English teams have participated in UEFA competitions every year except for1955–56 and the years between 1985 and 1990, when in the aftermath of theHeysel Stadium disaster all English clubs were banned from Europe by UEFA;Liverpool, who had been playing at theHeysel Stadium against Italian sideJuventus, were banned for six years, until 1991.
English clubs made a total of six appearances in the single-tieIntercontinental Cup organized byUEFA andCONMEBOL, winning only one of them, and withdrew a further three times.[10] Despite its international status of theClub World Championship, English teams did not take the competition seriously enough. English clubs have won theFIFA-organizedClub World Cupfive times, thesecond-most behind only Spain, with eight.[11][8]
Prior to the establishment of officialUEFA competitions in the 1950s, England had been pioneers in early continental football, organizing theSir Thomas Lipton Trophy, which was won byWest Auckland when they defeated Juventus in 1909. In 1969, due to the non-top-flightSwindon Town winning theFootball League Cup, theAnglo-Italian League Cup was created to allow alternative European football outside UEFA regulations. It continued off-and-on until 1976.
From the 2021–22 season, the various permutations allow for a maximum of five English clubs to qualify for the UEFA Champions League, three for the UEFA Europa League and one for the UEFA Conference League.[12] From the 2018–19 season, the top four clubs in Europe's four highest ranked leagues qualify directly to the group stage.[13] These nations are currentlyEngland,Germany,Italy, andSpain. The minimum quota is for four English clubs to qualify for the UEFA Champions League and two for the UEFA Europa League.
Since the 2015–16 season, the UEFA Champions League winners gain entry to the UEFA Champions League in the group stages.[14]
UEFA Europa League winners
Prior to the 2015–16 season, there was a limit of four clubs from each association entering the Champions League. If a club outside of England's top four won the Champions League, the 4th placed club would be demoted to the Europa League in the following season. This occurred in the 2011–12 season whenChelsea won the Champions League but only finished sixth in the Premier League. They replaced the fourth-placed teamTottenham Hotspur in the Champions League, who were demoted to the Europa League.
From the 2018–19 season, the UEFA Europa League winners gain entry to the UEFA Champions League in the group stage.[15]
Also from that season, if English clubs win both the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League, and neither finish the Premier League in a position that qualifies them for the UEFA Champions League, the following will happen:
The club that won the UEFA Champions League will go straight into the group stage
The UEFA Europa League winners will go into the UEFA Champions League group stage
The club that finished fourth in the Premier League will transfer into the UEFA Europa League group stage
If the FA Cup winners qualify for the UEFA Champions League or the UEFA Europa League via the domestic league or European performance, by Regulation 3.04,[17] the highest ranking non-qualified league club qualifies, taking the lowest Europa League spot (the League Cup spot – the League Cup inherits the League spot, and the League inherits the FA Cup spot).
If the League Cup winners have already qualified for Europe through other means, then the next highest-finishing Premier League club gets this place
UEFA Europa League first qualifying round
Premier League club with the bestUEFA Fair Play ranking that has not already qualified for Europe, but only if England has one of the top three positions and has a fair play score of above eight.
As of 2015, Fair Play no longer earns this Europa League spot. Instead, such teams will be awarded in cash prizes, with the money to be spent on related initiatives.[18]
Note that some Football League clubs arenot based in England. Because they are members of theFootball Association of Wales (FAW), the question of which country clubs likeCardiff City andSwansea City should represent in European competitions has causedlong-running discussions inUEFA. Despite being a member of the FAW, Swansea took up one of England's three available places in the UEFA Europa League in2013–14, thanks to winning theLeague Cup in2012–13. The right of Welsh clubs to take up such English places was in doubt until UEFA clarified the matter in March 2012.[19]
Liverpool are the most successful English and British team internationally with fourteen honours, winning the most prestigious Champions League six times, also English and British records. A full list of winners is below.
Chelsea were the first ever English team to qualify for the European Cup. They were drawn againstDjurgårdens IF, but were forced to withdraw by the English FA.
Although the ban on English clubs following the Heysel disaster was lifted for the 1990–91 season,Liverpool—who had won the 1989–90 First Division—were serving an additional one-year suspension, leaving England without a representative in the competition.
English clubs have won the competition ten times and reached the final on nine other occasions (including 1972, 2019 and 2025 when both finalists were from England).
