The UEFA Champions League celebrated its diamond jubilee in 2015. The first match - in what was the European Champion Clubs' Cup - was played on 4 September 1955, when Sporting Lisbon played Partizan Belgrade. The Yugoslavs advanced to the next round by winning 8-5 on aggregate, but lost to the eventual champions, Real Madrid, giving the first glimmering of the Spanish club's legendary status. Real have won the Champion Clubs Cup/UEFA Champions League (the competition was rebranded in 1992) ten times, three more successes than their nearest rival, Milan. Fully updated, European Cup & Champions League: The Illustrated History covers every season's competition with a full report and statistical summary of the Final up to, and including, the 2015 final in Berlin. There are specially commissioned interviews with a football legend from each decade from the 1950s to the present. The book also includes a full statistical section, listing every result and all major record-holders, both club and individual.

Author Biography

Keir Radnedge has been covering football for almost 50 years. He has written countless books on the subject, from tournament guides to comprehensive encyclopedias, aimed at all ages. His journalism career included the Daily Mail for 20 years, as well as The Guardian and other national newspapers and magazines in the UK and abroad. He is a former editor of World Soccer, generally recognized as the premier English-language magazine on global football. In addition to his writing, Keir has been a regular analyst for BBC radio and television, Sky Sports and the American cable television news channel CNN. He also edited a tournament newspaper at the FIFA World Cup tournaments of 1982, 1986 and 1990, as well as at Euro 96, and has scripted video reviews of numerous football tournaments.