About history of UEFA champions
The UEFA Champions League is regarded as one of the most prestigious competitions in football events in the world. This tournament collected top clubs from the Euro to fight for winning title as European champions.
Since 1955-1956 season, this tournament was changed a new name as the European Cup. It had only 16 clubs to participate. Then this tournament was more and more successful and famous with many fans in the world. As a good result, there were more clubs to register in European Cup. In 1992-1993 season, there were 79 clubs to offer a ticket to this tournament. However the federation only agreed to collect 32 the best teams to compete for the winning.
As the same format, one UEFA Champion consists of 32 football teams. They will be split into 5 rounds for competition to reach point. After one match, they will be collected point and put in in the ranking. Which team has the highest point in the finals, they became the best club in European cup.
Detail for per round as below:
The qualifying round will begin in the summer. There are total three rounds and a play-off to find the best 32 teams for the next stage in September annually.
The group stage has total eight groups. One group has four teams. They will take turn to play at home and away. Finally, which two teams have the highest in ranking will get tickets to come to round of 16. At this round, they have to face knockout. The remain teams will drop into the Europe Cup.
In the round of 16, teams will play 2 rounds in their home and away for quarter-finals and semi-finals. Coming to final match, they should be played at a stadium which is confirmed in 2 years before. This rule makes fair and clear for any teams.