Old Big Ears

Old Big Ears

Non-Fiction

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The Champions League is dead. Long live the Champions League! When Nigerian striker Daniel Amokachi scored for Club Brugge in November 1992, he ignited not just a match but a revolution—the birth of European football’s new commercial era. Belgian coach Raymond Goethals promptly led Olympique Marseille to claim the inaugural title. From these origins emerged the world’s premier football league. Broadcast rights now command astronomical sums across continents, shifting football’s epicentre from international tournaments to the Champions League stage, featuring giants like Chelsea FC, Liverpool FC, Manchester United, Manchester City, Barcelona, and Real Madrid.

Raf Willems, born in Belgium in 1960, is a writer, editor and football historian. He has written more than 50 books since 1995 about the history of football, also from a social and cultural view. He has, since 2025, a YouTube channel (Meetings with Football History). And he played more than 600 games (1980–2005) as a goalkeeper on the lowest level (in pub teams).

His first book was about The Cup with the Big Ears in 1995 (40th Anniversary). Since then, he wrote several new editions. In History of the Champions League 1992–2005, he gave a year-by-year overview of every winner.