Who won the first UEFA Champions League? Why Real Madrid and Marseille each have trophy claim to fame

The UEFA Champions League is essentially thought-about the pre-eminent membership competitors within the world recreation.

With Europe’s main leagues largely boasting essentially the most rich, highly effective and star-studded enjoying squads, collaborating within the continent’s elite event has turn out to be the final word dream of {many professional} footballers.

The Champions League has undergone many modifications because it started practically 70 years in the past — most not too long ago within the 2024/25 season — and the status that comes with successful the trophy is arguably larger than ever.

However these modifications to the format imply there’s a little bit of a technicality in the case of the query of which group received the Champions League for the primary time.

The Sporting Information explains all under.

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Who received the primary UEFA Champions League?

This query partly will depend on your definition of the competitors.

The very first European Cup event, performed within the 1955/56 season, was received by Actual Madrid.

The inaugural season of the Champions League in 1992/93 noticed Marseille win the trophy.

In fashionable parlance, the 2 names have come to be built-in when discussing the historical past of the competitors, which may result in a little bit confusion.

The European Cup turned the Champions League from 1992/93 after UEFA rebranded it and launched a brand new format — one which has continued to evolve within the years since.

Nonetheless, the precise trophy stays the identical, and the winners of it are nonetheless declared champions of Europe, simply as they had been within the Fifties.

MORE: All the most recent Champions League information | Full UCL match schedule

All-time winners of the European Cup/UEFA Champions League

Actual Madrid’s triumph within the very first event began a run of 5 consecutive European Cups for Los Blancos. They continue to be essentially the most profitable facet within the historical past of the competitors, with 15 titles.

9 of these trophy wins have come within the Champions League period, which remains to be a minimum of two greater than some other group has managed since 1955/56.