The Uefa champions league round of 16 is here and all the clubs still in the UCL will hope to win the Champions league come May.

No team is in the Uefa champions league just for participation sake. Most smaller clubs will be inspired by Leicester fairytale in the English premier league that saw them go all the way to win the league having survived relegation the previous season.

If Leicester city can do it in the competitive EPL, they can do the same.

Winning the Uefa Champiosns league requires

  • Huge Fan support
  • A coach who knows what he is doing
  • The ideal players
  • Experience
  • Bit of luck

Imagine playing against Liverpool at Anfield or against Barcelona at Nou Camp. The atmosphere, fan chants is enough for a team to lose massively there. You can ask Malaga fans when they faced Borussia Dortmund in the quarter finals back in 2013.

Having a great coach and the ideal players is one that determines how far the team can go. Imagine Olivier Giroud as the top 9 in Liverpool team that made the UCL final last year. He is not compatible with the Gengenpressing played by Liverpool Klopp last season.

Experience matters a lot in the Uefa Champions league. You are meeting teams from different countries with different playing styles. Luck also plays a role because you don’t want to play the big teams early and will be praying for an injury free team.

The truth is not every club can win the Uefa Champions league. It is only for certain clubs that can meet the criteria mentioned above.

A total of 22 clubs have won at least 1 UCL cup in their history.

  1. Real Madrid 13
  2. Ac Milan 7
  3. Bayern Munich 5
  4. Liverpool 5
  5. Barcelona 5
  6. Ajax 4
  7. Manchester united 3
  8. Inter milan 3
  9. Juventus 2
  10. Benfica 2
  11. Nottingham forest 2
  12. Porto 2
  13. Celtic 1
  14. Hamburger SV 1
  15. Steau Bucharest 1
  16. Marseille 1
  17. Borussia Dortmund 1
  18. Chelsea 1
  19. Feyenoord 1
  20. Aston villa 1
  21. PSV Eindhoven 1
  22. Red Star Belgrade 1

Some of the above clubs are already in lower leagues due to mismanagement of the clubs thus leading them into relegation and into oblivion.

AJAX

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Ajax have won the Uefa champions league 4 times in their history and coming 2nd twice.

Ajax coached by Louis Van Gaal in the 1994-1995 season was one of the best Ajax team in history. They won the league title in style not losing any match and scoring 106 goals.

They also carried the same form to the champions league by beating defending champions Ac Milan in the final to land the prestigious cup.

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They had the likes of Edwin Van der Sar, Frank De Boer, Edgar Davids, Frank Rijkaard, Clarence Seedorf, Marc Overmars, Patrick Kluivert, Finidi george, and highest goal scorer Jari Litmanen then.

That was then. Nowadays, the big clubs don't wait for youngsters to develop before buying them. You see clubs like Real Madrid, Barcelona, Psg buying young starlets for huge amount of many. This is very hard to refuse as the player want to play for a bigger club and earn huge wages. This weakens the host club and reduce their chance of winning the UCL.

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Take a look at some of the top players Ajax have sold in recent years. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Luis Suarez, Wesley Sneijder, Klass Jan Huntelaar, Christian Eriksen, Jan Verthogen, Stekelenburg among host of other players have been sold.

Let me know your thought on the comment section. Do you think Ajax can still win the Champions league.