Raheem Sterling Plays in the UCL for a Record Fourth English Club

With a cameo for Arsenal against Atalanta on Thursday, Raheem Sterling played for a record fourth different English team in the Champions League.

After appearing for Arsenal in Thursday’s 0-0 Champions League draw in Bergamo, Raheem Sterling set a new record for the most English clubs any player has represented in the Champions League or European Cup.

Having already played for Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea in the competition, Arsenal are the fourth different team Sterling has now played for in Europe’s premier competition.

Before his appearance against Atalanta in Arsenal’s opening match of the new-look league phase in the 2024-25 Champions League, Sterling had been level in first place for the most different English clubs represented in the competition, with three.

The other four players to play for three are David Batty (Leeds, Blackburn, Newcastle), Yossi Benayoun (Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea), William Gallas (Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham), and Kolo Touré (Arsenal, Man City, Liverpool).

Sterling is the third-highest-scoring English player in Champions League history, a record that Harry Kane broke earlier this week when his four goals against Dinamo Zagreb took him past Wayne Rooney at the top of the charts. Kane now leads the way on 33 goals, but Sterling (27) may have his eye on second place given he is only three goals behind the retired Rooney (30) and is now playing for another Champions League team.

Sterling has only scored in the competition for two teams (so far), though, having failed to net for Liverpool, with 24 of his goals coming for Manchester City and three for Chelsea.

However, Sterling will need a few more transfers if he wants to challenge at the top of the list for the most clubs represented from any country in the European Cup or Champions League. Still only 29, it’s not entirely out of the question, but he’ll probably need to head abroad before long.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic currently leads that list, with seven different clubs represented (Ajax, Juventus, Inter Milan, Barcelona, AC Milan, Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester United) in the Champions League. He never won the competition, though.

Having scored for six of those clubs, Ibrahimovic does lead the way for the most different clubs any player has scored for in the Champions League or European Cup. Only two players (Nicolas Anelka and Javier Saviola) have even played for as many clubs (six) as Ibrahimovic has scored for.

This week, Álvaro Morata and Lucas Digne both represented their fifth different club – AC Milan and Aston Villa, respectively – to move up to joint third in the list of players to have represented the most clubs in the competition.

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