Have Arsenal Ever Won the Champions League?

With a coveted history that dates all the way back to 1886, London’s Gunners are one of the “big four” teams in the Premier League, but have Arsenal ever won the Champions League? 

We discuss their history in the Champions League, their road to the 2006 Champions League final, as well as their performances in the competition post 2006. Read on to find out all the answers to these questions in our detailed article.

Have Arsenal Ever Won the Champions League?

Arsenal FC have never won the Champions League, having lost their only final in the competition against FC Barcelona in 2006. They lost the final 2-1 with goals from Samuel Eto’o and Juliano Belletti.

Arsenal’s History in the Champions League

Let’s take a look at Arsenal’s performances in the Champions League prior to the 2005/06 season. 

Season	Stage of Competition	P	W	D	L
1971/72	Quarter Finals	6	4	0	2
1991/92	Second Round	4	1	2	1
1998/99	Group Stage	6	2	2	2
1999/00	First Group Stage	6	2	2	2
2000/01	Quarter Finals	14	7	3	4
2001/02	Second Group Stage	12	5	1	6
2002/03	Second Group Stage	12	4	5	3
2003/04	Quarter Finals	10	5	2	3
2004/05	Round of 16	8	3	4	1

The furthest stage of the competition that Arsenal reached prior to the 2005/06 season was the quarter-finals on 3 occasions (1971/72, 2000/01 and 2003/04).

Arsenal’s Road to the 2006 Champions League Final

In the 2005/06 football season, Arsenal reached the Champions League final for the first time. We’re going to take a look at their road to the final, analysing how they performed during both the group stages and knockout stages.

Arsenal’s Group Stage Performance

Arsenal’s journey to the 2006 Champions League final was fortuitous. The London giants topped Group B of the competition, which included Ajax, Thun and Sparta Prague. Out of the 6 group matches they played, they won 5 and drew 1, scoring 10 goals and conceding just 2.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Arsenal (ENG)	6	5	1	0	10	2	+8	16
2	Ajax (NED)	6	3	2	1	10	6	+4	11
3	Thun (SUI)	6	1	1	4	4	9	-5	4
4	Sparta Prague (CZE)	6	0	2	4	2	9	-7	2

Arsenal’s Knockout Stage Performance

During the knockout stages of the 2005/06 competition, the Gunners then went on to knock out Spanish giants Real Madrid, Italian giants Juventus and Villarreal. Juventus and Villarreal both topped their respective groups, with Real Madrid coming runners-up of theirs.

What’s really impressive is that Arsenal kept six clean sheets during the knockout stages of the tournament, with the following results:

Round of 16

Team	1st Leg Result	2nd Leg Result	Aggregate Score
Real Madrid (SPN)	0	0	0
Arsenal (ENG)	1	0	1

Quarter Final

Team	1st Leg Result	2nd Leg Result	Aggregate Score
Arsenal (ENG)	2	0	2
Juventus (ITA)	0	0	0

Semi Final

Team	1st Leg Result	2nd Leg Result	Aggregate Score
Arsenal (ENG)	1	0	1
Villarreal (SPN)	0	0	0

The 2006 Champions League Final

After convincingly making their way through the round of 16, quarter-finals and semi-finals of the 2006 Champions League, Arsenal met FC Barcelona in the final. The final took place at the national stadium of France, otherwise known as the Stade de France, on the 17th May 2006.

With 79,610 people in attendance that night, Arsenal lined up in their eye-catching yellow away kit, due to the fact that both Arsenal and Barcelona’s home kits had the colour red on them. Learn how football teams decide which kit to wear. 

Arsenal set up in a 4-4-2 with Freddie Ljungberg playing as a second striker off of French ace Thierry Henry.

Barcelona lined up in their trademark 4-3-3 formation, fielding a front three of Ronaldinho, Samuel Eto’o and Ludovic Giuly.

Thierry Henry had a couple of chances during the first stages of the final, however disaster struck in the 18th minute when Arsenal’s goalkeeper received a red card. German keeper Jens Lehmann brought down Samuel Eto’o during a one on one with the striker just outside the penalty box.

Although they went down to 10 men, Arsenal managed to take the lead in the 37th minute thanks to a headed goal from defender Sol Campbell. They went into the half-time break 1-0 up despite their numerical disadvantage.

Unfortunately, Arsenal couldn’t hold on to their lead, and conceded two goals in 4 minutes on the 76th and 80th minute marks. This took the tie away from the Gunners. 

Arsenal’s Performances in the Champions League After 2006

Following Arsenal’s disappointing loss to Barcelona in the 2006 Champions League final, the Gunners didn’t have much luck in the seasons that followed it.

Season	Stage of Competition	P	W	D	L
2006/07	Round of 16	10	5	3	2
2007/08	Quarter Finals	12	7	3	2
2008/09	Semi Finals	14	7	4	3
2009/10	Quarter Finals	12	7	2	3
2010/11	Round of 16	8	5	0	3
2011/12	Round of 16	10	6	2	2
2012/13	Round of 16	8	4	1	3
2013/14	Round of 16	10	6	1	3
2014/15	Round of 16	10	6	2	2
2015/16	Round of 16	8	3	0	5
2016/17	Round of 16	8	4	2	2

The London side did manage to reach the semi-finals in the 2008/09 season, but lost to Manchester United 4-1 on aggregate. From the 2006/07 to the 2016/17 season, Arsenal bowed out of the competition at the round of 16 stage eight times.

Since the 2016/17 season, Arsenal haven’t played in the Champions League. This is because they’ve failed to qualify for the competition due to finishing lower in the Premier League standings.

Conclusion

Arsenal are a prestigious football club based in London who have a rich history. They’ve unfortunately never won the coveted Champions League trophy, though, having reached the final in 2006. Besides that, they reached the semi-finals of the competition in the 2008/09 season.

Although the Gunners haven’t played in the competition since the 2016/17 season due to poor league performances, it looks like their fortunes might change with them challenging for the Premier League title in the 2022/23 season, which will cement their place back in the Champions League.

Have Arsenal won the Champions League? No, not yet, but their fortunes could change sometime soon! We hope that you learned something new in this Elastico article.

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