UEFA took the decision to re-brand the most prestigious club competition in Europe in 1992 and the Champions League was born. The main changes involved the addition of group stages in the early rounds and the opening up of multiple entries from individual nations. Beginning in July with qualification stages the Champions League season unfolds before the grand final in May. 32 teams compete to be crowned Champions of Europe and the popularity of the tournament continues to grow.

In the 1992-1993 season, Wembley played host to the first ever Champions League final, a gripping game settled by a goal from Basile Boli to give Marseille a memorable win over AC Milan. Milan turned their heartbreak upside down a year later storming to a 4-0 victory in the Olympic Stadium in Athens over Barcelona but the joy was short lived as a third final appearance in a row for the Italian resulted in a 1-0 defeat to Ajax. In its first three years the Champions League had produced winners from three different nations and that was only a flavour of the excitement that was yet to come.

Ajax reached the final again in 1996 and after a 1-1 draw with Juventus in the final, the Champions League had its first penalty shootout. In a nervous encounter in Rome, Juventus held their nerve to be crowned Champions of Europe. In fact, this was the first of three consecutive Champions Leagues finals for Juventus but the next two ended in defeats going down 3-1 to the surprise package of 1997, Borussia Dortmund and losing 1-0 to Real Madrid in 1998 who picked up their first title since the rebranding .

When the history books are written, it will be difficult to top the drama of one Champions League night in the Nou Camp in 1999. For years Alex Ferguson had chased the Champions League with his dominant Manchester United side and he had finally reached the final. There he met stiff opposition and Bayern Munich dominated the match and held a comfortable 1-0 lead under the final moments when two United corners, two perfect deliveries from David Beckham and two United goals took the title to Manchester. One of footballs most dramatic nights.

2000 and 2001 saw Valencia continue an unfortunate trend of teams reaching the final in successive years only to lose out. Fellow Spaniards Real Madrid comfortable won the 2000 final 3-0 and the following year Valencia become the second team to lose a Champions League final on penalties when they were defeated by Bayern Munich.

The 2002 final in Glasgow saw a Zidane wonder goal as Real won their third Champions League defeating Bayer Leverkusen, Milan beat Juventus the following year on penalties after a 0-0 draw at Old Trafford and in one of the most surprising years in the tournaments history, Porto, under Jose Mourinho defeated Monaco to become the first Portuguese team to take the crown.

The Champions League was becoming unpredictable but even by those standards the 2005 final shocked the world when a Liverpool side, 3-0 down to the mighty AC Milan, fought back to a 3-3 draw and a victory on penalties that will forever stay in the memory. Indeed English clubs began to make a regular appearance in the Champions League final with Arsenal loosing out to Barcelona in 2006, Liverpool losing a repeat of the 2005 final to AC Milan in 2007 and an All-English final in Moscow in 2008 ending with a Manchester United victory over Chelsea on penalties. Indeed, it was a shock when no English team was involved in the 2010 final when Jose Mourinho won his second title. This time guiding Inter Milan to success.

Barcelona were a dominant side throughout Europe in the following period with the likes of Xavi, Messi and Iniesta lighting yup the competition and their dominance showed as they crushed Manchester United in the 2011 final. British pride was restored on a rainy night in Munich when Chelsea won the competition for the first time, defeating Bayern Munich on home soil to win the title. Munich bounced back stronger than ever and dominated the 2013 season, culminating in victory over Borussia Dortmund in a classic final at Wembley.

In 2014, Real Madrid achieved La Decima when they won an all Madrid final in Lisbon and Europes most successful team were back at the top.

The Champions League has thrown up sunrises, drama, great goals and controversy throughout the years and each and every final has been a showcase of football at its finest. Long live the Champions League!

by Chris Ashwell