The glorious history of the Champions League began almost 70 years ago with a fictitious draw made by journalists from L’Equipe and club leaders. This resulted in the creation of the Champion Clubs’ Cup by UEFA.
Golazo, the Sports.fr podcast, returns in its last episode to the creation of the Champions League in 1955. The newspaper The Team is directly behind the creation of the European Cup almost 70 years ago. In December 1954, Gabriel Hanot, former player and coach of the France team, jumped out of his seat when the DailyMail presents Wolverhampton as the ” world champions after beating Honved and Spartak Moscow.
These French journalists (the same ones who will launch the Ballon d’Or the following year) establish the rules of a major European tournament between 16 clubs, choosing the most prestigious formations of the moment on the Old Continent. But Fifa has no intention of organizing such a competition and UEFA, newly created to organize its European Nations Cup, refuses such a project (some leaders are preparing the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup).
The Team then invites the leaders of the clubs to a meeting in Paris. Real Madrid president Santiago Bernabéu becomes one of the leaders of this crazy adventure. A fictitious draw is made and the confrontations are published in the newspaper. This is a huge bluff and this poker move will win. Our podcast Golazo tells you the incredible episodes of the history of the LDC.
