English clubs in the European Cup and UEFA Champions League a victory over Barcelona in the opening group game. English clubs in the European Cup and UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (previously known as the European Cup) is a seasonal club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) since 1955 for the most successful football clubs in Europe. The prize, the European Champion Clubs' Cup, is considered the most prestigious club trophy in the sport. As of the end of the 2015–16 UEFA Champions League season, English clubs have twelve European Cup wins along with clubs from Italy. Incidentally, Real Madrid from Spain have
MLS performance in the CONCACAF Champions League the first two years, as fixture congestion from the Superliga tournament as well as CONCACAF Champions League preliminary rounds meant that MLS teams often fielded teams without their first choice players. Beginning in 2018, the Champions League format was changed to eliminate group play and the knockout round starts with sixteen teams rather than eight. Notes: The following table shows the performance of MLS teams in the knockout rounds for each home-and-away series for opponents from various leagues. During the first nine seasons of the Champions League, MLS teams did not play any foreign teams in knockout stage other than