Note: UECL denotes entrance to the UEFA Europa Conference League.
^England had no coefficient points as a result of the Heysel ban, so only one club was granted entry.
^England had only one year of coefficient points as a result of the Heysel ban, so only one club was granted entry.
^England had only two years of coefficient points as a result of the Heysel ban, so only two clubs were granted entry.
^England had only three years of coefficient points as a result of the Heysel ban, so only two clubs were granted entry.
^England had only four years of coefficient points as a result of the Heysel ban, so only three clubs were granted entry.
^England had the full five years of coefficient points but the limited berths from previous seasons affected their ranking, leaving them with three entrants. The introduction of theUEFA Intertoto Cup and theUEFA Fair Play ranking for 1995–96 allowed more UEFA Cup berths to open up.
The FIFA Club World Cup (or the FIFA Club World Championship, as it was originally called) has been won by English clubs five times (Manchester United in 2008, Liverpool in 2019, Chelsea in 2021 and 2025, and Manchester City in 2023).[21] Liverpool and Chelsea were also runners-up once each.
Before being supplanted by theFIFA Club World Cup, the now defunct Intercontinental Cup served as ade facto annual world club championship contested by the European and South American club champions. Manchester United won it in1999, the only time an English team won. English clubs contested the cup on five other occasions (1968,1980,1981,1982 and1984), losing each time.
Additionally, English clubs have initially qualified for the Intercontinental Cup but withdrew from participation, namely Liverpool in1977 andNottingham Forest in1979. Both berths were eventually taken by the respective European Cup losing finalists. Liverpool also qualified for the 1978 edition but they and opponentsBoca Juniors declined to play each other, making it a no contest.
Five English clubs have won either the UEFA Cup or UEFA Europa League. Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur have each won three times, which is the most of any English club.
Performance in the UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League by club
Seven English clubs have won either the European Cup Winners' Cup or UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. Chelsea have won two times, which is the most of any English club.
Performance in the European/UEFA Cup Winners' Cup by club
As of the end of the2024–25 UEFA Champions League season, English clubs have fifteen European Cup wins. The most recent English win came in2023 whenManchester City defeatedInter Milan 1–0 at theAtatürk Olympic Stadium. A record six English clubs have won Europe's premier club competition:Liverpool six times, the first English team to retain the cup (1977,1978,1981,1984,2005 and2019),Manchester United three times and the first English team to win the European Cup (1968,1999 and2008),Nottingham Forest twice, being the second English team to retain the European Cup (1979 and1980),Chelsea twice (2012 and2021),Aston Villa once (1982) andManchester City once (2023). English clubs also hold the records for the most consecutive tournament victories by clubs from one country (six wins between 1977 and 1982 by Liverpool, Forest and Villa) as well as the most consecutive defeats in the final (four teams were runners-up once each between 2006 and 2009).
Wolverhampton Wanderers were a dominant English side in the 1950s, being league champions three times (1953–54, 1957–58 and 1958–59), under the management ofStan Cullis. Wolves also finished League runners-up on five occasions, most recently in 1959–60. In 1954, before anyone had really expanded the borders of domestic football, after recently winning the first division for the first time Wolves thought they would test themselves against Hungarian giantsHonved.
At the time, Honved hadFerenc Puskás, who was a star player on the world stage. The match was part of Wolves' series of 'floodlit friendlies' which turned out to be the spark that created the European Cup as it came to be known. Wolveswon 3–2, playing under the rare sight of floodlights in England, and it attracted attention all over Europe. The game was also broadcast live on theBBC and would become possibly the moment that the European Cup was truly born.
Wolves had also beaten a Spartak Moscow side earlier in the series, and theDaily Mail crowned them 'champions of the world' after sinking the Hungarians. But Gabriel Hanon, editor ofL'Equipe at the time, hit back, saying the English side needed to win inBudapest orMoscow before they could claim that title. Hanon was at Molineux for the match and enjoyed it so much he started a campaign to introduce a competition where Europe's elite clubs would face off against each other regularly.
