Which nations have the most UEFA Champions League finalists?

Following the 2020 UEFA Champions League final, 51 nations can lay claim to a European Cup-winning player, Alphonso Davies securing a first for Canada.

In total, 22 players made their first UEFA Champions League final appearances in Lisbon, with three of the Paris players and five who featured for Bayern having appeared in previous deciders.

Since the first final in 1956, 1,088 players representing 64 nations have featured in a showpiece game (many more than once). Italy and Spain have had the most finalists: 148 players each, with Marco Verratti added to Italy's tally in 2020, while Juan Bernat and Ander Herrera were added to Spain's.

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

148: Italy
148: Spain
136: Germany
85: France
82: England
63: Netherlands
62: Portugal
58: Brazil
38: Scotland
31: Argentina
26: Serbia
24: Sweden
22: Romania
16: Belgium
14: Croatia
14: Denmark
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: Cameroon
3: Nigeria
3: North Macedonia
3: Slovenia*
3: Turkey*
2: Bosnia and Herzegovina
2: Bulgaria
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: Canada (Alphonso Davies, winner Bayern 2020)
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, runner-up with Paris 2020)
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 24/08/20