Champions League history: Who has won the most UCL titles

Real Madrid and Liverpool are gearing up for the 2021-22 UEFA Champions League final taking place this weekend at Stade de France in Paris. The match kicks off at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 28 as the world will be watching to find out who will be crowned the kings of Europe this year.

Ahead of the match, we’re taking a dive into some Champions League history, looking at who has won the most titles over the years since the tournament’s inception in 1955. Of course, when it first started it was called the European Cup. It stayed that way until 1992, when the competition was rebranded as UEFA Champions League as we know it today.

Real Madrid leads the pack over the years with 13 UCL titles in total, and they’ll stay in the lead for the foreseeable future as the next closest team is AC Milan with seven championships. Nearly half of Real Madrid’s championships came right out of the gate after the tournament’s inception as they won the first five titles in a row from 1956 through 1960. They grabbed one more in 1966 until they hit a drought, going 22 years until their next championship in 1998.

They won twice in the 2000s, logging wins in 2000 and 2004, but the 2010s belonged to them once again as they won four more. Grabbing four championships in five years, they were arguably the best club team in Europe for the better part of a decade, winning the UCL title in 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2018.

Los Blancos will be looking to win their 14th title as they face off against Liverpool on Saturday. Lievrpool is chasing their seventh title, with their last win coming in 2019 when they defeated Tottenham Hotspur.

Here’s a full list of clubs who have won the European title since the tournament’s inception.