Summary
Paris Saint-Germain won their first-ever Champions League by beating Inter Milan 5-0, ending a run of over 160 games without a trophy in the competition.
Numerous teams, as brilliant as they have been, have never won the Champions League.
Three teams on this list have played at least 200 games in either the Champions League or European Cup without ever winning it.
On the 31st May, in what was considered the final game of the 2024/25 season at the highest level, Paris Saint-Germain won their first-ever Champions League trophy. Under the guidance of Luis Enrique, the Parisians have abandoned their old preference for signing mega names, the last of which, Kylian Mbappe, departed for Real Madrid in the summer of 2024.
In the place of Mbappe, Neymar and Lionel Messi, Enrique has built a young and exciting team, merged perfectly with established professionals and promising talents. With names in attack including a rejuvenated Ousmane Dembele, Bradley Barcola, the sensational teenager Desire Doue and Georgian Kvitcha Kvaratskhelia, PSG were a machine across the season.
Against Inter Milan, not only did PSG win the Champions League for the first time, but did so by putting five past the Italians, which no team has ever done before. It was a dominant victory, one in which the club’s aforementioned attackers shone, be it through scoring, assisting, or aiding the team without the ball.
That final was PSG’s 168th game in the Champions League, including its span as the European Cup, bringing an end to one of the longest Champions League droughts on the continent. Which other teams, however, have played the most games in Europe’s most prestigious competition without ever winning it?
Ranking Factors
Data for this article has been taken entirely from the official UEFA website and incorporates both the Champions League in its current format and the European Cup before that.
Teams That Have Played the Most Champions League Games Without Winning the Tournament
Rank
15.
14.
13
12.
11
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10 Panathinaikos
163 games
Panathinaikos fans
One of Greek football’s largest powerhouses alongside the likes of Olympiacos and PAOK, Panathinaikos are one of the few teams to have never been relegated from the Greek first division, having been a top-flight side since 1929. The Greens, as they are known, have won both the Greek title and Greek Cup on 20 different occasions, with eight doubles to their name.
Such domestic success has seen Panathinaikos compete in numerous European campaigns, the club having reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League in both 1992 and 2002. Despite such prominence, with 163 games in the competition, Panathinaikos are yet to win the Champions League, coming closest in the 1970/71 European Cup when they were beaten by Ajax in the final.
9 Shakhtar Donetsk
166 games
Georgiy Sudakov
Now under the management of ex-Atletico Madrid player Arda Turan, Shakhtar Donetsk have won 15 Ukrainian Premier League titles in a division with 34 years of history. One of Ukraine’s biggest teams, the club became the first team from an independent Ukraine to win a European trophy when they lifted the UEFA Cup in 2009.
Shakhtar’s name has become more prominent in recent years, in no small part due to the calibre of player they have attracted over the seasons. Talents such as Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Willian, Fernandinho, Douglas Costa and more have played for the Ukrainians within the past decade and their sales have garnered a great deal of income for the club.
Since the turn of the 21st century, Shakhtar have been a fixture in the Champions League, though despite their 166 games in the competition, the club are yet to progress further than the quarter-finals, which they reached most recently in the 2010/11 season.
8 Dinamo Zagreb
170 games
General view of Dinamo Zagreb fans during the match
The highest tier of Croatian football, known as the HNL, was founded soon after Croatia gained independence in the early 1990s. With over three decades of history now to its name, few clubs are as synonymous with success in Croatia as Dinamo Zagreb, who have won the modern top flight 25 times.
Zagreb, who have been a top flight club since the late 1940s, have also won the Croatian Cup on 16 different occasions, their position as the best Croatian side firmly established based on their historical exploits. When they were a Yugoslavian team, they became just the third side from that country to play in the European Cup, making their debut in 1958.
Despite a fairly consistent presence in the competition since then, with 170 games to their name, Zagreb have never progressed beyond the group stage or league phase of the Champions League.
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7 Rangers
179 games
Ally McCoist celebrates after scoring Rangers' second goal against Leeds in the Champions League in 1992
One of the two biggest clubs in Scotland and one of the biggest teams in British football, Rangers are, at the time of writing, in need of closing the distance that has appeared between themselves and arch-rivals Celtic. The Gers last won the Premiership in 2021, their 55th such honour within a history spanning well over a century.
Rangers have had a long association with the Champions League, first playing in the competition during the 1956/57 campaign, the second season of the European Cup. In their third such tournament, Rangers reached the semi-finals, only to be eliminated by Eintracht Frankfurt across two legs.
