How many Champions League titles did Francisco Gento win?

Francisco Gento won six European Cups with Real Madrid, claiming the first five editions from 1956 to 1960 and a sixth in 1966. His total was the outright individual record for almost 60 years until modern Real Madrid players matched it. He remains the benchmark for the competition.

Which active players have the most Champions League titles?

Luka Modric and Dani Carvajal lead active players with six Champions League titles each, both won with Real Madrid, matching Francisco Gento's all-time record. Nacho Fernandez also has six. Among current players still at European clubs, Modric and Carvajal are best placed to try for an outright record seventh.

Has any non-Real Madrid player won six Champions Leagues?

No. Every player who has won six European Cups or Champions Leagues did so with Real Madrid. The most successful player from another club is AC Milan's Paolo Maldini, who won five between 1989 and 2007. Real Madrid's dominance of the competition shapes the entire individual leaderboard.

Most Champions League Titles by a Player

Q: Which player has won the most Champions League titles?

Francisco Gento holds the record with six European Cups, won with Real Madrid between 1956 and 1966. As of the 2025 season, Luka Modric, Dani Carvajal and Nacho Fernandez have equalled his six, so four players now share the record, all from Real Madrid. No player has reached seven.

Francisco Gento holds the record for the most Champions League titles by a player, with six European Cups won at Real Madrid between 1956 and 1966. That mark stood alone for almost six decades, and as of the 2025 season three modern Real Madrid players, Luka Modric, Dani Carvajal and Nacho Fernandez, have equalled it with six titles each.

The Champions League, and the European Cup that came before it, is the hardest trophy in club football to win, and winning it repeatedly demands a rare mix of talent, longevity and the right club at the right time. That is why almost every name near the top of this list wears the same white shirt. Here is the full leaderboard of the players with the most European Cup and Champions League titles, and why one club dominates it completely. All figures are as of the 2025 season.

The record holder: Francisco Gento and six titles

Gento, a lightning-quick left winger, was the heartbeat of the Real Madrid side that invented the competition’s aura. He played in the first five European Cup finals, all won from 1956 to 1960, and added a sixth in 1966, giving him a haul no player matched for generations. He also reached eight finals in total, another record for years, a measure of how long he stayed at the summit of European football.

For nearly 60 years, Gento’s six was the number every great European player was measured against, and none reached it. Then Real Madrid’s modern dynasty produced a group of players who won at a pace that finally caught him.

The players who equalled Gento

Real Madrid’s run of six Champions Leagues between 2014 and 2024 created the first serious challengers to Gento’s record. Luka Modric, Dani Carvajal and Nacho Fernandez each featured in all six of those triumphs, taking their personal totals to six and drawing level with Gento as of the 2025 season. Their achievement means the individual record is now shared among four players, every one of them a Real Madrid man.

Just behind, a cluster of players reached five. Toni Kroos won five between 2016 and 2024 before retiring, while Karim Benzema and Marcelo each collected five during the same golden era. Cristiano Ronaldo also has five, uniquely split across two clubs, one with Manchester United in 2008 and four with Real Madrid.

The full leaderboard of Champions League-winning players

The table below ranks the players with the most European Cup and Champions League titles. Active players are noted.

Rank	Titles	Player	Club(s)	Era
1	6	Francisco Gento	Real Madrid	1956-1966
1	6	Luka Modric*	Real Madrid	2014-2024
1	6	Dani Carvajal*	Real Madrid	2014-2024
1	6	Nacho Fernandez*	Real Madrid	2014-2024
5	5	Alfredo Di Stefano	Real Madrid	1956-1960
5	5	Paolo Maldini	AC Milan	1989-2007
5	5	Cristiano Ronaldo*	Man Utd / Real Madrid	2008-2018
5	5	Karim Benzema*	Real Madrid	2014-2022
5	5	Toni Kroos	Real Madrid	2016-2024
5	5	Marcelo	Real Madrid	2014-2022

*Modric, Carvajal, Nacho, Ronaldo and Benzema remain active players; only those still at clubs in the Champions League can realistically add to their totals.

Real Madrid and the non-Madrid exception

The single most striking feature of this leaderboard is how thoroughly Real Madrid own it. Every player who has reached six titles did so in white, and the club supplies most of the names at five as well. It is the individual mirror of the record tracked on our most Champions League titles by a club leaderboard, where Real Madrid’s 15 also stand far clear.

The great exception is Paolo Maldini. The AC Milan defender won five European Cups and Champions Leagues across an extraordinary 18-year span, from 1989 to 2007, making him comfortably the most decorated player from any club other than Real Madrid. His longevity, spanning two distinct Milan dynasties, is one of the sport’s most remarkable individual runs.

The forwards who kept scoring

Many of the players on this list were defenders and midfielders whose value lay in reliability over a long career. The forwards who won these titles tended to leave a different kind of mark, filling the scoring charts as well. Cristiano Ronaldo, five-time winner, also tops our most Champions League goals leaderboard, and the same knack for the biggest stage shows up on the international side in our most World Cup goals ranking.

Why the record matters

Winning the Champions League once can define a career. Winning it six times requires a player to stay at the very top for the better part of two decades while sharing a squad with other elite talents. Gento managed it first, and it took the most sustained club dynasty of the modern age to produce players who could match him.

The short version: Francisco Gento set the individual record with six European Cups, and as of the 2025 season Luka Modric, Dani Carvajal and Nacho Fernandez have equalled it, so four Real Madrid players share the mark at six. Paolo Maldini’s five make him the top non-Madrid name. No player has ever won a seventh.