Europe's premier club competition was launched one month after UEFA's first Congress, held in Vienna on 2 March 1955 yet, curiously, the so-called "European Cup" was not a UEFA initiative. Whereas many of UEFA's founder members were more interested in establishing a national team competition, the French sports daily L'Equipe and their then-editor Gabriel Hanot, were championing the cause for a European-wide club competition. Hanot, together with colleague Jacques Ferran, designed a blueprint for a challenge tournament to be played on Wednesdays under floodlights. The tournament initiated by L'Equipe did not stipulate that the participating teams had to be champions of their country, but they invited clubs who they considered had the most fan appeal. Representatives of 16 clubs were invited to meetings on 2 and 3 April 1955 and the L'Equipe rules were unanimously approved. The first European Champions Clubs' Cup fixture was played in Lisbon and Sporting Clube de Portugal were held to a 3-3 draw by FK Partizan. The Yugoslav side won the return leg in Belgrade 5-2 to advance to the next round. Real Madrid CF immediately made the tournament their own by winning the first five finals. The major turning point in the evolution of the competition came in the 1992/93 season when the UEFA Champions League, involving a group stage in addition to the traditional knockout elements, was officially inaugurated after a pilot round robin during the previous season. The popularity of the group phase has witnessed the competition grow from eight to 32 teams with matches taking place on Tuesdays and Wednesdays across Europe.

The European champions in 1986 were FC Steaua Bucureşti, after one of the biggest upsets in the competition's history. Steaua goalkeeper Helmut Duckadam saved all four FC Barcelona penalties as a scoreless shoot-out followed 120 scoreless minutes until Marius Lacatus and Gavril Balint converted to send the cup to Eastern Europe for the first time.

Their best run in the UEFA Champions League came this season, when Sporting Clube de Portugal qualified for the first knockout round after finishing second in Group C. Sporting were knocked out of the competition by FC Bayern München after losing 5-0 at home and 7-1 in Germany.

Northern Ireland club Glentoran FC won a tournament called the Vienna Cup in 1914. Tottenham Hotspur FC, however, were the first British club to win a European competition organised by UEFA when they defeated Club Atlético de Madrid 5-1 in the final of the 1962/63 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup.

Arsenal FC reached the final of the UEFA Champions League in 2005/06, but lost 2-1 against FC Barcelona. If Barcelona's trip to the final in Paris seemed pre-ordained, no one had predicted Arsenal would join them there. The summer sale of Patrick Vieira had left the London club looking light in midfield and a succession of injuries meant Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger was reliant on youth. In the event, the likes of Cesc Fabregas, Philippe Senderos, Emmanuel Eboué and Mathieu Flamini showed no fear of the big stage as Arsenal took Europe by storm.

Since the launch of the UEFA Champions League in the 1992/93 season, there have been three finals involving two clubs from the same country. These took place in 1999/2000 when Real Madrid CF defeated Valencia CF 3-0 in Paris, in 2002/03 when AC Milan beat Juventus on penalties after a 0-0 draw, and last season when Manchester United FC were victorious against Chelsea FC on penalties after a 1-1 draw.

Dutch coaching legend Rinus Michels, the inventor of 'total football', led AFC Ajax to the first of three straight European Champion Clubs' Cups in 1971, and later coached the Netherlands to the 1974 FIFA World Cup final and glory at the 1988 UEFA European Championship. He also claimed a Spanish title with FC Barcelona in 1973/74.

There is no single answer to your question. Stefan Effenberg, however, captained FC Bayern München to victory against Valencia CF in the final of the 2000/01 UEFA Champions League and was voted the UEFA Club Footballer of the Year in 2001.

That is right haydykhan. Goalkeeper Juan Adelarpe Alonso captained Real Madrid CF when they defeated AC Milan 3-2 in the final of the 1957/58 European Champion Clubs' Cup. The game was played at the Heysel Stadion in Brussels.

firstly, the tournament was called the european cup instead of the champions league and secondly, the captain was goalkeeper Juan Alonso.

This year there are 17 countries or UEFA national associations represented in the UEFA Champions League - Belarus, Cyprus, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Scotland, Spain, Switzerland Turkey and Ukraine. While that is more than in most previous seasons it is not the highest spread of countries. That came in the 1999/2000 season when 18 countries were represented: Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Scotland, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and Ukraine.

Chelsea made their first appearance in the UEFA Champions League in the 1999/2000 season. After finishing third in the Premier League the previous season and defeating FC Skonto Riga of Latvia in the third qualifying round Chelsea faced Hertha BSC Berlin, Galatasaray and AC Milan in the first group stage. They went on to top the group after several impressive results including a 5-0 win over Galatasaray in Istanbul and a 1-1 in Milan. The subsequently also qualified from the second group stage finishing ahead of Feyenoord and Olympique de Marseille and behind S.S. Lazio. They then faced FC Barcelona in an epic quarter-final. The Blues, then under Gianluca Vialli and featuring Didier Deschamps, Marcel Desailly and Gianfranco Zola, raced into a 3-0 lead at Stamford Bridge with two goals from Tore Andre Flo and one from Zola before Luís Figo pulled a goal back for Barcelona. The second leg followed a similar pattern with Barça scoring late to make it 3-1 after 90 minutes. That provoked extra time and Barcelona sealed a 5-1 win on the night and 6-4 aggregate triumph with Rivaldo’s second goal and a clinching strike from Patrick Kluivert. Chelsea had been somewhat unfortunate to miss out on the first European Champion Clubs’ Cup. Their first league title in 1955 earned them a place in the first European Cup but the Football Association and the Football League decided that no English club should take place in the competition.

Overall, former Liverpool FC manager, the late great Bob Paisley, is the only manager to have won the European Champion Clubs’ Cup three times. The successor to the legendary Bill Shankly, Paisley won his and Liverpool’s first European Cup in Rome in 1977 as the Reds defeated VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach 3-1 with goals from Terry McDermott, Tommy Smith and Phil Neal, thus becoming the first English-born manager to win the world’s premier club competition. Paisley led Liverpool to a successful defence of the trophy the following season as Kenny Dalglish, the player Paisley had recruited to replace the departed Kevin Keegan, scored the only goal against Club Brugge KV at Wembley. The treble was completed in 1981 when Alan Kennedy’s goal gave Liverpool a 1-0 win over Real Madrid CF. Since 1980, Arrigo Sacchi (with AC Mian), Ottmar Hitzfeld (BV Borussia Dortmund and FC Bayern München), Vicente del Bosque (Real Madrid CF), Carlos Ancelotti (AC Milan) and Sir Alex Ferguson (Manchester United FC) have all won the competition twice.

I think it was Scholes

Edison Mendez

Hi. Thanks for a relatively easy question to get us started on Ford Talk Football Ask the Expert. In the 2001/2002 semi-finals, Bayer 04 Leverkusen triumphed over Manchester United FC on away goals after the sides finished 3-3 after both legs. Oliver Neuville’s equaliser in Leverkusen in stoppage time in the first half of the second leg secured the win. Real Madrid CF came out on top on the all-Spanish clash in the other semi-final: Zinedine Zidane and Steve McManaman giving Madrid a 2-0 win at the Camp Nou before a 1-1 draw in Madrid.