There was a time when Champions League competition without Arsenal being involved was almost unimaginable, with Arsene Wenger making the Gunners regular guests at European football’s top table.
Between 1998 and 2017, the legendary French coach delivered a record-setting run of 19 successive qualifications for elite continental competition – with the north London heavyweights making their way to a first final in 2006.
Wheels started to come off, though, towards the end of Wenger’s tenure and Arsenal have been unable to put them back on since. How long has it been since a Champions League finish was last secured? GOAL takes a look…
When did Arsenal last qualify for the Champions League?
Prior to their qualification for the 2023-24 Champions League, Arsenal's previous involvement in the competition came in 2016-17, meaning they went six years without competing in UEFA's top-tier club tournament.
Qualification for the 2023-24 edition of the Champions League was secured after the Gunners finished second in the 2022-23 Premier League. Before that, Arsenal had been marooned in the Europa League, having failed to finish in the top four.
While Mikel Arteta has had to be patient, it did not take Wenger long to make an impact in English football following his appointment as Arsenal manager in October 1996.
He guided the Gunners to Premier League title glory in 1997-98, while also landing the FA Cup as part of a domestic double, and a Champions League bow was made in the following campaign.
Group-stage exits were endured in each of Arsenal’s first two outings at that level, before reaching the quarter-finals in 2000-01.
A place in the last eight was secured again in 2003-04, before suffering final heartache in a 2-1 defeat to Barcelona at Parc des Princes in 2006.
Wenger oversaw runs to two quarter-finals and one semi-final between 2008 and 2010, but Champions League adventures came to a close with a sequence of seven successive defeats in the last 16.
The most recent of those came at the hands of Bayern Munich in 2016-17, with back-to-back 5-1 defeats to the German giants delivering painful last memories for the Gunners among the European elite.
They could only muster a fifth-place finish in the Premier League that season and did not manage a top-four finish until 2022-23, when they finished second to Manchester City.
Arsenal's Champions League record
Season | Stage reached |
|---|---|
1998-99 | Group |
1999-00 | Group |
2000-01 | Quarter-final |
2001-02 | Group Stage 2 |
2002-03 | Group Stage 2 |
2003-04 | Quarter-final |
2004-05 | Round of 16 |
2005-06 | Runners-up |
2006-07 | Round of 16 |
2007-08 | Quarter-final |
2008-09 | Semi-final |
2009-10 | Quarter-final |
2010-11 | Round of 16 |
2011-12 | Round of 16 |
2012-13 | Round of 16 |
2013-14 | Round of 16 |
2014-15 | Round of 16 |
2015-16 | Round of 16 |
2016-17 | Round of 16 |
2023-24 | TBC |
Have Arsenal ever won the Champions League?
Arsenal have never won the Champions League or European Cup in their history.
The closest the Gunners came to clinching the Champions League trophy was in 2006, when they finished runners-up to Barcelona.
Sol Campbell had given Arsenal the lead, but they were up against it following Jens Lehmann's red card and Barca came roaring back into the game in the second half, with goals from Samuel Eto'o and Juliano Belletti overturning the deficit.