as Fußball Arena München for the final). As tenants of the Arena, this meant Bayern were the first finalists to have home advantage since 1984. Both teams progressed to the knockout stages by finishing top of their group. Bayern then beat Basel, Marseille and Real Madrid to reach the final, while Chelsea knocked out Napoli, Benfica and defending champions Barcelona.

2001 UEFA Champions League Final

The 2001 UEFA Champions League Final was a football match that took place at San Siro in Milan, Italy, on 23 May 2001, to decide the winner of the 2000–01 UEFA Champions League. The match pitted Bayern Munich against Valencia. The match finished in a 1–1 draw, but Bayern clinched their fourth title by winning 5–4 on penalties. This was also their first European Cup title in a quarter-century, also representing Valencia's second consecutive final defeat (2000 and 2001). Due to all the goals scored by penalties and the penalty shootout needed to decide the winner, this UEFA Champions League match became an "all-penalty" final and the only one ever to happen to this day. The 2001 final saw the two previous seasons losing finalists clash, Bayern Munich lost to Manchester United in the 1999 final and Valencia lost to Real Madrid in the 2000 final.

This was the sixth European Cup final to be decided on penalties, and the second under the Champions League format. This was Héctor Cúper's third consecutive European final defeat (after his Mallorca side lost the 1999 Cup Winners' Cup Final and Valencia lost to Real Madrid in the 2000 Champions League final) while Ottmar Hitzfeld claimed his second Champions League title after he won it with Borussia Dortmund in 1997. He became the second coach in European Cup history, after Ernst Happel, to win the competition with two clubs.

UEFA Champions League

The UEFA Champions League, known simply as the Champions League, is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs. It is one of the most prestigious tournaments in the world and the most prestigious club competition in European football, played by the national league champion (and, for some nations, one or more runners-up) of each UEFA national association. The final of the 2012–13 tournament was the most watched UEFA Champions League final to date, as well as the most watched annual sporting event worldwide in 2013, drawing 360 million television viewers.

Introduced in 1992, the competition replaced the European Champion Clubs' Cup, or simply European Cup, which had run since 1955, adding a group stage to the competition and allowing multiple entrants from certain countries. The pre-1992 competition was initially a straight knockout tournament open only to the champion club of each country. During the 1990s, the format was expanded, incorporating a round-robin group stage to include clubs that finished runner-up of some nations' top level league. While most of Europe's national leagues can still only enter their national league champion, Europe's strongest national leagues now provide up to four teams for the competition, and will provide up to five teams from the 2015–16 season onwards. Clubs that finish next-in-line in each nation's top level league, having not qualified for the UEFA Champions League competition, may be eligible for the next level UEFA Europa League competition.

1992–93 UEFA Champions League

The 1992–93 UEFA Champions League was the 38th European Cup, the premier European club football tournament, and the first season with the UEFA Champions League logo (originally adopted only in the group stage).

It was the second tournament to have a group stage involving the eight second round winners split into two groups, and the winner of each one met in the final. In addition, a preliminary round was required as this was the first season after the break-up of the USSR and Yugoslavia, resulting in a large number of new countries eligible to enter the champions of their own leagues into the competition. Israel and the Faroe Islands were also represented for the first time.

The tournament was won for the first time by Marseille, defeating Milan in the final. However, soon after Marseille's victory allegations of match fixing were levelled at them and their president Bernard Tapie. This involved a league game where Marseille, it emerged, had fixed their title-clinching Division 1 game against Valenciennes so they could concentrate on the Milan tie. It is believed that Tapie bribed Valenciennes to lose so that Marseille would win the French league earlier, giving them more time to prepare for the European Cup final. This resulted in Marseille being stripped of their league title by the French Football Federation (although not the European Cup, as the match in question was not in that competition). They were banned from defending their European title in the 1993–94 season, and contesting the Intercontinental Cup and Super Cup. In 1994 Marseille was also relegated to the Division 2.

2010–11 UEFA Champions League

The 2010–11 UEFA Champions League was the 56th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 19th under the current UEFA Champions League format. The final was held at Wembley Stadium in London on 28 May 2011, where Barcelona defeated Manchester United 3–1. Internazionale were the defending champions, but were eliminated by Schalke 04 in the quarter-finals. As winners, Barcelona earned berths in the 2011 UEFA Super Cup and the 2011 FIFA Club World Cup.

Association team allocation

A total of 76 teams participated in the 2010–11 Champions League, from 52 UEFA associations (Liechtenstein organises no domestic league competition). Associations were allocated places according to their 2009 UEFA country coefficient, which took into account their performance in European competitions from 2004–05 to 2008–09.

Below is the qualification scheme for the 2010–11 UEFA Champions League: