In 1992, UEFA decided to uproot the European Cup and brought in marketers Team Football Marketing AG to rebrand the entire competition as the Champions League.
It wasn’t just a brand change, the format and structure of the tournament also completely changed, and the old KO-exclusive format now became a qualification for a group league stage before a final KO tournament.
But the key thing was to get to that group stage, and eight teams did that.
AC Milan, Marseille, Bruges, PSV, Porto, CSKA, Gothenburg and another…
Rangers.
These eight teams are not only considered the founding fathers of the Champions League, but Rangers have historically ALWAYS been in this competition every year.
How? Because the logo with its 8 stars in the shape of a football means that each of the founding teams is represented, a tribute to the creation of the competition and to the eight teams that made it to this inaugural group stage.
As you can see, the Rangers star is the one at the bottom, and this logo has a staggering 95% recognition level, making it one of the most recognizable logos in world sport.
But then what? Logos are one thing but competing for real is another.
And that’s why our absence of 12 years is so absolutely appalling. For a team that was there at the very beginning, a pivot of the tournament and belonged there, to go through an entire generation of fans without seeing their team at this level is utterly astounding.
It even means that in the era of BT’s Champions League broadcast, which has now been going on for nearly a decade, Rangers have never featured in BT Sport’s coverage of the premier competition.
There are so many things wrong here, and the club can finally, finally change that over the next three weeks.
But the need to beat Union is absolutely exorbitant. So let’s start there.