Which football club has won the most European Cups?
With the UEFA Champions League having now resumed with the knockout stages now in full swing, one of the stand out round of 16 ties sees reigning champions Real Madrid face Liverpool in a repeat of the 2021-22 final. Together, these two clubs have won a combined total of 20 European Cups across the competition's history, up to and including its UEFA Champions League rebrand.
With that in mind, we take a look at the most successful clubs in European Cup history and specifically, who has won the competition the most times up to and including the 2021/22 season.
Of the clubs remaining in this season's UEFA Champions League round of 16, four of them sit among the top five most successful sides in European Cup history. Real Madrid top the list, having won the tournament an astonishing 14 times. Most impressive has been their consistent success over all these years with 'Los Blancos having lifted the famous trophy seven times so far since the turn of the millennium, but also winning it on seven occasions prior to that.
Their round of 16 opponents Liverpool became the joint-third most successful club in European football back in 2019, when they overtook FC Barcelona by lifting the European Cup (now UEFA Champions League) for a sixth time, beating Tottenham Hotspur by two goals to nil. This draws them level with German giants Bayern Munich, who won the European Cup for three years running back in the 70s. But Bayern remain the only club from Germany who has lifted the UEFA Champions League this millennium.
It would be remiss not to end this article without highlighting the famous old club who only Real Madrid boast more European Cup triumphs then. AC Milan's first outright victory in the competition came in 1969 when they overcame Benfica in the final at Wembley Stadium. Since then, 'The Rossoneri' has tasted European success a further six times and whilst their most recent European honour came all the way back in 2007, the Italians remain in the hunt to recapture past glories provided they overcome Tottenham in the round of 16.