Since then, despite consistent appearances in the Champions League, Rangers have never again reached that round of the tournament and with 179 games under their belt, are still seeking their first taste of Champions League glory.
6 Atletico Madrid
180 games
Atletico Madrid's Antoine Griezmann celebrates scoring their first goal with teammates REUTERS/Susana Vera
Since 2011, Atletico Madrid have been under the management of Diego Simeone, the Argentinian having guided the club to two Europa League and two La Liga titles, whilst reaching two Champions League finals across the 2010s. For all of his good work, Simeone is yet to win Atletico what would be their first-ever Champions League trophy.
The Madrid side first featured in the European Cup in 1958, appearing in just five more seasons before the turn of the century. It has only been since the end of the 2000s that Atletico have been a consistent Champions League side, much of which can be attributed to Simeone’s work since coming in.
At the time of writing, Atletico have played in 180 Champions League matches and are yet to lift the fabled trophy, despite their best efforts.
5 Olympiacos
186 games
Olympiacos
Along with the aforementioned Panathinaikos, Olympiacos are a juggernaut of Greek football and at the time of writing, are under the ownership of Evangelos Marinakis, who also owns Premier League outfit Nottingham Forest. Marinakis will, no doubt, hope one day to make Olympiacos European champions just as Forest were years ago.
Olympiacos have long been accustomed to domestic success and in 2024, they won the Conference League for the first time, becoming the first team outside of the biggest European leagues to win a major European trophy since 2011. This triumph marked Olympiacos’ first-ever continental title.
In the Champions League, Olympiacos have played almost 200 matches. Their best return in the competition came during the 1998/99 campaign, where they were just minutes away from a place in the semi-finals before being beaten by Italian side Juventus. The club are yet to return to such a position within the Champions League.
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4 Galatasaray
191 games
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One of just three teams to have been a consistent part of the Super Lig since its 1959 foundation, Galatasaray are the most successful club in Turkey, having not only won the top flight 25 times, but having 17 Turkish Super Cups and 19 Turkish Cups alongside those honours.
Galatasaray became the first Turkish team to win a European competition when they lifted the UEFA Cup in the year 2000 and to date, no other Turkish club has followed suit. The club have a long history in the Champions League, having once reached the semi-finals and being a quarter-final side on numerous occasions.
Despite having come so close to a final, Gala are yet to feature in one and as such, despite 191 Champions League matches, have never won the competition.
3 Anderlecht
200 games
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For all of the teams that have competed in the Champions League, only three have ever featured in 200 or more matches without winning the competition. One such team are Belgian giants Anderlecht, who featured in the very first European Cup throughout the 1955/56 season.
The most successful club in Belgian history, Anderlecht have enjoyed success on the continent before. Twice they have won both the Cup Winners’ Cup and the Super Cup and in 1983, they lifted the Europa League. This came one year after, and three years before, Anderlecht played in the semi-finals of the Champions League, their best return in the competition.
Anderlecht are yet to match those heights in Europe’s most prestigious affair and at the time of writing, last competed in the Champions League during the 2017/18 campaign, being eliminated in the group stages.
2 Arsenal
225 games
For the first time since the days of the legendary Arsene Wenger, the 2024/25 season saw Arsenal progress deeply into a Champions League campaign. The Gunners produced a sensational display across two legs to beat Real Madrid in the quarter-finals but could not overcome eventual winners PSG in the following stage.
The closest Arsenal have come to Champions League glory was in 2006, amidst their run of 19-straight seasons of playing in the competition. As the first London club to reach a Champions League final, Arsenal took the lead against Barcelona in the final courtesy of Sol Campbell, though ultimately fell to a 2-1 defeat.
The Gunners have played 225 Champions League matches in their history and under the continued guidance of Mikel Arteta as manager, will be desperate to finally win such an honoured trophy.
1 Dynamo Kyiv
261 games
With a considerable distance between themselves and Arsenal, Dynamo Kyiv are, to date, the team to have played the most Champions League games without ever winning the competition. Ever present in the Ukrainian top flight since 1936, Kyiv were at their peak under the guidance of Valeriy Lobanovskyi, one of the greatest-ever managers in the game’s history.
On the continent, Kyiv have won two European Cup Winners’ Cups and a Super Cup across the 1970s and 1980s, but have never tasted Champions League glory, despite reaching the semi-finals of the competition on three separate occasions, the most recent time being in the 1998/99 Champions League, where they lost to Bayern Munich.
With 261 games played and no titles, Kyiv are well ahead as the team to have had the most Champions League experience without ever lifting the coveted trophy.
( All stats are from theUEFA official websiteand are correct as of 02/06/2025 )
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