Champions League

For the historical international club competition, see Champions League (pre-UICA).

IFCF Champions' League

File:IFCF logo.png
Region	Worldwide
Number of teams	108 (entries in IFCL 2)
Current champions	Directus (EUR) (1st title)
Most championships	1830 Cathair FC (AUD)  Northern Union (BRE)  Directus (EUR) (1 title each)

The IFCF Champions' League is the world championship for club football organized by the International Federation of Club Football. The champion of each participating national association, plus additional teams from the highest-ranked associations in the IFCF ranking, may enter the competition each season.

It is the successor competition to the UICA Champions’ Cup, adopting its competition rules and coefficient ranking system. The first edition of the IFCF Champions' League was held in what would have been UICA's 75th edition. Due to uncertainty over the fate of UICA and delays in organizing the 74th Champions' Cup, ad-hoc international tournaments like the Dwile Invitational took the place of the 74th UICA season.

Format

The tournament consists of a knockout qualifying phase leading to a 32-team group stage, followed by a 16-team knockout phase. Teams eliminated prior to the group stage, and the third-placed teams from the group stage, enter the Challenger's Cup. Knockout ties are played in two matches with each team at home for one match, with the result determined by the aggregate score. Ties in aggregate are broken by which team scored more goals as the away team, by extra time, and finally by penalty shootout if there is still no winner. The exception is the final, which is played as a single match at a neutral venue chosen prior to the start of the tournament.

Qualifying phase

The qualifying phase consists of preliminary rounds depending on the number of entrants (typically, three), the qualifying round, and the playoff round. Teams are granted byes according to coefficient ranking among the entered teams, hence higher-ranked teams will generally have to play fewer rounds. Teams which enter as their association's champion play in a separate "champions path" from teams that qualified through league position. Losing teams in the qualifying phase enter the subsequent round of the Challenger's Cup.

Group stage and knockout phase

The 32 teams entering the group stage are draw into groups of four. The defending champions of the Champions' League and Challenger's Cup, the league champions of the four top-ranked associations, and the runners-up of the three top-ranked associations, qualify automatically for the group stage. They are joined by the winners of the play-off round. The group stage is a round-robin where each team plays the other teams in their group once at home and once away.

The top two teams of each group enter the knockout phase. For the Round of 16, group winners are drawn to play against runners-up, and teams representing the same association cannot play against each other. From the quarter-finals onwards, these provisions no longer apply. Third-place teams enter the Challenger's Cup Round of 32.

Champions' League finals

Edition	Winners	Score	Runners-up	Venue
1	1830 Cathair FC (AUD)	0–0 aet 4–2 pen	Northern Stallions (BRE)	Farnham Arena Sabrefell, Nephara
2	Northern Union (BRE)	2–1	Soldarian FC (VAL)	Stade Outineau Outineau, Kelssek
3	Directus (EUR)	2–1 aet	1830 Cathair FC (AUD)	The 66 Stadium Cathair, Audioslavia

Records and statistics

Clubs

	IFCF only		UICA included
Club	Champion	Runner-up	Champion	Runner-up
Yuba United (COM)	0	0	6	6
Albrecht FC (CAM)	0	0	4	1
Raynor City United (VAL)	0	0	5	4
Sonoma Center Panthers (COM)	0	0	2	2
Cafundó do Juta (CAF)	0	0	2	2
Fontvielle Impact (VLD)	0	0	2	2
Petardos S/A (CAF)	0	0	2	1
SK Franz Josef City (PIS)	0	0	2	1
Ranca Toco (CAF)	0	0	2	1
Soldarian FC (VAL)	0	1	2	1
1830 Cathair FC (AUD)	1	1	2	1
1896 Ebor (MYT)	0	0	2	0
Marinos Metropolis (VLD)	0	0	2	0

Associations

	IFCF only		UICA included
Association	Champion	Runner-up	Champion	Runner-up
Capitalizt SLANI (COM)	0	0	8	10
Cafundéu (CAF)	0	0	6	7
Valanora (VAL)	0	1	6	7
Jasĭyun (JSY)	0	0	5	3
Candelaria And Marquez (CAM)	0	0	5	3
Eura (EUR)	1	0	5	2
Septentrionia (SPT)	0	0	4	4
Valladares (VLD)	0	0	4	3
Polar Islandstates (PIS)	0	0	4	1
Audioslavia (AUD)	1	1	3	1
Nephara (NPH)	0	0	2	2
Astograth (ASG)	0	0	2	1
Mytanija (MYT)	0	0	2	0