The latest UEC Champions League Diversity Index shows encouraging signs of greater diversity, with 12 debutants in 2026/27 and two navigating the qualifiers to reach the league phase. However, persistent domestic dominance and the continued concentration of UCL access underline the question of whether this represents lasting change or merely a temporary shift.
For the first time in a decade, clubs making their debut in the modern UEFA Champions League have managed to negotiate the qualifiers and reach the group stage.
Sabah from Azerbaijan were only formed in 2017 and entered the UCL in round one but benefitting from UEFA’s Champions Path beat Hapoel Be'er Sheva of Israel in the play-off round, while Viking Stavanger eliminated Croatia’s Dinamo Zagreb at the same stage to also qualify. The last debutant to reach the group stages was Russian club Rostov in 2016/17.
Sabah and Viking were among a dozen clubs to make their UCL debut this season, marking a rebound from 2025/26, when the number of debutants (qualifying rounds included) sank to its lowest level in 14 years according to the Champions League Diversity Index.
However, a third of this season’s debutants played in the old European Cup before the competition was revamped in 1994/95 to create the present UCL, such as Viking, which made six appearances in Europe’s top competition, the last in 1992/93, and many hegemonies still remain across the continent.
The index works by dividing the total UCL appearances for each nation by the number of different clubs that took up those entries to give a national figure. The higher the index score, the lower the diversity of clubs taking part from each country.
With just four clubs taking 60 UCL places since 1994/95, Greece, the Ukraine and Scotland remain the least diverse, while Spain continues to pile up the most slots, now totalling 124 including five in 2026/27.
The UCL was expanded in 2024/25 with four extra places in a restructured group stage, with Aston Villa from England, Spain’s Girona, Bologna from Italy and Brest from France all making their debut in the modern competition. This quartet bypassed the qualifiers and went straight to the group stages due to UEFA’s coefficient, which reflects the competition’s dominance by a handful of leagues.
Since Porto of Portugal beat French side AS Monaco in 2004, the 44 subsequent finalists have come from England (16), Spain (12), Italy (7), Germany (6) and France (3). These Big Five leagues have also been awarded 22 of the 36 places in the group stage of the 2026/27 UCL.
With the introduction of European Performance Spots in 2024/25, leading leagues could potentially have seven clubs in the UCL. That has yet to happen but since the introduction of EPS, those two extra places have been dominated by England and Spain with fifth-placed Liverpool and Real Betis benefitting in 2026/27. This season, Italian side Como qualified for European competition for the first time and went straight into the group stages
These changes make reaching the group stages of the UCL tough for many debutants outside the Big Five leagues, such as FC Thun, who returned to the Swiss Super League after a five-year absence and immediately won their first title but crashed out of the UCL in the second qualifying round.
Universitatea Craiova, who had won their first Romanian title since 1990/91 to secure a latter-day debut, and Poland’s Gornik Zabre, the last of whose dozen European Cup appearances was in 1988/89, also crashed out in the second round.
Aarhus won their first Danish championship in four decades to make their debut in the modern UCL in 2026/27 but were knocked out in the third qualifying round along with Sweden’s Mjällby AIF and Lithuanian A Lyga champions Kauno Žalgiris.
Two other debutants, Atert Bissen, who were playing amateur football in Luxembourg just two years ago and won the National Division in their debut season, and Maxline Vitebsk, who took their first Belarusian Premier League two years after relocating from Rahachow, were knocked out in round one.
Europe’s longest running hegemony was finally broken last year. Bulgaria’s PFC Ludogorets Razgrad run of 14 consecutive First Professional Football League titles was ended by Levski Sofia whose return to the UCL for the first time since 2008/09 ended in the play-off round.
In Scotland, Hearts returned to the UCL for the first time in two decades despite being edged out on the final day of the season by perennial champions Celtic, who took their fifth successive title. Since 1994/95, Celtic and Glasgow rivals Rangers have taken 46 of the 49 UCL spots allocated to Scotland.
Across Europe, plenty of other championships - and the resultant UCL places – are dominated by the same club.
The country now home to the longest run of consecutive is Serbia, where Red Star Belgrade have nine titles in a row, and one club continues to dominate UCL access in several other countries.
Slovan Bratislava, which netted €23m from appearing in the UCL Group stages in 2024/25 despite losing all eight games, unsurprisingly continue to dominate the domestic championship in Slovakia.
Simply returning to the UCL provides ever growing riches to competing clubs. Kairat Almaty return to represent from Kazakhstan. In 2025/26, Kairat drew one and lost seven of their UCL group stage fixtures and earned just over €20m. To put that figure in context, Crystal Palace won around €3m for winning the 2025/26 UEFA Conference League.
Overall, the title was won by the same club as last season in 18 of the 53 UEFA members entering clubs in the 2026/27 UCL. That total is down from 23 repeat winners last year as some hegemonies ended.
Győri ETO halted Ferencvaros’ run of seven successive triumphs in Hungary’s Nemzeti Bajnokság I to win a fifth title and a return to the UCL for the first time since 2013/14. Floriana ended a run of three successive Maltese championships by Hamrun Spartans after clinching their 27th title, but in some leagues, interruptions to long running winners has proved brief.
Dinamo Zagreb was once again Croatia’s sole UCL representative for the eighth time in nine seasons after winning the title by an 18-point margin with HNK Rijeka’s success in 2024/25 looking like a blip.
KÍ Klaksvík and Larne won a third title in four years in the Faroe Islands and Northern Ireland respectively. Flora won a fourth Meistriliiga title in six years in Estonia and in the Republic of Ireland, Shamrock Rovers won their fourth championship in five years and 22nd overall.
Lincoln Red Imps are one of only two clubs from Gibraltar to enter the UCL since the British Overseas Territory was allowed access in 2014/15. In Wales, TNS won a fifth successive title - and a 13th in 15 seasons - in 2025/26 by a 22-point margin, winning 26 of 32 games.
Galatasaray won a fourth title in a row ahead of Istanbul rivals Fenerbahce and the two sides have taken Turkey’s two UCL places for three successive seasons, while Club Bruges and Union Saint Gilloise have occupied both UCL slots on offer to Belgian clubs for three seasons in a row.
A rise in new entrants and the achievement of two debutants in negotiating access to the UCL group stage suggests an improvement in the competition’s diversity, but whether this marks a change or is temporary remains to be seen.
Note:
Liechtenstein does not enter teams into the UCL and Russian clubs have been barred since 2022/23 due to the invasion of Ukraine.
