On December 15, 1954, a bold and daring project was launched. In the pages of 尝'脡辩耻颈辫别, the creation of a European club championship was proposed to determine which team deserved to be recognized as the best on the continent. The European Cup was beginning to take shape, now pompously rebranded as the Champions League, although, as it is well known, it is neither a league nor reserved exclusively for champions.
It all started moving as a result of the resounding victories of Wolverhampton over Spartak Moscow (4-0) and none other than Honved from Budapest (3-2), the team of Kocsis, Czibor, and Puskas. Hungarian soccer was at the peak of global admiration following Hungary's exhibition against England at Wembley (3-6) in late 1953. If the Hungarians were the best and the 鈥渨olves鈥� had defeated Honved... the Daily Mail rushed to proclaim that 鈥淲olverhampton is the world champion.鈥� And in the editorial office of 尝'脡辩耻颈辫别, at number 10 Faubourg Montmartre in Paris, hands were thrown up in the air. The Football chief, Gabriel Hanot, grabbed the typewriter and typed: 鈥淣o, Wolverhampton is not yet the world club champion.鈥� And he added: 鈥淏ut 尝'脡辩耻颈辫别 is proposing the idea of a European Club Championship.鈥� Hanot explained: 鈥淚t has beaten Spartak and Honved, yes, but it has not yet traveled to the opponents' grounds, not even faced them on neutral ground.鈥�
The first round was arranged without a draw, and Real Madrid chose Servette from Geneva to visit the royal family
Less than nine months later, on September 4, 1955, the first match took place: Sporting Lisbon and Partizan Belgrade drew 3-3 in Lisbon. It could have also been the last one, as in the second half a general brawl among the players forced the game to be stopped for several minutes.
Before reaching the start of the competition, it was necessary to overcome numerous obstacles. The day after the proposal, the same sports newspaper highlighted three fundamental points: one team per country, midweek matches (to avoid harming local leagues), and potential sponsorship from television. The first obstacle that seemed insurmountable came from UEFA. The organization, newly founded (on June 15, 1954), lacked organizational capacity, and FIFA wanted nothing to do with club competitions. However, 尝鈥櫭堑耻颈辫别 was on a roll. They contacted the federations and, in general, all of them responded the same way: attractive project but impossible. From Spain, the response was: 鈥淯nthinkable to play during the competitions, it could only be in the summer, but in the summer, it's too hot in Spain.鈥�
On February 3, 1955, '尝鈥櫭堑耻颈辫别' published the first regulations of the competition
On February 3, 1955, 尝'脡辩耻颈辫别 released the first set of competition rules with fifteen articles and contacted the major European teams. Among the most determined to move forward were Real Madrid, represented by Santiago Bernab茅u, and Honved, led by its president, Gustav Sebes. The list of participants reached sixteen, the minimum required to start from the round of 16, and the first round was decided without a draw. Madrid requested to play against Servette of Geneva, reportedly to pay a visit to the Spanish royal family. Between May and June of 1955, FIFA and UEFA eventually recognized the tournament, which, starting from the second edition, fell under the UEFA umbrella once their requirements were met, especially the condition that only national champions would participate, with no invitations allowed. The inaugural edition also had to deal with last-minute dropouts. Chelsea (nor any English club) did not participate due to a veto from its federation. Honved also did not take part, being replaced by V枚r枚s Lobog贸 (now MTK). Denmark and the Netherlands also changed their representatives. The knockout rounds did not have fixed dates (as was the case in the early years) and referees were agreed upon by the two teams. Madrid won the first edition (4-3 against Stade de Reims in Paris) and went on to win the next four. The European Cup, born out of a challenge from the English press, was already unstoppable. The European Economic Community had to wait a bit longer, until the Treaty of Rome in 1957.