Mustafa Sharif 10/28/2013 Adv Comp

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League is a competition like no other. There are few prestigious clubs in Europe who have reached the top, since few of the participants have won it multiple times. But the history of the Champions League is filled with great players, great men, great teams, great leaders and visionaries for the sport. In each participating country, there is a few clubs at the top of their national league. Based upon their standings at the end of the season domestically, a club can compete on the continental stage. The number of clubs that can join from each country is based upon a formula called the UEFA coefficient. England and Spain are the top performers in Europe, so they each hold four spots in the UCL. Italy and Germany hold three. France, Portugal and Russia hold two. All these spots will be filled according to your position in your domestic league to be entered. Even fewer are the clubs who have actually won the Cup with the big ears. Spanish club Real Madrid - a very prestigious club - has won the trophy a record nine times. Five came successively in the fifties, so their success in the competition has been spontaneous afterwards. One of the legends of the game, a player known as Alfredo Di Stefano, the Tiger Woods of his era, was captain of the team. Di Stefano is recognized as one of the best players ever. Nowadays the Spanish giants are the most valuable sports team/brand in the world. A team that has had a bit more continuous success, AC Milan, has won the Champions League seven times. The red and blacks won the trophy twice in the sixties, back-to-back titles in 1989-1990, again in 1994, and also 2003 and 2007. Five of those Cups came with the 1986

Mustafa Sharif 10/28/2013 Adv Comp

purchase of the club by the scandalous former PM of Italy Silvio Berlusconi. Before he bought the club, the club had been relegated to the second division domestically and he recovered their fortunes into one of the most loved sports teams in the world, and one of the most expensive. English club Liverpool has brought home the cup five times in their history, four times in the seventies. That Liverpool team was one of the best to ever play the game. In England Soccer is really a family and community thing so for Liverpool to not be metropolitan but still have five crowns is an achievement. Their latest win was in 2005 in what is recognized as the best final ever: beating AC Milan in overtime by penalty kicks after being 3-3 in regular time. There are other clubs who are in the prestigious circle of clubs who won the competition multiple times, such as German club Bayern Munich (5 and current holders), Dutch club Ajax Amsterdam (4), Manchester United (3), Inter Milan (3), etc. What makes these clubs different from the other minnows? Their success has pushed them to invest in more winning cycles. Soccer is huge, with so many players it takes a lot time and money to scout the best talents from across the globe. But the best clubs have found a formula of achieving success in the best competition multiple times.