Which nations have the most UEFA Champions League finalists?

Following the 2019 UEFA Champions League final, 50 nations can lay claim to a European Cup-winning player.

Two more countries joined the list after Liverpool's 2-0 win against Tottenham in Madrid, with goalscorer Mohamed Salah adding Egypt to the club and Sadio Mané playing a breakthrough role for Senegal. Indeed, Salah also became just the fifth African player to find the net in a final, after Mané became the fourth in 2018.

Reds team-mate Naby Keïta of Guinea missed out through injury, however, meaning he – like unused Spurs substitute Victor Wanyama of Kenya – was unable to become the very first player from his country to feature in a European Cup decider.

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Mohamed Salah joins elite group of African final scorers

Since the first final in 1956, 1,066 players representing 63 nations have featured in a showpiece game (many more than once). Italy have the most different finalists (147), one more than Spain – who did not add to their total after Liverpool defender Alberto Moreno stayed on the bench in Madrid. Spurs' lone Spaniard, Fernando Llorente, had already featured in a decider, losing with Juventus in 2015.

More trivia

• Greece have had the most finalists without having a winner – 12; that total includes Panathinaikos' 11 men from their 1971 final defeat, plus Akis Zikos, a losing finalist with Monaco in 2004.

• Turkey (11th in the current UEFA rankings) are the highest-ranked nation never to have had a UEFA Champions League or European Cup winner; Turkey's three finalists to date all ended up with runners-up medals: Yıldıray Baştürk (Leverkusen, 2002), Hamit Altıntop (Bayern, 2010) and Nuri Şahin (Dortmund, 2013).

• The lowest-ranked European nation to have a UEFA Champions League finalist and winner is San Marino; Massimo Bonini – a 1985 winner with Juventus – represented the side ranked 55 out of 55 in UEFA's national coefficient rankings.

Number of players (by nation) who have appeared in the European Cup/UEFA Champions League final

The 1974 Bayern side were Germany's first winners©Getty Images

147: Italy
146: Spain
130: Germany
82: England
80: France
63: Netherlands
62: Portugal
54: Brazil
38: Scotland
30: Argentina
26: Serbia
24: Sweden
22: Romania
16: Belgium
14: Denmark
13: Croatia
12: Greece*
11: Republic of Ireland
6: Poland
5: Ghana
5: Ivory Coast
5: Uruguay
5: Wales
4: Czech Republic
4: Hungary
4: Norway
3: Austria
3: Nigeria
3: North Macedonia
3: Slovenia*
3: Turkey*
2: Bosnia and Herzegovina
2: Bulgaria
2: Cameroon
2: Finland
2: Mali
2: Mexico
2: Northern Ireland
2: South Africa
2: South Korea
2: Switzerland
2: Ukraine

Algerian pioneer Rabah Madjer©Bob Thomas/Getty Images

1: Algeria (Rabah Madjer, winner Porto 1987)
1: Angola* (Vata, runner-up Benfica 1990)
1: Australia (Harry Kewell, winner Liverpool 2005)
1: Belarus* (Aleksandr Hleb, runner-up Arsenal 2006)
1: Chile* (Arturo Vidal, runner-up, Juventus 2015)
1: Colombia* (Juan Cuadrado, runner-up Juventus 2017)
1: Costa Rica (Keylor Navas, winner Real Madrid 2016, 2017 & 2018)
1: DR Congo* (Shabani Nonda, runner-up Monaco 2004)
1: Ecuador* (Antonio Valencia, runner-up Manchester United 2011)
1: Egypt (Mohamed Salah, winner Liverpool 2019)
1: Gabon* (Mario Lemina, runner-up Juventus 2017)
1: Georgia (Kakha Kaladze, winner AC Milan 2003 & 2007)
1: Montenegro* (Stefan Savić, runner-up Atlético Madrid 2016)
1: Morocco* (Hajry Redouane, runner-up Benfica 1988)
1: Paraguay* (Domingo Benegas, runner-up Atlético Madrid 1974)
1: Peru (Víctor Benítez, winner AC Milan 1963)
1: Russia (Dmitri Alenichev, winner Porto 2004)
1: San Marino (Massimo Bonini, winner Juventus 1985)
1: Senegal (Sadio Mané, winner Liverpool 2019)
1: Trinidad & Tobago (Dwight Yorke, winner Manchester United 1999)
1: Zimbabwe (Bruce Grobbelaar, winner Liverpool 1984)

*nations who have had a player appear in the final but not a winner

Last updated 14/04/20