The Longest Champions League Winning Runs—Ranked

Arsenal are close to joining a list of illustrious clubs.

Bayern Munich embarked on a legendary run amid which they won the trophy. | MIGUEL A. LOPES/POOL/AFP/Getty Images

The Champions League is where the cream of the crop contest club soccer’s grandest prize. To survive is hard enough. Thriving is even tougher.

Only Europe’s elite teams harbor genuine ambitions of Champions League glory each season and there have been some historically stunning campaigns since the competition’s rebranding back in 1992.

Putting together a lengthy winning streak worthy of the title offers the sternest of challenges but there are an array of big-hitters who have embarked on storied triumphant runs that defy logic.

With that in mind, here are the longest winning streaks in Champions League history.

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The Longest Champions League Winning Runs Ever

Man City boast the longest run of any English side. | Marvin Ibo Guengoer/GES Sportfoto/Getty Images

Bayern Munich comfortably boast the most impressive winning run since the Champions League’s inception. An astonishing 15-match streak spanned over a year—admittedly the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic elongated the run—starting in September 2019 with victory over Red Star Belgrade and concluding with a routine triumph over RB Salzburg in November 2020.

During their remarkable purple patch, Bayern scooped the 2019–20 Champions League crown by beating Paris Saint-Germain in the competition’s final, while also claiming their famous 8–2 win over Barcelona alongside thrashings of Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea and Atlético Madrid. The streak ended with a stalemate against the latter in the 2020–21 group stage.

Bayern also possess the joint-second longest winning streak in the competition—their 10-match spree between April and November 2013—while they also enjoyed an impressive run shortly after setting the record, winning eight games on the spin between September 2022 and March 2023.

Manchester City are the English side with the longest run and they also clinched the trophy during their 10-game streak, which started with a 4–0 victory over Real Madrid in the 2022–23 semis. City proceeded to beat Inter in the showpiece event before triumphing in their first eight European games of the following campaign—eventually ended by a quarter-final draw with Madrid in 2024.

Joining Bayern and Man City on 10-game winning runs are Real Madrid, whose journey began with a 1–0 semifinal win over Bayern, continued with victory over Atléti in the 2013–14 final and ended when they were surprisingly beaten 4–3 on home soil by Schalke in the following season’s last 16 second leg.

There have been two nine-match winning streaks in the Champions League, both undertaken by Barcelona. The first dates back to 2002 and lasted exactly five months before being ended by eventual runners-up Juventus in the last eight, while the second was enjoyed during their 2014–15 title-winning campaign—although it ended just before their final victory over Juve in Berlin.

The 1996–97 season saw Borussia Dortmund win their sole Champions League title and begin their eight-game winning run in December of that term. That carried over into the following campaign and it’s a streak that can be matched by Arsenal in this year’s Champions League should they beat Kairat Almaty on home soil in their final league phase match.

Team	Matches Won	Start Date	End Date
Bayern Munich	15	Sept. 18, 2019	Nov. 25, 2020
Manchester City	10	May 17, 2023	March 6, 2024
Real Madrid	10	April 23, 2014	Feb. 18, 2015
Bayern Munich	10	April 2, 2013	Nov. 27, 2013
Barcelona	9	Oct. 21, 2014	May 6, 2015
Barcelona	9	Sept. 18, 2002	Feb. 18, 2003
Bayern Munich	8	Sept. 7, 2022	March 8, 2023
Borussia Dortmund	8	Dec. 4, 1996	Oct. 1, 1997

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