Aschampions ofThe Football League in1954–55,Chelsea were scheduled to becomeEngland's representatives in the inauguralEuropean Champions' Cup competition, to be staged the following season. Indeed, they were drawn to faceSwedish championsDjurgården in the first round. However, Chelsea were denied by the intervention of The Football League, in particular their secretaryAlan Hardaker, who persuaded them to withdraw, insistent that pan-European tournaments are a mere distraction to the English domestic season.[22][23]
Instead, the1955–56 league champions,Manchester United, became the first English club to compete in the new tournament, with their managerMatt Busby determined time overcome objections from The Football League. They facedAnderlecht in the preliminary round, winning the first leg 2–0 away from home.Dennis Viollet scored the opening goal, the first for an English club in the European Cup, and he went on to become the tournament's top scorer that season, scoring nine goals. Four goals from Viollet and a hat-trick fromTommy Taylor helped United to achieve a 10–0 second leg victory as they progressed 12–0 on aggregate.[24] United's first three home ties of the competition were played atManchester City'sMaine Road ground, since the floodlights atOld Trafford were still in the process of being installed and were not switched on until March 1957.[25] After next eliminatingBorussia Dortmund andAthletic Bilbao, United lost to holdersReal Madrid in the semi-finals, 5–3 on aggregate.[24] They did retain their league title however, to ensure their place in the following season's European Cup. They reached the semi-finals again, but after the quarter-final tie eight of their players died in theMunich air disaster, while two of the nine surviving players were injured to such an extent that they never played again.
The next two seasons were less successful in terms of progress by English clubs.Ipswich Town began the1962–63 competition with a 14–1 aggregate victory overFloriana (including a 10–0 second leg win), but lost in the first round toAC Milan, who went on to win the final atWembley. A year laterEverton were beaten by another Milan club,Inter, in the preliminary round.
Wembley Stadium was the venue for two English victories in the European Cup: Manchester United won there in 1968, as did Liverpool ten years later.
Leeds United centre forwardMick Jones was the top scorer in the1969–70 tournament; his eight goals helped his club to reach the semi-final stage, where they lost toCeltic. Jones scored a hat-trick in Leeds' 10–0 first round first leg win overLyn Oslo, a match in which his teammateMichael O'Grady had opened the scoring after just 35 seconds, at the time believed to be the fastest goal in European Cup history.[26] In1970–71, Everton reached the quarter-finals, where they lost toPanathinaikos on theaway goals rule. In the early rounds, Everton had won the competition's first everpenalty shootout when they eliminatedBorussia Mönchengladbach.[27]Arsenal made their first European Cup appearance in1971–72. They were knocked out in the quarter-finals byAjax, who went on to win the second of three consecutive European Cups, while Arsenal would not feature in the competition for another twenty years. In 1975, Leeds United faced Bayern Munich, of Germany in the final of the tournament in Paris. The game emerged as one of the most controversial matches in football history as it transpired that match fixing played a part in the latter's 2–0 victory with both goals benefiting from dubious refereeing decisions. Leeds United supporters often sing at both home and away matches proclaiming themselves 'champions of Europe,' after feeling aggrieved by the injustice of that night.
Derby County returned to the competition in1975–76, but this time were defeated at the second round stage by Real Madrid. ACharlie George hat-trick gave Derby a 4–1 first leg victory, but Madrid progressed thanks to a 5–1 extra time win in the second leg.[28]
Liverpool led the way with domination in the late 1970s and until the mid 1980s. Beating any team out in front of them, they were unstoppable. Whereas the early to mid-1970s had seen three successive European Cup victories each forAjax andBayern Munich, the competition was dominated by English clubs in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Between 1977 and 1982, English teams won a record six successive finals. The sequence began whenLiverpool, managed byBob Paisley, beatBorussia Mönchengladbach 3–1 in the1977 European Cup Final, in what was strikerKevin Keegan's last game for the club.[29] Keegan's replacementKenny Dalglish scored the only goal of the1978 final againstClub Brugge as Liverpool became the first English club to retain the trophy.[30] Meanwhile,Brian Clough'sNottingham Forest had succeeded Liverpool as English champions, and the two teams faced each other in the first round of the1978–79 European Cup in the first meeting of two English clubs in the competition. Nottingham Forest won the tie on the way to reaching thefinal, where they beatMalmö 1–0. Forest was the third club to win the tournament at their first attempt, afterReal Madrid in1955–56 and Inter Milan in1963–64.[31]
