The History of English Teams in the Champions League

The most powerful football club league in the world, the Premier League, has given us many legendary clubs. Aside from winning the Premier League, the proudest achievement any club could have is winning the Champions League.

But even though the Premier League is considered the strongest league on the planet, it was Spanish Real Madrid that has the most CL titles won. Also, many Italian clubs have made English clubs have their tinsel in a tangle plenty of times before.

So, how successful were all the English teams in the Champions League since its foundation in 1955? How do their performances compare regarding their titles and appearances in the finals?

English Teams Champions League Winners

First and foremost, there are a couple of English teams that won the Champions League throughout history. These are Liverpool, Manchester United, Nottingham Forest, Chelsea, and Aston Villa.

Not bad for five teams, huh? But now I’m also going to count the number of CL titles these teams have here. The Reds, i.e. Liverpool, are the absolute leaders, with as many as six titles.

In the late seventies, Liverpool won this tournament twice. They did so two more times in 1981 and 1984. They were in good form at that time, but then, there was a ban on English clubs the following season due to the hooligan accident. Liverpool also won this contest in 2005 and 2019.

United is the next most successful club here, with three titles. The Red Devils held the trophy high in 1968, 1999, and 2008. Believe it or not, Nottingham, the team that is now being sanctioned for financial fair play breach, was one of the clubs that won the Champions League. Forest was one of the few to win both titles one after another (1979 and 1980).

In addition to these teams, Chelsea achieved what is unbelievable two times. It was the modern era of football when the Blues won the trophy, once in 2012 and the second time in 2021.

Finally, not many people would expect that Aston Villa is one of the English teams in the Champions League to win it. But they did it in 1982. In the previous season, Manchester City celebrated the victory against Inter in the finals and won this tournament for the first time ever.

Most Finals Reached

The English Premier League has always had the maximum number of slots in the Champions League, which could even go up in the future. It’s obvious then why so many clubs from this league appeared in this competition.

Another thing that is logical is the fact that English teams in the Champions League reached the final round more times in comparison to how many times they won this contest. Let’s see how many times they actually did that.