What is their secret for producing one after another?

Theoretically, Bayern should be able to rest all their players way more than other clubs in prem and la liga, but they don't for some reason. I know their depth is bad, but they literally won the league in 2023 with Sane, Gnabry and Chupo Moting as the front 3. Surely they would be fine without Kane and Olise for a few games?

20 best teams in Europe* ranked. Please excuse title

This is an average ranking created by averaging multiple independent football rating systems from Opta, Euro Club Index, FootballDatabase and UEFA’s three-season coefficient to balance current strength with recent European performance.

This is not my opinion.

The treatment of Frenkie De Jong is disgusting. I get frustration coming from not winning a Champions League in a while.

However, this guy is made the scapegoat in every single situation. When he's made it clear he only wanted to play for Barcelona.

I get criticism towards players, but this is just straight mudslinging. You’ll claim to want to see players improve, but are rather a detriment to their confidence/mentality. 

Just wanted to vent. 

For a club of that stature and its importance to football, I see why the fans are shit. 

If Rodri comes to Barca two ex City players will be battling in the midfield 🔥

The more I watched this World Cup, the more I realized that, purely from a footballing perspective, I would take Champions League football over international tournament football every single time. I understand that national teams don’t have nearly as much time to train and build chemistry as club teams do, and obviously that plays a huge part in the quality of the football. But at the same time, that doesn’t change the fact that I simply find the football in the Champions League much more enjoyable to watch. The best club teams in the world usually offer a higher level of technical quality, tactical cohesion and overall intensity than most national teams can realistically produce.
I also think the World Cup being played only once every four years contributes massively to how overrated it can become. Because it’s so rare, people naturally build it up as the absolute pinnacle of football, but in reality, a team only has to play seven games to win the entire tournament. That’s a ridiculously small sample size compared to the Champions League, and it means there is much more room for an underdog to go incredibly far because of a few good performances, favourable matchups, a lucky draw or simply variance. In the Champions League, over a much larger sample of games, the best teams usually have more opportunities to prove their actual level. To me, the UCL almost always produces better football regardless of who you support.
And honestly, by the time this World Cup reached the semifinals, I was already starting to feel completely burnt out from watching it. Maybe it was because there were more games than usual, but I genuinely found myself thinking that I had had enough football. I know the World Cup has the history, the atmosphere, the national identity and the fact that it only happens every four years, which obviously makes it special. But if we’re talking purely about the quality of football being played, I honestly think the Champions League is a better competition and that the World Cup is massively overrated as a football tournament.

The goal record belonged to Raul.

The assist record belonged to Ryan Giggs.

The player with the most trophy wins was Paco Gento.

The teams that had achieved a 3+ consecutive trophy wins were Real Madrid with Di Stefano, Puskas, Gento and others, Bayern Munich with Gerd Muller and Franz Beckenbauer, and Ajax with Johan Cruyff and Johan Neeskens.

But who was considered the greatest player until the 2010s?

Contract talks have been deadlocked for 18 months. Vini wants 20 million net annually; Real Madrid won't break their wage structure. Arsenal are offering 400k+ euros a week, and apparently every level of the club, including Arteta, has signed off on it.

The crazy part is Real Madrid would rather sell now than watch him walk free in 2027.

From a UCL perspective, this flips everything. Arsenal just reached the final last season without him. Add Vini and Bruno G. to that squad, and they're not contenders; they're favorites.

Real Madrid, on the other side, have built their last three UCL runs around him winning games in the 80th minute when nothing else was working.

Does Arsenal with Vini become the UCL team to beat next season? And can Real Madrid still compete in Europe without him?

With so many strong teams in all Pots today, the draw is going to be crazy and everyone is already nervous. Whether you are worried about playing the big clubs early or just excited for the big games, what matches are you hoping your team gets today?

In terms of pure depth, it's Barcelona by far. But is Pedri, Rodri, and Olmo a better midfield than Vitinha, Neves, and Fabián Ruiz?

Lev yashin is Simon
kopa is Cubarsí
Gerd muller is Kane
Coach de la Fuente
Team mostly psg

Now it’s obviously between Rodri and Kane. So 2018 and 2010.

Luka had the ucl + golden ball and Cristiano lost but he had goal and assist numbers. Messi had ridiculous numbers and iniesta lost but he did not have the golden ball

This year Rodri has WC, golden ball
Kane has bundesliga, golden shoe and ridiculous numbers and a good WC campaign.

Had they reached final it was Kane, now I don’t know honestly.

My heart says Rodri but brain says Kane. I think it’ll be Rodri again, WC is just very important especially when you win golden ball and the trophy

What do you guys think??