Liverpool was again eliminated in the first round in1979–80, while Forest retained the trophy, beatingHamburg 1–0 in thefinal. The following season it was Nottingham Forest's turn to make a first round exit as Liverpool went all the way to thefinal, where they beat Real Madrid 1–0 to secure their third European Cup under Bob Paisley. Liverpool'sTerry McDermott andGraeme Souness were the tournament's joint top scorers, alongside Bayern Munich'sKarl-Heinz Rummenigge, with six goals apiece.[32] Liverpool failed to retain the trophy on this occasion as they were beaten in the quarter-finals byCSKA Sofia in the1981–82 competition. A sixth successive English victory was still achieved however, asAston Villa, playing in the European Cup for the first time, beat Bayern Munich 1–0 in thefinal in Rotterdam.[33] The run of victories by English clubs came to an end in1982–83 when both Liverpool and Aston Villa went out at the quarter-final stage after losing toWidzew Łódź andJuventus respectively.[34] In the1983–84 competition, Liverpool once again reached thefinal, where they facedRoma in the latter's home stadium, theStadio Olimpico. The match finished 1–1after extra time and Liverpool won the subsequent penalty shootout 4–2 to lift their fourth European Cup. It was the first time that the final had been settled by spot kicks.[35]
Liverpool's participation in the1984–85 European Cup marked their ninth successive season in the competition. They again made it to thefinal, but lost out 1–0 to Juventus afterMichel Platini scored a second-half penalty. 1985 was the year of theHeysel Stadium disaster, which led to all English clubs being banned from European competitions for the next five seasons. The ban was lifted in 1990, but there was no English representation in the1990–91 European Cup due to English champions Liverpool being excluded from European competitions for an additional season.
In the1991–92 season, Arsenal were the first team to represent England in the European Cup after English teams were allowed back in. The Gunners lost out over two legs in thesecond round to Benfica.
The1992–93 season saw the competition rebranded as theUEFA Champions League, a move that formalised the mini-league format that had been introduced the previous year.[36] After winning the inauguralPremier League title,Manchester United entered the Champions League in1993–94, the first time in a quarter of a century that they had played in European football's leading club competition. United failed to reach the group stage however, losing out onaway goals toGalatasaray following a 3–3 aggregate scoreline in their second round tie.[37]
A further change to the competition occurred in1994–95, when the first and second rounds were replaced by four mini-leagues of four teams each, with the top two teams in each group progressing to the quarter-finals.[38] As one of eightseeded teams, Manchester United were given a bye directly to the group stage, but missed out on the quarter-finals after finishing third, behindBarcelona ongoal difference.[39] In1995–96,Blackburn Rovers were England's Champions League representatives, but their campaign was not a successful one as they won just one of their six group games and failed to qualify for the latter stages.[40]
Manchester United's return to the Champions League in1996–97 was the first of 18 consecutive seasons in which Manchester United qualified to enter the competition. They progressed through the group stages for the first time and went on to reach the semi-finals, losing to eventual winnersBorussia Dortmund.[41] United topped their mini-league in the following season's group stages,[42] but were defeated byAS Monaco on away goals in the quarter-finals.[43] Also representing England in1997–98 wereNewcastle United, after the runners-up from Europe's top eight leagues were allowed to enter for the first time.[44] Newcastle successfully negotiated the second qualifying round, but could only finish third in their group, despite a victory overBarcelona in the opening group game.[45]
2000s: rise to European dominance and subsequent decline
Premier League teams gradually improved their performance in the Champions League until a peak centred on the 2008 season, followed by a significant decline thereafter. They had no semi-finalists for the first four seasons (1993 to 1996). They then had four semi-finalists (Manchester United in1997,1999, and2002, and Leeds United in2001) over the next seven seasons (1997 to 2003), one of whom went on to become champions (Manchester United in1999). They then had four semi-finalists (Chelsea in2004 and2005, Liverpool in 2005, and Arsenal in2006) in the next three seasons (2004 to 2006), with Arsenal going on to be runners-up in2006 and Liverpool winning in2005.
