Nottingham Forest. Two European Cups. How do you feel?

[Josh 76]

At least Malmo had won their domestic league the season before and you couldn’t get to a final playing a bunch of teams that weren’t the best in their respective countries.

If this was the case, Liverpool would never have won the trophy in 2005 and 2019.

 

[Ludens the Red]

It effected me more pre 1999 when they actually had more. I’ve been okay with it since then.

 

[bosnian_red]

What the hell is this car crash of a thread? People downplaying early era CL wins? Why? See a list of Hamburg and Ajax in it as a "weak run". Would it better if it was Pep Guardiolas Barcelona and Bayern Munich listed? Because Hamburg were German champions and Ajax was consistently a great side until they lost out on the financial muscle. Smaller countries also had excellent sides as for a while, you couldn't leave your home country until 27 to play football abroad, leading to a much more balanced success level across Europe. Only Champions being in the Champions League probably making it more special too. If anything, I wish they'd go back to that.

 

[Foxbatt]

What the hell is this car crash of a thread? People downplaying early era CL wins? Why? See a list of Hamburg and Ajax in it as a "weak run". Would it better if it was Pep Guardiolas Barcelona and Bayern Munich listed? Because Hamburg were German champions and Ajax was consistently a great side until they lost out on the financial muscle. Smaller countries also had excellent sides as for a while, you couldn't leave your home country until 27 to play football abroad, leading to a much more balanced success level across Europe. Only Champions being in the Champions League probably making it more special too. If anything, I wish they'd go back to that.

Spot on as Ajax won the EC three consecutive times.

 

[The Brown Bull]

It was a great achievement by Clough, Taylor & Forest. Fair play.
Villa have one as well in case people forgot.

 

[Forevergiggs1]

It was a great achievement by Clough, Taylor & Forest. Fair play.
Villa have one as well in case people forgot.

Doesn't count if it was before 2010 when it started to get really hard.

 

[Dave Smith]

Only winners can qualifiy is a double edged sword.

One on hand it's harder to qualify, but easier to win once you're in.

The amount of times we're stopped by non champions tells its own story.

This in a nutshell. If we were still playing by those rules, the top twelve in 2021/22 would be:

Man City
Atletico Madrid
Bayern Munich
Inter Milan
Lille
Sporting Lisbon
Zenit St Petersburg
Besiktas
Dynamo Kiev
Ajax
Club Bruges
Red Bull Salzburg