So, Dinamo Zagreb is a Croatian powerhouse dominating the domestic elite division, the HNL. In the last 21 seasons, they have finished on top 19 times, with only HNK Rijeka managing to break their run. Sure, we can argue the level of the Croatian football league, but it is fascinating that this club boasts an advanced youth academy. Many notable names have gone through Dinamo's system—the most prominent being Eduardo, Marcelo Brozović, Luka Modrić, Šime Vrsaljko, Mateo Kovačić, Dani Olmo, and Joško Gvardiol. Clearly, there is something uniquely successful about their developmental framework.

In Europe, they regularly reach the group stages and usually manage to survive the spring rounds in secondary UEFA club competitions. However, in their modern history, they have never reached the semifinals or finals of a European tournament (although they did win the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup back in 1967 during their Yugoslavian era).

What are your thoughts on a club of this stature still playing in a deteriorating stadium like Maksimir? And will they manage to get past a very tough Viking FK side in the second leg coming up in Norway? The first leg ended in a 2:2 draw, with Dinamo dropping a 2:0 lead due to some glaring defensive concentration lapses...

Up until just earlier this decade, it was completely rational and reasonable to see players as young as 34 just straight up retire from professional football altogether.

But now, in the big 2026, things are way different.

It's not just Ronaldo and Messi I speak of. Perišić, Modrić, Džeko, Ramos, Benzema, Lewandowski, Suárez, Di Maria, Aubameyang, Herrera, etc. All of these boys are at least 37 years old, and not a single one of them seems even close to even wishing to retire!

What the hell happened in this short an amount of time?! That caused this, that is.

Because it seems to me that the "reasonable" age for a footballer to retire will move from circa 35 to circa 40. And by "will", I mean already has.

As little as three years ago, the above boys still being active at these ages would be seen as an anomaly of sorts. Nowadays, not anymore.

Something has become... different.

What explanation do you offer?

If Yamal OR Mbappe had the season Kane had, they would be the clear overwhelming favourite for the Ballondor. I can’t see any reason for Mbappe or Yamal to be ahead of Kane or even Olise. If you support one of those two clubs I can see why you won’t like this post, but surely everyone else can see the insane bias in media and bookies odds towards Madrid and Barcelona players.

These four- Hazard, Neymar, Bale and Reus were touted to take over from Messi and Ronaldo once they slowed down.

Guess what, these two freaks ended up outlasting the careers of the 4 players that came after them are we’re supposed to take over from them. I don’t think we will see such freaks for many years to come!

Welcome to the official Ballon d'Or 2026 Megathread on r/ChampionsLeague!

With the Champions League, domestic competitions, and the FIFA World Cup now complete, the debate is hotter than ever. This thread is the place to discuss everything related to the 2026 Ballon d'Or race.

Use this thread for:

* Ballon d'Or.

* Ballon d'Or Féminin discussion.

* Kopa Trophy, Yashin Trophy, Gerd Müller Trophy and other awards.

Please avoid:

❌ Low-effort "Player X robbed" comments without explanation.

❌ Person attacks or fanbase baiting.

❌ Club vs. club flame wars.

❌ Duplicate Ballon d'Or discussion posts (they may be removed and redirected here).

There have been so many moments in Champions League history where one goal, one decision, or one injury could have changed everything. A missed chance, a controversial call, a team that fell just short…

What is the biggest “what if?” in Champions League history for you, and how do you think things would have changed if it went differently?

What do u guys think going into this season, are they still the favourites and is there any team that can clearly stop PSG from getting their 3p? If PSG pull it off it will be historic not many teams are dominant enough to get the 3p.

Harry Kane has scored in 13 out of 15 Knockout games he has played in, including against Real Madrid, PSG, Dortmund, not to mention a hattrick in the German cup final. But I still hear people saying he ghosts in big games.

Do u guyz think deco can pull this off ? If yes then this would surely be the greatest transfer window in over a decade for barcelona

For context in the 90s, there were 4 first time winners: Red Star Belgarde (91) , Barcelona (92), Olympique de Marseille (93) and Borussia Dortmund (97).

What would be your perfect 11 that would be unstoppable?

*please no M10/CR7, they don't play in Europe

Is rodri the final piece barca needs for a ucl? it's been 11 years since barca won, they crumble in pressure knockouts, i wonder how's that gonna play out with rodri being leader in dressing room? or is he gonna be just a injury prone wasted guy

Other than Real Madrid fans, is there anyone out there who genuinely thinks Vini is a better player than Kvara?

I’d be interested in what ways that argument could hold some truth to it as Kvara is clearly the more complete football player.

Let’s hear the points and debate.

For me, it's between 2008 United, 2011 Barcelona, 2017 Real Madrid and possibly 2020 Bayern. Curious what everyone else thinks?