English teams then peaked with nine semi-finalists (Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool in both2007 and2008, and Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal in2009) in the next three seasons (2007 to 2009), with Liverpool (2007), Chelsea (2008), and Manchester United (2009) going on to be runners-up, and Manchester United going on to win an all-English final against Chelsea in 2008, a year in which none of the four English teams were eliminated by anybody except another English team. Around this time, then-UEFA presidentMichel Platini began to make statements which resulted in a widespread perception that he wasanti-English,[46] which some attributed to his alleged fear of English domination in European club competition.[47][48]
However, this dominance did not produce a corresponding number of titles. At its most dominant, from 2007 to 2009, the Premier League had 75% (9 out of 12) of the semi-finalists, 67% (4 out of 6) of the finalists, 100% (3 out of 3) of the runners-up, but only 33% (1 out of 3) of the winners (Manchester United in 2008), with the other two titles going toMilan in 2007 andBarcelona in 2009. And English dominance did not last, with the Premier League managing only two semi-finalists (Manchester United in2011, and Chelsea in2012) over the next four seasons (2010 to 2013), although Manchester United went on to be runners-up in2011, and Chelsea won in2012. In2013, no Premier League side reached the last eight for the first time since1996 (in a time when England were only entitled to one Champions League place compared to 2013's four), only two (Manchester United and Arsenal) made it to the last 16, and Chelsea became the first defending champions to fail to make it past the group stage of the Champions League,[49] although by finishing third in their group they did manage to qualify for theUEFA Europa League, which they went on towin.
At that time, it was noted that if the decline continued for long enough, it could in theory eventually deprive the Premier League of itsentitlement to havefour teams in the Champions League each year, which it has had since 2005, but the coefficient tables gave little cause for concern from an English perspective, as all England's relevantcoefficients were ahead of fourth-placed Italy's, and this did not change until 2018, when the quotas were adjusted by UEFA to guarantee four Champions League places to each of the top four nations, with those clubs going into the group stage directly rather than having to navigate qualifying rounds.[50]
The following years would see two all-English finals, as well as Liverpool losing both the2018 and2022 finals to Real Madrid. In2023,Manchester City won the tournament for the third English victory in five years.
The downward trend was reversed in2018–19, when all four Premier League entrants (including Liverpool, who had reached the2018 final as a sign of impending English resurgence) progressed to the quarter-finals. Despite the general decline in the levels of success from what English clubs had enjoyed a decade earlier, and the consistent high levels for other nations, particularly Spain, England remains the only nation to have four of the last eight participants in the competition, with 2018–19 joining 2007–08 and 2008–09 in that regard (Liverpool and Manchester United were involved in all three campaigns).[51] In addition, English sides sealed all of the final places in both UEFA competitions in the 2018–19 season. Liverpool won their sixth European Cup by defeating fellow English sideTottenham Hotspur in the2019 Champions League final. An early penalty converted byMohamed Salah and a lateDivock Origi goal ensured a 2–0 victory forJürgen Klopp's team.[52] Both finalists had achieved unlikely comebacks in their semi-finals, with Liverpool overcoming a first-leg 3–0 defeat by Barcelona with a second-leg 4–0 win and Tottenham scoring the three second-half goals they required to defeat Ajax in the second leg in Amsterdam and also on away goals.
The2020–21 UEFA Champions League continued despite theCOVID-19 pandemic, albeit with a condensed schedule. Porto and Chelsea were unlikely heroes when they won against Juventus and Atlético Madrid, respectively. Defending champions Bayern Munich were knocked out on away goals by previous finalists Paris Saint-Germain, after missingRobert Lewandowski with injury, in a rematch of the2020 final. Chelsea made the semi-finals for the first time in seven years, facing Real Madrid for the first time. Manchester City defeated PSG 4–1 on aggregate en route to their first appearance in the final, while Chelsea defeated Real Madrid 3–1 on aggregate to set up the second all-English final in three years. Chelsea won the title for the second time after defeating City1–0 at theEstádio do Dragão thanks to a goal byKai Havertz.[53]
Liverpool returned to thefinal in 2022, where they narrowly lost to rivals Real Madrid 1–0.[54][55] In 2023, Manchester City advanced to their secondfinal in three years, defeating the likes of Bayern Munich and Real Madrid along the way. In the final, they faced Inter Milan, winning 1–0 for City's first-ever European Cup. Furthermore, the Blues became the second-ever English men's club to achieve a rarecontinental treble.[56][57]
^ Riley, Catherine. "Football: After 13 years Anderlecht are punished by Uefa". The Independent. Archived from the original on 1 May 2022. Retrieved 26 September 2016.
^"Chelsea suffers Champions League KO". CNN. 5 December 2012. Retrieved10 June 2013.Chelsea became the first defending champion to crash out at the group stage of the Champions League -- despite thrashing Danish side Nordsjaelland 6-1 at Stamford Bridge.
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