About Champions League
UEFA Champions League is a seasonal club football competition which replaced European Champions Cup in 1992. The trophy, European Cup, is considered the most prestigious club trophy in the world. Currently the competition consists of several stages. After three preliminary knockout qualifying rounds in summer the surviving 16 teams join 16 seeded teams in a group stage. Eight group winners and eight runners-up enter the final knockout rounds, which end with the final match in May. Originally, only the champions of their respective national leagues were allowed to take part in the competition, but that was later changed to make the competition more attractive. As of today, England, Spain and Italy are allowed to have four teams each in the competition (two seeded and two going through preliminary rounds).