Soccer, known as a football by most is a game that is the most watched sport across the entire globe. As the great soccer player Pele once said, "Football is the beautiful game." Because of its high popularity, you will find tons of different high-level competitions taking place around the entire world in different countries. The biggest of them all is probably the Champions League.
Idea of the competition
As the name suggests, the idea of this competition is to gather together all the best teams from around Europe playing in their respective leagues and pit them against each other. It basically serves as a tournament for the best of the best and the team that ends up winning is hailed as the champions of Europe for a year.
Rules
There is a total of 32 teams which participate in the competition. These teams are divided into 8 groups with each of these groups having 4 teams each. The way these groups are set up is such that no 2 clubs from the same country can participate in a single group together. This is to ensure that variety in the competition is maintained for as long as possible.
The first 2 teams from each group make the next stage. This is called the 'round of 16' where there is a draw to see which teams face each other. After that, there is the quarter-final which is also decided by a draw and so on. The best part about this tournament is that the winners of this year’s competition are automatically qualified for next year's tournament.
Why is it the best?
There are several reasons why the Champions League is regarded as the best yearly sporting event. For instance, the quality of football being played is obviously of first-grade quality. The quality of the teams participating can alone decide that. Not only that, the title of "Champions of Europe" is something that attracts a lot of talented players to big clubs. If a club is playing Champions League football regularly, the chances of a big player going to that club are much higher than that to a non-Champions League playing club.