F.C. Copenhagen reach 13th group stage in 14 years

F.C. Copenhagen have secured their 13th UEFA group stage in the past 14 seasons.

The Lions' achievement is even more impressive considering we have fought through qualifying rounds in 12 of those 13 campaigns.

Only in 2013 did FCK directly qualify for the Champions League.

Only six clubs have secured multiple group games since 2006
The first time F.C. Copenhagen made it to the group stage was in 2006.

Since then, only seven clubs have participated in more group stages than us, ie 14 out of 14: Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich (1), FC Porto (4), Benfica (5), Shakhtar Donetsk (6) and Arsenal (7)

The numbers indicate how many times these clubs have been through qualifiers. All of these clubs have therefore directly qualified in at least half of their campaigns.

The two Spanish major teams have been in the Champions League each time, Bayern a single time in the Europa League and the others twice in the Europa League.

Thirteen others have reached 13 group stages since 2006
As mentioned, we have been in 13 group stages since 2006 – and so have 13 other sides:

Chelsea (0), Manchester United (1), Lyon (3), Atletico Madrid (4), CSKA Moscow (4), Tottenham (4), Olympiakos (6), Sporting CP (6), Anderlecht (7), PSV (8), FC Basel (9), Dynamo Kiev (9), FC Copenhagen (12)

Here, too, the figures show how many times they have gone through qualifying rounds. It shows no one has had to go through qualifying matches as often as us.

It is noted that no clubs from Scandinavia or Italy have qualified as often as we have, and that nations such as Germany, France, Russia, Netherlands, Belgium and others also have only one member in this 'company'.

No one has been through the qualification more times than FCK
There is only one club besides us that has reached a group stage since 2006 through 13 qualifying rounds - that is Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb. Then Steaua and Celtic follow with 11 and 10 group stages via the qualification route respectively.

Unique achievement
There are many ways to measure performance. For example, you can look at budgets, the strength of the national leagues, the seeding, the number of qualifying rounds when the national league starts, which opponents have been drawn (high or low UEFA ranking), etc.

But in isolation, it is a unique achievement to reach 13 out of 14 group games, having only directly qualified once.