UEFA Champions League in the context of "George Weah"

The FIFA Club World Cup (FIFA CWC) is an international men's association football competition organised by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The competition was first contested in 2000 as the FIFA Club World Championship. It was not held from 2001 to 2004 due to a combination of factors, chiefly the collapse of FIFA's marketing partner International Sport and Leisure (ISL). It returned in 2005 as an annual competition until 2023. Following the 2023 edition, the tournament was restructured into a quadrennial event beginning in 2025, adopting a format similar to that of the FIFA World Cup. The current world champions are Chelsea, who defeated Paris Saint-Germain 3–0 in the 2025 final.

The first FIFA Club World Championship took place in Brazil in 2000, during which year it ran in parallel with the Intercontinental Cup, a competition played by the winners of the UEFA Champions League and the Copa Libertadores, with the champions of each tournament both retroactively recognised by FIFA as club world champions in 2017. In 2005, the Intercontinental Cup was merged with the FIFA Club World Championship, and in 2006, the tournament was renamed as the FIFA Club World Cup. The winner of the Club World Cup receives the FIFA Club World Cup trophy and a FIFA Champions Badge.

Panathinaikos Football Club (Greek: ΠΑΕ Παναθηναϊκός Α.Ο. [panaθinaiˈkos] ), known as Panathinaikos, or by its full name, and the name of its parent sports club, Panathinaikos A.O. or PAO (Παναθηναϊκός Αθλητικός Όμιλος; Panathinaïkós Athlitikós Ómilos, lit. 'Pan-Athenian Athletic Club'), is a Greek professional football club based in Athens, Greece.

Panathinaikos was founded in 1908 as "Podosfairikos Omilos Athinon" (Football Club of Athens) by Giorgos Kalafatis. They play in Super League Greece, being one of the most successful clubs in Greek football and one of the three clubs which have never been relegated from the top division. Among their major titles are 20 Greek Championships, 20 Greek Cups, achieving eight times the Double and 3 Greek Super Cups. They are also one of three clubs to win a Greek championship undefeated, going without a loss in a top-flight campaign in the 1963–64 season. Panathinaikos is the only Greek team that has reached the UEFA Champions League final in 1971 (which they lost to Ajax 2–0), and also the semi-finals twice, in 1985 and 1996. It is also the only Greek team that has played for the Intercontinental Cup (1971). Furthermore, they have reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League on another two occasions (in 1992 and 2002), as well as the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup twice (1988 and 2003). They have also won the Balkans Cup in 1977. According to research and polls, Panathinaikos is the second most popular football team in Greece. Panathinaikos is also a member of the European Club Association.

Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (Portuguese pronunciation: [kɾiʃˈtjɐnu ʁɔˈnaldu duʃ ˈsɐ̃tuʃ aˈvej.ɾu] ; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward for, and captains, both Saudi Pro League club Al-Nassr and the Portugal national team. Nicknamed CR7, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in history, and has won numerous individual accolades throughout his career, including five Ballon d'Ors, a record three UEFA Men's Player of the Year Awards, four European Golden Shoes, and was named five times the world's best player by FIFA. He has won 34 trophies in his career, including five UEFA Champions Leagues and the UEFA European Championship. He holds the records for most goals (140) and assists (42) in the Champions League, goals (14) and assists (8) in the European Championship, and most international appearances (226) and international goals (143). He is the only player to have scored 100 goals with four different clubs. He has made over 1,300 professional career appearances, the most by an outfield player, and has scored over 950 official senior career goals for club and country, making him the top goalscorer of all time.

Born in Funchal, Madeira, Ronaldo began his career with Sporting CP before signing with Manchester United in 2003. He became a star player at United, where he won three consecutive Premier League titles, the Champions League, and the FIFA Club World Cup. His 2007–08 season earned him his first Ballon d'Or at age 23. In 2009, Ronaldo became the subject of the then-most expensive transfer in history when he joined Real Madrid in a deal worth €94 million (£80 million). At Madrid, he was at the forefront of the club's resurgence as a dominant European force, helping them win four Champions Leagues between 2014 and 2018, including the long-awaited La Décima. He also won two La Liga titles, including the record-breaking 2011–12 season in which Madrid reached 100 points, and became the club's all-time top goalscorer. He won Ballon d'Ors in 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017, and was runner-up three times to Lionel Messi, his perceived career rival. Following issues with the club hierarchy, Ronaldo signed for Juventus in 2018 in a transfer worth an initial €100 million, where he was pivotal in winning two Serie A titles. In 2021, he returned to United before joining Al-Nassr in 2023.

