Club | Arsenal |
---|---|
Seasons played | 39 |
Most appearances | Thierry Henry (86) |
Top scorer | Thierry Henry (41) |
First entry | 1963–64 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup |
Latest entry | 2024–25 UEFA Champions League |
Titles | |
Cup Winners' Cup | 1994 |
Inter-Cities Fairs Cup | 1970 |
Arsenal F.C. are an English professional football club based in Holloway, North London. The club's first European football match was played against Copenhagen XI on 25 September 1963, and they have since participated in European club competitions on several occasions, most of which organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). Arsenal have won two European honours: the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1970 and the Cup Winners' Cup in 1994 – the latter title recognised by the European confederation. The club played the 1994 European Super Cup and repeated its presence in the following year's Cup Winners' Cup final. Arsenal also reached the final of the UEFA Cup in 2000 and the Europa League in 2019, and became the first London team to appear in a UEFA Champions League final, in 2006.
Qualification for European club competitions is determined by a team's position in its domestic league, as well as how successfully a team fares in domestic cup competitions in the previous season. Following the Heysel Stadium disaster in 1985, UEFA placed an indefinite ban on all English teams from competing in Europe; the ban was lifted in the 1990–91 season and Arsenal entered in 1991–92 season, giving Arsenal the opportunity to play in the European Cup. Between 1998–99 and 2016–17, Arsenal qualified in nineteen successive UEFA Champions League seasons, an English football record, and is only surpassed in Europe by Real Madrid.[1][2][3]
French striker Thierry Henry holds the club record for most appearances with 89, and is the club's record goalscorer in European competitions with 42 goals. Arsenal's biggest winning margin in Europe is a 7–0 scoreline, a feat achieved twice: firstly away at Standard Liège, during their successful Cup Winners' Cup campaign, and secondly at home against Slavia Prague, for the 2007–08 UEFA Champions League. Arsenal hold the European club competition record for the most consecutive clean sheets with ten, set between September 2005 and May 2006.