2014–15 UEFA Champions League
Juventus | |
Tournament statistics | |
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Matches played | 125 |
Goals scored | 361 (2.89 per match) |
Attendance | 5,136,695 (41,094 per match) |
Top scorer(s) | Lionel Messi (Barcelona) Neymar (Barcelona) Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 10 goals each |
The 2014–15 UEFA Champions League was the 60th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 23rd season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League.
The
This season was the first where clubs must comply with UEFA Financial Fair Play Regulations in order to participate.[3] Moreover, this season was the first where a club from Gibraltar competed in the tournament, after the Gibraltar Football Association was accepted as the 54th UEFA member at the UEFA Congress in May 2013.[4] They were granted one spot in the Champions League,[5] which was taken by Lincoln Red Imps, the champions of the 2013–14 Gibraltar Premier Division.[6]
On 17 July 2014, the UEFA emergency panel ruled that Ukrainian and Russian clubs would not be drawn against each other "until further notice" due to the
Association team allocation
A total of 77 teams from 53 of the 54
- Associations 1–3 each have four teams qualify.
- Associations 4–6 each have three teams qualify.
- Associations 7–15 each have two teams qualify.
- Associations 16–54 (except Liechtenstein) each have one team qualify.
The winners of the 2013–14 UEFA Champions League were given an additional entry as title holders if they would not qualify for the 2014–15 UEFA Champions League through their domestic league (because of the restriction that no association can have more than four teams playing in the Champions League, if the title holders are from the top three associations and finish outside the top four in their domestic league, the title holders' entry comes at the expense of the fourth-placed team of their association). However, this additional entry was not necessary for this season since the title holders qualified for the tournament through their domestic league.
Association ranking
For the 2014–15 UEFA Champions League, the associations are allocated places according to their 2013
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Distribution
Since the title holders
- The champions of association 13 (Switzerland) are promoted from the third qualifying round to the group stage.
- The champions of association 16 (Austria) are promoted from the second qualifying round to the third qualifying round.
- The champions of associations 47 (Northern Ireland) and 48 (Wales) are promoted from the first qualifying round to the second qualifying round.
Teams entering in this round | Teams advancing from previous round | ||
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First qualifying round (6 teams) |
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Second qualifying round (34 teams) |
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Third qualifying round | Champions (20 teams) |
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Non-champions (10 teams) |
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Play-off round | Champions (10 teams) |
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Non-champions (10 teams) |
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Group stage (32 teams) |
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Knockout phase (16 teams) |
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Teams
League positions of the previous season shown in parentheses (TH: Title holders).[17][18]
Notes
- ^ Serbia (SRB): Red Star Belgrade, the champions of the 2013–14 Serbian SuperLiga, would have qualified for the Champions League second qualifying round, but were banned by UEFA for breaching UEFA Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play Regulations.[19] As a result, the berth was given to Partizan, the runners-up of the league.
- 2011 Turkish sports corruption scandal.[20][21] As a result, Galatasaray, the runners-up of the league, entered the group stage instead of the third qualifying round, and the third qualifying round berth was given to Beşiktaş, the third-placed team of the league.
Round and draw dates
The schedule of the competition is as follows (all draws held at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, unless stated otherwise).[22][23]
Phase | Round | Draw date | First leg | Second leg |
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Qualifying | First qualifying round | 23 June 2014 | 1–2 July 2014 | 8–9 July 2014 |
Second qualifying round | 15–16 July 2014 | 22–23 July 2014 | ||
Third qualifying round | 18 July 2014 | 29–30 July 2014 | 5–6 August 2014 | |
Play-off | Play-off round | 8 August 2014 | 19–20 August 2014 | 26–27 August 2014 |
Group stage | Matchday 1 | 28 August 2014 (Monaco) |
16–17 September 2014 | |
Matchday 2 | 30 September–1 October 2014 | |||
Matchday 3 | 21–22 October 2014 | |||
Matchday 4 | 4–5 November 2014 | |||
Matchday 5 | 25–26 November 2014 | |||
Matchday 6 | 9–10 December 2014 | |||
Knockout phase | Round of 16 | 15 December 2014 | 17–18 & 24–25 February 2015 | 10–11 & 17–18 March 2015 |
Quarter-finals | 20 March 2015 | 14–15 April 2015 | 21–22 April 2015 | |
Semi-finals | 24 April 2015 | 5–6 May 2015 | 12–13 May 2015 | |
Final | 6 June 2015 at Olympiastadion, Berlin |
The final date of 6 June could cause problems for South American international players called up to play in the 2015 Copa América, which begins on 11 June. FIFA international rules require clubs to release players 14 days prior to the start of an international tournament, which means the players would have to miss the Champions League final if the rules were enforced. If the players were allowed to play in the Champions League final, that would leave them as few as five days to travel and train prior to playing in the Copa América.[24]
Qualifying rounds
In the qualifying rounds and the play-off round, teams were divided into seeded and unseeded teams based on their 2014
. Teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other.First qualifying round
The draw for the first and second qualifying rounds was held on 23 June 2014.[28] The first legs were played on 1 and 2 July, and the second legs were played on 8 July 2014.
Team 1 | Agg.