Paris Saint-Germain Football Club, commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain (French: [paʁi sɛ̃ʒɛʁmɛ̃]) or simply PSG, Paris or Paris SG, are a French professional football club based in Paris. Founded in 1970, following the merger of Paris FC and Stade Saint-Germain, they compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. PSG play their home matches in the 47,929-capacity Parc des Princes in Paris. With 55 trophies won, they are the most decorated club in France. PSG are the most popular football club in France and one of the most widely supported teams in the world. The team has a longstanding rivalry with Marseille, against whom they contest Le Classique.

The Parisians won their first major title, the Coupe de France, in 1982 and their first Ligue 1 title in 1986. The 1990s were one of the most successful periods in the club's history, with their second league title in 1994 and their first European trophy, the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1996. After a decline in fortunes during the 2000s, a recovery began in the 2010s when they were acquired by Qatar Sports Investments. With significant investment, PSG won multiple league titles and national cups, becoming a regular in the UEFA Champions League. They won their first Champions League in 2025 as part of a continental treble.

The Intercontinental Cup, officially the European/South American Cup and known from 1980 as the Toyota Cup for sponsorship reasons, was an international club football competition endorsed by UEFA (Europe) and CONMEBOL (South America), contested between representative clubs from these confederations, usually the winners of the UEFA Champions League and the South American Copa Libertadores. It ran from 1960 to 2004, when it was succeeded by the FIFA Club World Cup, although they both ran concurrently in 2000.

From its formation in 1960 to 1979, the competition was as a two-legged tie, with a play-off if necessary until 1968, and penalty kicks later. During the 1970s, European participation in the Intercontinental Cup became a running question due to controversial events in the 1969 match, and some European Cup-winning teams withdrew. From 1980, the competition was rebranded and contested as a single match played in Japan, regarded neutral territory for both contestants, and sponsored by multinational automaker Toyota, which offered a secondary trophy, the Toyota Cup. At that point, the Japan Football Association was involved at a logistical level as host, though it continued to be endorsed by UEFA and CONMEBOL.

The original Wembley Stadium (/ˈwɛmbli/; originally known as the Empire Stadium) was a football stadium in Wembley, London, England, best known for hosting important football matches. It stood on the same site now occupied by its successor.

Wembley hosted the FA Cup final annually, the first in 1923, which was the stadium's inaugural event, the League Cup final annually, five European Cup finals, the 1966 World Cup final, and the final of Euro 1996. Brazilian footballer Pelé once said of the stadium: "Wembley is the cathedral of football. It is the capital of football and it is the heart of football", in recognition of its status as the world's most famous football stadium.

The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual club football competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It is the second-tier competition of European club football, ranking below the UEFA Champions League and above the UEFA Conference League.

Introduced in 1971 as the UEFA Cup, it replaced the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. From the 2004–05 season a group stage was added before the knockout phase. The competition took on its current name in 2009, following a change in format. The 2009 re-branding included a merge with the UEFA Intertoto Cup, producing an enlarged competition format, with an expanded group stage and a change in qualifying criteria. In the 2024–25 season, the group stage was replaced with an expanded league phase of 36 teams.

The Balkans Cup was an international football competition for clubs from Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Turkey, and Yugoslavia. It was introduced in 1961 and was very popular in the 1960s (the 1967 final attracted 42,000 spectators), being the second most important international club competition for clubs from the region (after the European Cup in which the champions could play; the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup originally attracted few teams from the region as many did not organise domestic cups regularly and only Yugoslavia had significant representation in the Fairs Cup).

It later declined after Balkan clubs obtained more representation in the two minor UEFA competitions, in contrast to the (much older but also defunct) Balkan Cup (not Balkans) for national teams.

Gerd Müller (German pronunciation: [ˈɡɛʁt ˈmʏlɐ]; 3 November 1945 – 15 August 2021) was a German professional footballer. A prolific striker, especially in and around the six-yard box, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest goalscorers and players in the history of the sport. With success at club and international level, he is one of ten players to have won the FIFA World Cup, the UEFA Champions League and the Ballon d'Or.

At international level with West Germany, he scored 68 goals in 62 appearances, and at club level, in 15 years with Bayern Munich, in which he scored 365 goals in 427 Bundesliga matches, he became—and still is—record holder of that league. In 74 European club games he scored 65 goals. Averaging over a goal a game with West Germany, Müller was, as of 11 July 2021, 21st on the list of all time international goalscorers, despite having played fewer matches than every other player in the top 48. Among the top scorers, he has the third-highest goal-to-game ratio. He also had the highest ratio of 0.97 goals per game in the European Cup, scoring 34 goals in 35 matches.