The Champions League is the biggest football club competition in Europe where the cream of the continent’s sides battle it out to be named the best each year. Matches take place during week nights and during the group stages there are 16 games played across Tuesday and Wednesday evening's giving punters a whole host of options to use bet on. The competition is broadcast right across the world and is one of the most popular events when it comes to betting on football.
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Group D: Real Madrid 15, Inter Milan 10, Sheriff Tiraspol 7, Shakhtar Donetsk 2
Group E: Bayern Munich 18, Benfica 8, Barcelona 7, Dynamo Kiev 1
Group F: Manchester United 11, Villarreal 10, Atalanta 6, Young Boys 5
Group G: Lille 11, Red Bull Salzburg 10, Sevilla 6, Wolfsburg 5
Group H: Juventus 15, Chelsea 13, Zenit St Petersburg 5, Malmo 1
2020-21 Champions League
Final
May 29: Chelsea 1 Manchester City 0
Semi Finals
First Legs
PSG 1 Manchester City 2
Real Madrid 1 Chelsea 1
Second Legs
Manchester City 2 PSG 0 - City won 4-1 on aggregate
Chelsea 2 Real Madrid 0 - Chelsea won 3-1 on aggregate
Quarter Finals
Match 1 - Manchester City 4 Borussia Dortmund 2
Match 2 - Porto 1 Chelsea 2
Match 3 - Bayern Munich 3 PSG 3 - PSG won on away goals
Match 4 - Real Madrid 3 Liverpool 1
Last Sixteen Aggregate Results
Borussia Monchengladbach 0 Manchester City 4
Lazio 2 Bayern Munich 6
Atletico Madrid 0 Chelsea 3
RB Leipzig 0 Liverpool 4
Porto 4 Juventus 4- Porto won on away goals
Sevilla 4 Borussia Dortmund 5
Atalanta 1 Real Madrid 4
Barcelona 2 PSG 5
English Teams in the Champions League
In two separate periods of time English teams have dominated the European Cup and its current guise, the Champions League. From 1977 to 1984 English clubs won seven European Cups. That dominance could have continued but sadly events at the Heysel Stadium in 1985 led to English clubs being banned from European competition for five years which was crippling.
It took many years to rectify the lack of experience in Europe but there was another dominant era from 2005 to 2012. The investment in players by Premier League clubs paid dividends in the Champions League. Manchester United won the Champions League in the 1998/99 season but that was a one-off and not a trend.
It was another six years before an English club appeared in the final again. Liverpool became the champions of Europe after the Miracle of Istanbul. They were 3-0 behind at half time against Milan but eventually won the trophy on penalties. Arsenal lost in the final the following year after taking the lead against Barcelona.
English clubs were losing finalists over the next three seasons but winners in one of those years because Manchester United beat Chelsea in 2008. Both clubs won the trophy in a five year spell during which United were also twice runners-up. The 2017/18 season saw Liverpool reach the final only to lose to Real Madrid
Liverpool were a much improved team in 2018/19 so nearly winning their first Premier League title. They were also impressive in the Champions League and no one will ever forget the night they beat Barcelona 4-0 at Anfield after losing the first leg 3-0. Another final was reached and this time they had English opponents. Tottenham had also come close to being knocked out, trailing Ajax 3-0 at half time in the second leg in the Netherlands. They fought back to make it to their first Champions League final. It was Liverpool who ran out winners 1-0.
The domination that English teams showed in the two European club competitions wasn't repeated last season. All four of our teams qualified for the Champions League knock-out stages so that was a good start. However, Liverpool lost their European crown in the last sixteen, when losing to Atletico Madrid. Both Chelsea and Tottenham lost to German opposition in the same round losing to Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig respectively. Only Manchester City got through to the quarter finals, beating Real Madrid. They were then knocked out by Lyon in the quarter finals ending a disappointing Champions League season for English clubs.
The 2020/21 season was a much more successful one for English clubs. Again, the final was an all-English affair with Chelsea winning their second Champions League title, beating Premier League champions Manchester City in the final.
What can I use my free Champions League bet on
Popular bets include the overall winners of the Champions League, the top scorer, and markets where punters can try and name the two teams who reach the final.
Similar to betting for free on the Premier League, the rise in popularity of the accumulator - betting on the outcome of more than one game - has meant more and more punters are using their Champions League Free Bets on multiple match results. Due to its popularity some bookmakers now offer the chance to cash out an accumulator if all but one of the results are coming in or offer money back if one game lets you down.
Some bookies also offer odds on each individual team and who will score the most Champions League goals for them as well as the stage of the competition the team will be eliminated at.
