Learn everything you need to know about the exciting Champions League here in our article.

But, first of all, if you still don't know where to watch this competition, take the opportunity to check out our article below and see the best apps for watching football online.

The UEFA Champions League is one of the most popular and watched football tournaments in the world. 

But do you know what it is and how it works? Who qualifies and which teams are competing? So stay with us.

The UEFA Champions League is an annual club football tournament held between the top teams in Europe's national leagues.

It is organized by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and was first held in 1955. 

It is the biggest club championship in the world, as the best players in the world play for European clubs.

Great stars like Messi, Neymar, Lewandowski and many other great athletes compete in the Champions League.

After the World Cup, this is perhaps the most important competition in the world of football.

The competition guarantees the finalists great prizes, which is a great financial incentive, in addition to all the recognition in the world of football.

The winner also guarantees their place in the next edition, without having to meet major criteria to qualify.

Furthermore, the winner of the UEFA Champions League wins the right to compete in the Club World Cup.

In which it will face the winners of other international competitions, such as the winner of the Copa Libertadores da América, which this year will be Flamengo.

The competition does not involve qualifications, participating teams are ranked based on their UEFA coefficients.

Such as their performances in European competitions, their rankings in their leagues, and titles won.

This competition brings together the best clubs from England, France, Germany, Portugal and other European countries.

Then, they will be drawn to compete for their place in a group of four teams.

The UEFA Champions League works with teams competing in two stages: the group stage, and the dreaded knockout stage. 

32 teams are selected, according to the UEFA criteria mentioned above, after which the clubs are drawn to form groups with four teams.

This draw also takes place according to criteria determined by UEFA, where teams from the same country cannot be in the same group.

After the draw, eight groups are formed with four teams each, and these teams will play against each other to compete for a place.

Each team plays one first game and one return game, with one game being at home and one away.

Now the standard scoring system that everyone knows is used: the team that wins gets three points, and the teams that tie receive only one point, and whoever loses gets no points.

The two teams in each group with the highest number of points go to the next phase, if they are tied, tiebreaker criteria such as goal difference are used.

With the teams that passed the stage defined, it's time for the knockout stages, whoever wins advances, whoever loses is out.

Again the format adopted, there are first games and return games, where at the end, whoever has the highest score advances.

As, for example, in the first game, team A beat team B by 2 x 0, however, in the return game, team B won by 3 x 0, considering the sum, the final score was 3 x 2 for the B team.

But how is it defined who plays against whom?

In the group stage, as two teams face each other, there is first and second place.

A draw takes place to decide which team will face which, where the first placed teams are drawn to face one of those in second place.

In other words, whoever does better in the group stage gains the advantage of facing a theoretically weaker team in this first knockout stage.

The Champions League takes place annually, so every year we can enjoy this incredible competition.

The group stage generally takes place from September to December, after which, with the teams that qualified, there is a break in the competition. 

Where the teams can organize themselves, and within this period of time the teams that faced each other in the knockout phase will also be drawn, according to the criteria explained above.

So, after this break, the competition returns in February, with the teams that will face each other and the games defined.

Where each team will play round-trip games for a chance to advance in the competition

Generally, finals are usually in late May or early June at a predetermined location.

Every year, some of Europe's biggest and most successful clubs compete in the Champions League. 

Barcelona and Real Madrid are the dominant forces in recent history, however, the Merengues are arguably the biggest participants in that competition.

The Barcelona club has managed to win four times since 2000, but Real Madrid have won it simply seven times. 

They managed to win three consecutive years: in 2016, 2017 and 2018. Finally, this team has a total of 14 Champions League cups.

The only club that comes close to the Spaniard is Milan, with just seven.

Other important candidates include Bayern Munich, with six titles, Liverpool, also with six, and one of the last clubs to challenge Real Madrid's strength, Chelsea, with two titles.

So, be sure to watch this competition, one of the biggest championships in the world, which returns now, on February 14th.

Now that you know everything about the Champions League, check out the next games, because the current edition is already in the round of 16.

Check out who will face each other in our article below, see game dates and much more.