The Champions League is the pinnacle of club football across Europe. The glamorous competition is home to the best teams and players on the continent and over the years we have seen the true greats take to the stage to deliver magical moments.
Cristiano Ronaldo's acrobatic strike against Juventus springs immediately to mind, and so does Lionel Messi's magical dribble against Bayern Munich, bringing down arguably the best centre-back in the world at the time, Jerome Boateng, before sending the ball behind Manuel Neuer's back. .
But for all the glitz, glamor and star-studded, multi-million euro squads, the elite club competition has also hosted small clubs such as Royal Antwerp, who played in the 2023/24 Champions League season.
The Belgian club are one of the smallest clubs to appear in the Champions League and to put their financial capabilities into perspective, their current transfer record is only around €6 million, paid in 2023 for the transfer of George Ilenikhen from Ligue 2 team Amiens SC.
This has made the popular sports site Give Me Sport take a look at the 10 smallest clubs to ever play in the Champions League and without further ado he has selected them.
Ranking factors
It is important to note that each selection is from the Champions League group stages only, and not from the qualifying rounds. Each ranking is evaluated according to the following factors:
Financial means History Fan base and attendance Country/city population
10.Royal Antwerp – founded in 1880
In 2017, Belgian team Royal Antwerp, which is the oldest football club in the country, was playing in the second tier and was far from the heights of Champions League football.
Six years later though, Antwerp, managed by former PSV and Bayern Munich midfielder Mark van Bommel, changed the club's history.
After winning the Belgian Super League for the first time in 66 years, van Bommel's side qualified for the Champions League, making history once again.
Royal Antwerp had never appeared in the group stages before, but they still managed a 3-2 win away to Barcelona.
9. FC Krasnodar – founded in 2008
Amazingly, FC Krasnodar was only founded in 2008 and yet, by 2020 they found themselves in the elite club league, having qualified for the Champions League group stages for the first time in their history.
Sergey Galitsky, the owner of the Russian club, was keen to build something that could benefit his region and so, consistent investment, coupled with a love of the sport, created a club that began to challenge the elite.
"Galitsky knows the name of every player in the academy. There are hundreds of kids. He is unique," said former Krasnodar striker Yura Movsisyan.
Galitsky's ambition will certainly continue to skyrocket the Russian club to new heights, and it looks like they are here to stay at the top level, but still, as of 2023, they remain a young club.
8. FC Viktoria Plzen – founded in 1911
FK Viktoria Plzen is one of the oldest clubs in the Czech Republic and is located in the west of the country, just 60 miles from the capital, Prague.
Although their Doosan Arena holds 11,700 fans, during the 2023/24 season, they average an attendance of around 8,400.
The Czech club's record transfer fee is around €1 million, which they have paid on three separate occasions, while their record departure is around €6 million.
The most valuable player of Viktoria Plzez is the 27-year-old goalkeeper, Jindrich Stanek, who is valued at over 3 million euros.
Perhaps their most notable Champions League win came in December 2018 when they beat Italian giants Roma 2-1 to secure a place in the Europa League.
7. APOEL FC – founded in 1926
Cypriot club APOEL FC will always be fondly remembered for their amazing 2011/12 Champions League season where they reached the last 1 of the competition.
Their squad was worth around €1.5m and they were only stopped on their journey by a star-studded side like Real Madrid, packed with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema.
Los Blancos, who have a squad value of over €500m, inflicted a heavy defeat on APOEL over two legs as they secured an 8-2 aggregate victory to progress to the semi-finals, but Jose Mourinho gave a rating of lit for their outstanding achievement at this stage.
6. NK Maribor – founded in 1960
NK Maribor, who hail from Slovenia, have appeared in the group stages of the Champions League on three occasions, with their last qualification in 2017.
Maribor is located about 80 miles from the capital, Ljubljana, and has a population of less than 100,000, so the football club is a small club when it comes to the European stage.
In 2014, the Slovenians qualified for the group stages of the Champions League for only the second time in their history, after beating Celtic in the play-offs. While they went winless that season, their three draws against Sporting, Schalke and Chelsea certainly represent a monumental achievement.
Three years later, another Champions League qualification followed and it all went well, as they got two draws against Spartak Moscow and one against Sevilla.
5. BATE Borisov - founded in 1973
BATE Borisov, founded in 1996, has risen from the third tier of Belarusian football to the brilliant stage of the Champions League.
In fact, on more than one occasion, they have played in the group stages five times, with their last appearance in the competition coming in the 2015/16 season.
Despite this, they punch well above their weight. After all, their club record transfer is around €1m, which they paid to Serbian side FK Vojvodina of Novi Sad for midfielder Mirko Ivanic in 2016.
They have averaged around 2,500 fans in their 13,000-seater stadium in recent seasons, which is a far cry from some of the crowds they will play with in other countries across the continent.
The club is located in the ninth largest city in Belarus and has a population of 143,000.
4. Qarabag FK – founded in 1951
2017 saw Qarabag FK, who hail from the capital of Azerbaijan, Baku, compete in the Champions League for the first time in their history.
Prior to their Champions League season, the club's matches in the Premyar Liqa would average just 2,000 fans in attendance, however, the play-off qualifier against Copenhagen saw 31,000 fans packed into Baku's Tofiq Bahramov Stadium. In this country they play their European matches.
Qarabag's first season in the Champions League saw them finish bottom of the table without a win, however, they drew twice against Atletico Madrid, which is quite an achievement considering the fortunes and team they were up against.
They are the first Azerbaijani team to reach the group stage of the elite competition.
3. FC Astana – founded in 2009
FC Astana was founded in 2009 and has enjoyed a rapid rise to the glitz and glamor of the Champions League.
The Blues won their first league title in 2014 and just a year later, they became the first team from Kazakhstan to reach the group stage of the Champions League after beating APOEL 2-1 on aggregate in the play-offs -off.
Of their six group games, they conceded defeat on just two occasions, drawing the other four, including a goalless draw against Spanish giants Atletico Madrid, who would eventually reach the final before suffering a loss to their rivals Real Madrid city on penalties.
Astana Stadium holds 30,000 fans, making it one of the biggest venues on this list, although, during the 2022/23 season, they averaged just over 6,000.
2. FC Sheriff – founded in 1997
In the Premier League and even in the lower divisions of English football, we are used to multi-millions spent on players, so for a club competing in the Champions League to have a record transfer fee of around €1 million is quite extraordinary.
This shows the budget FC Sheriff are operating on and despite a significant lack of investment compared to their Champions League rivals, the Moldovan club managed to beat Real Madrid 2-1 at the Bernabeu in September 2021, with some suggesting that it is the biggest shock in the history of the European race.
Founded in 1997, Sheriff have averaged just under 1,000 fans per game for the past few seasons as their 12,000-seater stadium is rarely full, underlining the size of the club.
1. FC Unirea Urziceni – founded in 1954 and bankrupt in 2011
Romanian club FC Unirea Urziceni competed in the Champions League group stages for the first time during the 2009/10 season and managed to finish third, despite operating on a significantly weaker budget than their competitors.
They collected a very commendable eight points after beating Rangers 4-1, Sevilla 1-0 and drawing with VfB Stuttgart and the aforementioned Glasgow-based side in the second leg.
However, the remarkable story of the villain collapsed a year later, after the owner sold almost the entire team to pay off debts.
Unirea managed to avoid relegation with the help of loan players, but they opted against renewing their license and disbanded in 2011.
Five years later, the club was re-founded with a new name and new crest.
