Four Liverpool players have added their names to the historic list of African players who have won the UEFA Champions League, bringing the total to 24. Find out who all of the African UCL champions are right here!
Also known as the European Cup, the UEFA Champions League is the premier club football competition in Europe. The English league champions go head-to-head with the French league champions, and the two winners progress to the next stage of the tournament.
The UEFA Champions League has been awarded to the winner of the European football season since 1956-57 when it was known as the European Cup. The event is based on the principle of regional qualifying rounds followed by a final between the remaining teams. In case of ties between teams from the same country, for example England vs. England or Germany vs. Germany, then extra time is used to separate the sides. If scores still remain tied after that, a replay will be held.
All UEFA Champions League games are played over 90 minutes plus additional time if needed.
Egyptian clubs have won the most trophies, with a total of 40. Egyptian clubs have won the African Cup of Champions Clubs/CAF Champions League (16 times), the African Cup Winners' Cup (8), the CAF Super Cup (11) and the Afro-Asian Club Championship (11 times). As for national teams, Egypt is ranked first with 21 titles.
South Africa's Premier Soccer League has the most wins with 20. The league has also won the CAF Confederations Cup twice (in 1995 and 1997). It's worth mentioning that there are two other South African top divisions: National First Division and National Second Division. They both have 15 wins between them.
Zambia's Football Association Top Ten includes one title from each of the following leagues: Zambia National League, Copperbelt League and North Eastern Metro League. Each league has won its title recently - the National League in 2006, 2007 and 2008 and the others in 2009, 2010 and 2011 respectively. Overall, this puts Zambia at number ten with six medals.
Congo's Ligue 1 has the most titles with four. These titles were won by Stade de Mbanema (now called AS Vita Club), Étoile du Nord, AS Dragons and AS Kalemie.
Nigeria has won the most cups with 16.
It should come as no surprise that Manchester United is the most popular club in Southern Africa. They are the most successful team in EPL history, having won 13 titles since the league's inception in 1992. United also has the highest average attendance in Africa, with 51,829 fans watching their games regularly.
In second place we have Tottenham Hotspur, who have been very successful in England but less so in Africa - they have only won one title (1950). Their average fan turnout is lower than United's at just over 10,000 per game.
Aston Villa and Liverpool both have relatively small followings in Africa. Neither has ever won a major trophy and neither averages more than 9,000 fans at their games.
Finally, Chelsea has only been in the EPL for five years but already has the most fans in Africa, with around 100,000 people following their games. They are the only British club to win any international competitions - the 2012/2013 Champions League - and are one of only three clubs to have never been relegated from the EPL (along with Man City and Liverpool).
They changed their name in 1927 after the English club became known as Chelsea FC.
Zimbabwe goalkeeper Grobbelaar was the first African player to appear in a European Cup final 37 years ago, with the Liverpool stopper pivotal as the Reds overcame AS Roma on penalties in 1984. He came close to being a two-time winner, but Liverpool fell short against Juventus in the 1985 final. Grobbelaar died of cancer at age 39.
Ghana's Peter Odemwingie became the first African champion when his West Bromwich Albion won the English title in 2012. The previous year, Obafemi Martins helped Barcelona win the Spanish league title. And in Argentina, Emmanuel Boateng has played for Chacarita Juniors and Boca Juniors.
So far this season, there have been three Africans playing in the Champions League: Kevin-Prince Boateng, Alfred N'Diaye and Jordan Henderson. However, only one of them (Boateng) has come up through the club system while the others have made their names by earning a spot on the bench or as a substitute.
Boateng was part of Chelsea's youth team before making his debut in 2005 at age 17. In 2007, he went on loan to German side Schalke 04 where he played regularly under Jens Lehmann for four months before returning to Chelsea. In 2009, he moved back to Germany where he spent two seasons with Bayern Munich before moving to West Bromwich Albion in 2011.
The Champions League is largely considered as the pinnacle of club football, with the final being an epic event with the chance to win Europe's most prestigious title. Since the tournament's renaming from the previous European Cup in 1992, a few of English players have made history by scoring in the tournament's showpiece conclusion.
Please retry later. Gento, the most successful player in European continental club football history, was elected Los Blancos captain in 1966 after playing for the team that won the first five European Cups. Paolo Maldini won two European Cups and three Champions League titles throughout his career. @OmnisportNews on Twitter
Players who have won the European Cup and the UEFA Champions League are listed below. Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia. Toggle navigation: Go to the search page Wikimedia Commons has a list of association footballers who have won a winner's medal for their contributions to a winning team in the UEFA Champions League (including under its former name, the European Cup).
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