The2014–15 UEFA Champions League was the 60th season of Europe's premier clubfootball tournament organised byUEFA, and the 23rd season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to theUEFA Champions League.
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 thepolitical unrest between the countries.[7] Another ruling centred in regional instability was also made where Israeli teams were prohibited from hosting any UEFA competitions due to the2014 Israel–Gaza conflict.[8] The rules regarding suspension due to yellow card accumulation were also changed such that all bookings expired on completion of the quarter-finals and were not carried forward to the semi-finals.[9] Moreover, this was the first season in whichvanishing spray was used.[10]
A total of 77 teams from 53 of the 54UEFA member associations participated in the 2014–15 UEFA Champions League (the exception beingLiechtenstein, which do not organise a domestic league). The association ranking based on theUEFA country coefficients was used to determine the number of participating teams for each association:[11]
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 the2013–14 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.
For the 2014–15 UEFA Champions League, the associations are allocated places according to their 2013UEFA country coefficients, which takes into account their performance in European competitions from 2008–09 to 2012–13.[12][13]
Since the title holdersReal Madrid qualified for the Champions League group stage through their domestic league (as the third-placed team of the2013–14 La Liga), the group stage spot reserved for the title holders is vacated, and the following changes to the default allocation system are made:[14][15][16]
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
First qualifying round (6 teams)
6 champions from associations 49–54
Second qualifying round (34 teams)
31 champions from associations 17–48 (except Liechtenstein)
3 winners from the first qualifying round
Third qualifying round
Champions (20 teams)
3 champions from associations 14–16
17 winners from the second qualifying round
Non-champions (10 teams)
9 runners-up from associations 7–15
1 third-placed team from association 6
Play-off round
Champions (10 teams)
10 winners from the third qualifying round for champions
Non-champions (10 teams)
2 third-placed teams from associations 4–5
3 fourth-placed teams from associations 1–3
5 winners from the third qualifying round for non-champions
Group stage (32 teams)
13 champions from associations 1–13
6 runners-up from associations 1–6
3 third-placed teams from associations 1–3
5 winners from the play-off round for champions
5 winners from the play-off round for non-champions
Serbia (SRB):Red Star Belgrade, the champions of the2013–14 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 toPartizan, the runners-up of the league.
Turkey (TUR):Fenerbahçe, the champions of the2013–14 Süper Lig, would have qualified for the Champions League group stage, but were banned by UEFA because of the2011 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 toBeşiktaş, the third-placed team of the league.
The final date of 6 June could cause problems for South American international players called up to play in the2015 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]
In the qualifying rounds and the play-off round, teams were divided into seeded and unseeded teams based on their 2014UEFA club coefficients,[25][26][27] and then drawn intotwo-legged home-and-away ties. Teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other.
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.
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 the2014–15 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.
^Because of a clerical error byLegia Warsaw involvingBartosz Bereszyński, who was suspended for three matches as a result of a red card on matchday 6 of the2013–14 UEFA Europa League group stage, UEFA awardedCeltic 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]
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 the2014–15 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.
Location of teams of the2014–15 UEFA Champions League group stage. Brown: Group A; Red: Group B; Orange: Group C; Yellow: Group D; Green: Group E; Blue: Group F; Purple: Group G; Pink: Group H.
The draw for the group stage was held inMonaco on 28 August 2014.[33] The 32 teams were allocated into four pots based on their 2014UEFA club coefficients,[25][26][27] with the title holders being placed in Pot 1 automatically. They were drawn into eight groups of four, with the restriction that teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other.
In each group, teams played against each other home-and-away in around-robin format. The matchdays were 16–17 September, 30 September–1 October, 21–22 October, 4–5 November, 25–26 November, and 9–10 December 2014.
A total of 18 national associations were represented in the group stage.Ludogorets Razgrad andMalmö FF made their debut appearances in the group stage.[34] For the first time since the1995–96 season, England'sManchester United did not qualify for the group stage.
Teams that qualified for the group stage also participated in the2014–15 UEFA Youth League, a competition available to players aged 19 or under.
In theknockout phase, teams played against each other overtwo legs on a home-and-away basis, except for theone-match final. The mechanism of the draws for each round was as follows:
In the draw for the round of 16, the eight group winners were seeded, and the eight group runners-up were unseeded. The seeded teams were drawn against the unseeded teams, with the seeded teams hosting the second leg. Teams from the same group or the same association could not be drawn against each other.
In the draws for the quarter-finals onwards, there were no seedings, and teams from the same group or the same association could be drawn against each other.
The draw for the round of 16 was held on 15 December 2014.[35] The first legs were played on 17, 18, 24 and 25 February, and the second legs were played on 10, 11, 17 and 18 March 2015.
The draw for the quarter-finals was held on 20 March 2015.[36] The first legs were played on 14 and 15 April, and the second legs were played on 21 and 22 April 2015.
The draw for the semi-finals and final (to determine the "home" team for administrative purposes) was held on 24 April 2015.[37] The first legs were played on 5 and 6 May, and the second legs were played on 12 and 13 May 2015.
The final was played on 6 June 2015 at theOlympiastadion inBerlin, Germany. The "home" team (for administrative purposes) was determined by an additional draw held after the semi-final draw.
^"Full Time Report"(PDF).UEFA.org. Union of European Football Associations. 6 June 2015.Archived(PDF) from the original on 18 October 2015. Retrieved6 June 2015.
