Champions League Review

The UEFA Champions League is the most decorated and prestigious in Europe. It has been around for the past 68 years starting in 1955 and continuing on through today. The organization provides a deep history of European soccer and is part of European culture.

In order to qualify for this prestigious league you must finish in a high enough position in your respected European league. This means that only the top teams in all of Europe even qualify for the champions league. Once these highly decorated teams qualify they are split into 4 brackets each with 8 teams. They then play one another in a double round-robin format. Following the qualifiers is the knockout phase of the league where only the winners and runner-ups from the qualifiers are a part of. The remaining 16 teams are split up in two brackets one for the winners of each group and the other for the runner-up of said group making sure that no team plays one another twice until after this phase in the league. In these groups, the matches are randomly selected in order to keep a lack of bias toward the teams. After this phase, there are 8 teams left making it the quarterfinal. The quarter-final draw also being randomly selected now allows for any team to play any other team no matter if they have already played or are from the same nation. After the quarter-final, the semifinal repeats the same process until only teams remain for the final of the champions league which usually happens in late May or early June. It will take place at a neutral site instead of being a two-leg battle between the teams. This means that only one game is to be played between the two rather than having two with one being a home game for the first team and the other being a home game for the second team. This game decides the champion of the champions league. When a team wins the champions league they are not only highly honored by not only Europe as a whole but also the entire world of soccer fans who understand that they have beaten some of the best teams in the world. They then automatically qualify for the next champions league but are imputed into the most decorated bracket reserved for only the best teams in the league. 

These teams are a part of the culture in Europe. They mean something to every single person. Everyone has their team, the team that they are rooting for. People watch these games not just for entertainment but because of their love of soccer and of ¨ their ¨ team. They are watching for the breathless moments that are filled with hope and joy.