Other markets tend to centre around nationalities, including:
Highest scoring team
Odds on a one-nation final
Total English clubs in the final
Total Spanish teams in the final
Total German teams in the final
Odds on an English winner
The winning team’s nationality
Further Spanish team to progress
How do I claim my Champions League free bet?
Champions League betting from qualification to final is almost a year-long process so there is plenty of opportunity to cash in your free bets on Europe’s biggest club football competition whenever you want. Be sure to keep checking all the latest news on our Football Betting page here on FREEbets.org.uk to keep up to date with the best offers and odds from all the top bookmakers.
If there is a free bet offer that really catches your eye or an offer or certain odds that you want to cash in on then click on a link on the right of this page to head over to the bookmaker of your choice. Once there you will need to register with them to get hold of your free bet. It is no hassle at all and will be completed in a couple of minutes then you are ready to bet freely.
Go to the sports page on the bookies’ site and then to football and Champions League to find the market you want. Click on the odds you most like the look of and follow the instructions on the betting slip on how to make yourbet and you are done. Sit back and enjoy the match you now have a vested interest in.
The popularity of the competition has seen more and more bookmakers expand their odds meaning you can now use your free bets on the Champions League to have a punt on over 100 markets for televised games, with plenty of odds being offered for in-play betting.
What Champions League free bets should I look for?
In the past five years, the Champions League has been won by Real Madrid on three occasions and one win each for Liverpool and current champions Bayern Munich. These sides can again be expected to put in strong bids to win another title.
Below that trio are the likes of Juventus, Manchester City, Barcelona Atletico Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain who are all regular in the knockout stages, though ultimately fall short. Atletico and Juventus have both made the twice each in recent seasons but have fallen short against Real Madrid and Barcelona. They can be found at more attractive prices however and can be igood to use your Champions League free bets on.
Like the Premier League, the Champions League name has only been alive since 1992 having been a re-branding of the old European Cup - a knockout competition that ran from 1955 for the winners of the top leagues in Europe. These days the competition is longer, more complicated and has many more teams. In 1955 just 16 teams took part, now it is twice as many.
The pre-1992 competition was initially a straight knockout tournament open only to the champion club of each country. During the 1990s, the format was expanded, incorporating a round-robin group stage and more teams. Europe's strongest national leagues now provide up to as many as four teams for the Champions League each season and that could even rise to five in the future.
Pre-qualifying for the tournament usually begins in July each year with 10 teams going through to join 22 other clubs who automatically qualified for the main event. The 32 teams are drawn into eight groups of four and play each other in a double round-robin system. The eight group winners and eight runners-up proceed to the knockout phase that culminates with the final match in May.
The winner of the Champions League becomes Europe’s representative for a year and competes in the World Club Cup against the winners of the equivalent competitions from Asia, Africa, North America, Oceania and South America.
Unsurprisingly, given that it features the best players and teams from some of the biggest leagues from the world's most popular sport, the Champions League is hugely popular and draws a massive television audience every week. The final of the 2012–13 competition was the most watched final to date, as well as the most watched annual sporting event worldwide in 2013, drawing 360 million television viewers. In recent years the Champions League has pushed the NFL Super Bowl as the most watched sport final.
Who has previously won?
Anyone who’s anyone in the world of European football has won the Champions League, well apart from Manchester City and PSG. The most successful team are Real Madrid who have won it 13 times - including an incredible run in the first few years of the competition where they won it five times in a row from 1956 to 1960. In 2017 they became the first team to retain the trophy in the Champions League-era with their 4-1 victory over Juventus and they have also been runners up three times. Real are pretty much the kings of the competition and are always a good pick when using your Champions League bet.
AC Milan are the next most successful team and also enjoyed a spell of dominance of the European Cup where they won it three times between 1989 and 1994. Liverpool are England’s most represented team having won the cup six times, including in one of the competition's all-time great finals when they cameback from 3-0 down to AC Milan to win on penalties in 2005.
Mega rich Chelsea have won just once; in 2012 where they somehow beat Bayern Munich in the German’s own stadium, while Nottingham Forest - once a great but now languishing outside the Premier League - have won the European Cup twice; in 1979 and 1980. Bayern Munich and Liverpool have both won six titles.
The currently all-time top scorer in the Champions League/European Cup is Cristiano Ronaldo with 130 goals, 15 ahead of Barcelona’s Lionel Messi in second place. The player with the best goal to game ratio in pre-Champions League era was the late Alfredo Di Stefano who scored 49 goals in 58 games for Real Madrid.