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Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
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FC Santa Coloma | 3–3 (a) | Banants
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1–0 | 2–3 |
Lincoln Red Imps | 3–6 | HB | 1–1 | 2–5 |
0–8 | Levadia Tallinn
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0–1 | 0–7 |
Second qualifying round
The first legs were played on 15 and 16 July, and the second legs were played on 22 and 23 July 2014.
Team 1 | Agg.
|
Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
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BATE Borisov | 1–1 (a) | Skënderbeu | 0–0 | 1–1 |
FC Santa Coloma | 0–3[A] | Maccabi Tel Aviv | 0–1 | 0–2 |
Dinamo Tbilisi | 0–4 | Aktobe | 0–1 | 0–3 |
Zrinjski Mostar | 0–2 | Maribor | 0–0 | 0–2 |
Sheriff Tiraspol | 5–0 | Sutjeska Nikšić | 2–0 | 3–0 |
Sparta Prague | 8–1 | Levadia Tallinn
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7–0 | 1–1 |
Malmö | 1–0 | Ventspils | 0–0 | 1–0 |
Slovan Bratislava | 3–0 | The New Saints | 1–0 | 2–0 |
KR | 0–5[B] | Celtic | 0–1 | 0–4 |
Cliftonville | 0–2 | Debrecen | 0–0 | 0–2 |
Partizan | 6–1 | HB | 3–0 | 3–1 |
Legia Warsaw | 6–1 | St Patrick's Athletic | 1–1 | 5–0 |
Rabotnički | 1–2 | HJK
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0–0 | 1–2 |
Dinamo Zagreb | 4–0 | Žalgiris Vilnius | 2–0 | 2–0 |
Ludogorets Razgrad | 5–1 | F91 Dudelange | 4–0 | 1–1 |
Valletta | 0–5 | Qarabağ | 0–1 | 0–4 |
Strømsgodset | 0–3 | Steaua București
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0–1 | 0–2 |
- Notes
- 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict.[29]
Third qualifying round
The third qualifying round was split into two separate sections: one for champions (Champions Route) and one for non-champions (League Route). The losing teams in both sections entered the 2014–15 UEFA Europa League play-off round.
The draw for the third qualifying round was held on 18 July 2014.[30] The first legs were played on 29 and 30 July, and the second legs were played on 5 and 6 August 2014.
Team 1 | Agg.
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Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
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Qarabağ | 2–3 | Red Bull Salzburg | 2–1 | 0–2 |
Debrecen | 2–3 | BATE Borisov | 1–0 | 1–3 |
Slovan Bratislava | 2–1 | Sheriff Tiraspol | 2–1 | 0–0 |
AaB | 2–1 | Dinamo Zagreb | 0–1 | 2–0 |
Legia Warsaw | 4–4 (a) | Celtic | 4–1 | 0–3[E] |
Aktobe | 3–4 | Steaua București
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2–2 | 1–2 |
Maribor | 3–2 | Maccabi Tel Aviv | 1–0 | 2–2 |
2–4 | APOEL | 2–2 | 0–2 | |
Sparta Prague | 4–4 (a) | Malmö | 4–2 | 0–2 |
Ludogorets Razgrad | 2–2 (a) | Partizan | 0–0 | 2–2 |
Team 1 | Agg.
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Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
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AEL Limassol | 1–3 | Zenit Saint Petersburg | 1–0 | 0–3 |
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk | 0–2 | Copenhagen | 0–0 | 0–2 |
Feyenoord | 2–5 | Beşiktaş | 1–2 | 1–3 |
Grasshoppers | 1–3 | Lille | 0–2 | 1–1 |
Standard Liège | 2–1 | Panathinaikos | 0–0 | 2–1 |
- Notes
- ^ Because of a clerical error by Legia Warsaw involving Bartosz Bereszyński, who was suspended for three matches as a result of a red card on matchday 6 of the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League group stage, UEFA awarded Celtic a 3–0 win. The error involved Legia Warsaw not registering the suspended player for the St. Patrick's Athletic tie the previous round, which meant those two matches did not count towards his suspension. The original match had ended in a 2–0 win for Legia Warsaw.[31]
Play-off round
The play-off round was split into two separate sections: one for champions (Champions Route) and one for non-champions (League Route). The losing teams in both sections entered the 2014–15 UEFA Europa League group stage.
The draw for the play-off round was held on 8 August 2014.[32] The first legs were played on 19 and 20 August, and the second legs were played on 26 and 27 August 2014.
Team 1 | Agg.
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Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
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Maribor | 2–1 | Celtic | 1–1 | 1–0 |
Red Bull Salzburg | 2–4 | Malmö | 2–1 | 0–3 |
AaB | 1–5 | APOEL | 1–1 | 0–4 |
1–1 (5–6 p) | Ludogorets Razgrad | 1–0 | a.e.t. )
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Slovan Bratislava | 1–4 | BATE Borisov | 1–1 | 0–3 |
Team 1 | Agg.
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Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
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Beşiktaş | 0–1 | Arsenal | 0–0 | 0–1 |
Standard Liège | 0–4 | Zenit Saint Petersburg | 0–1 | 0–3 |
Copenhagen | 2–7 | Bayer Leverkusen | 2–3 | 0–4 |
Lille | 0–3 | Porto | 0–1 | 0–2 |
2–4 | Athletic Bilbao | 1–1 | 1–3 |