The2018–19 UEFA Champions League was the 64th season of Europe's premier clubfootball tournament organised byUEFA, and the 27th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to theUEFA Champions League. For the first time, thevideo assistant referee (VAR) system was used in the competition from the round of 16 onward.[5]
Defending champions Real Madrid, who had won four of the last five titles, including each of the last three, were eliminated byAjax in theround of 16.[9] Although Ajax was eliminated in the semi-finals, they had played more matches than any other team in the tournament due to entering in the second qualifying round.
On 9 December 2016, UEFA confirmed the reforming plan for the UEFA Champions League for the 2018–2021 cycle, which was announced on 26 August 2016.[10][11] As per the new regulations, the previous season's UEFA Europa League winners will qualify automatically for the UEFA Champions League group stage (previously they would qualify for the play-off round, but would be promoted to the group stage only if the Champions League title holder berth was vacated, although this promotion to the group stage had been made in all three seasons since it was established from 2015–2016). Meanwhile, the top four teams from the leagues of the four top-ranked national associations in theUEFA country coefficients list will qualify automatically for the group stage as well.[10] Only six teams will qualify for the group stage via the qualification rounds, down from ten in the previous season.[12]
This was also the first year to feature a preliminary round, in which the representatives of the four bottom-ranked national associations in the UEFA country coefficients contested single-legged semi-finals and a final to determine the final team to enter the first qualifying round.
79 teams from 54 of the 55UEFA member associations participated in the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League (the exception beingLiechtenstein, which did 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:[12][13]
Associations 1–4 each had four teams qualify.
Associations 5–6 each had three teams qualify.
Associations 7–15 each had two teams qualify.
Associations 16–55 (except Liechtenstein) each had one team qualify.
The winners of the2017–18 UEFA Champions League,Real Madrid, qualified through their domestic league, meaning the additional entry for the Champions League title holders was not necessary.
The winners of the2017–18 UEFA Europa League,Atlético Madrid, qualified through their domestic league, meaning the additional entry for the Europa League title holders was not necessary.
For the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League, the associations were allocated places according to their 2017UEFA country coefficients, which took into account their performance in European competitions from 2012–13 to 2016–17.[14]
Apart from the allocation based on the country coefficients, associations could have additional teams participating in the Champions League, as noted below:
(UCL) – Additional berth for the 2017–18 UEFA Champions League winners
(UEL) – Additional berth for the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League winners
Association ranking for 2018–19 UEFA Champions League
In the default access list, the Champions League title holders qualified for the group stage.[15][12] However, sinceReal Madrid already qualified for the group stage via their domestic league (as third place of the2017–18 La Liga), the following changes to the access list were made:[16]
The champions of association 11 (Czech Republic) entered the group stage instead of the play-off round.
The champions of association 13 (Netherlands) entered the play-off round instead of the third qualifying round.
The champions of association 15 (Austria) entered the third qualifying round instead of the second qualifying round.
The champions of associations 18 (Denmark) and 19 (Belarus) entered the second qualifying round instead of the first qualifying round.
In addition, the Europa League title holders qualified for the group stage.[15] However, sinceAtlético Madrid, the Europa League champions, already qualified for the group stage via their domestic league (as second place of the2017–18 La Liga), the following changes to the access list were made:[16]
The third-placed team of association 5 (France) entered the group stage instead of the third qualifying round.
The runners-up of association 10 (Turkey) and 11 (Czech Republic) entered the third qualifying round instead of the second qualifying round.
Access list for 2018–19 UEFA Champions League
Teams entering in this round
Teams advancing from previous round
Preliminary round (4 teams)
4 champions from associations 52–55
First qualifying round (32 teams)
31 champions from associations 20–51 (except Liechtenstein)
1 winner from the preliminary round
Second qualifying round
Champions Path (20 teams)
4 champions from associations 16–19
16 winners from the first qualifying round
League Path (4 teams)
4 runners-up from associations 12–15
Third qualifying round
Champions Path (12 teams)
2 champions from associations 14–15
10 winners from the second qualifying round (Champions Path)
League Path (8 teams)
5 runners-up from associations 7–11
1 third-placed team from association 6
2 winners from the second qualifying round (League Path)
Play-off round
Champions Path (8 teams)
2 champions from associations 12–13
6 winners from the third qualifying round (Champions Path)
League Path (4 teams)
4 winners from the third qualifying round (League Path)
Group stage (32 teams)
11 champions from associations 1–11
6 runners-up from associations 1–6
5 third-placed teams from associations 1–5
4 fourth-placed teams from associations 1–4
4 winners from the play-off round (Champions Path)
Albania (ALB): In March 2018,Skënderbeu were handed a 10-year ban from UEFA club competitions over match fixing.[18][19] Since they finished as champions of the2017–18 Albanian Superliga, the runners-up of the league,Kukësi, entered the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League instead of the2018–19 UEFA Europa League.
From this season, there were staggered kick-off times in the group stage at 18:55 CET and 21:00 CET. Kick-off times starting from the knock-out phase were 21:00 CET.[15]
In the preliminary round, teams were divided into seeded and unseeded teams based on their 2018UEFA club coefficients,[21] and then drawn into one-legged semi-final and final ties. The draw for the preliminary round was held on 12 June 2018.[22] The semi-final round was played on 26 June, and the final round was played on 29 June 2018, both at theVictoria Stadium in Gibraltar.[23] The losers of both semi-final and final rounds entered the2018–19 UEFA Europa League second qualifying round.
Drita's win in the semi-final round was the first time that a team representing Kosovo had won a game in any UEFA competition.
The second qualifying round was split into two separate sections: Champions Path (for league champions) and League Path (for league non-champions). The draw for the second qualifying round was held on 19 June 2018.[24] The first legs were played on 24 and 25 July, and the second legs were played on 31 July and 1 August 2018. The losers from both Champions Path and League Path entered the2018–19 UEFA Europa League third qualifying round.
The third qualifying round was split into two separate sections: Champions Path (for league champions) and League Path (for league non-champions). The draw for the third qualifying round was held on 23 July 2018.[25] The first legs were played on 7 and 8 August, and the second legs were played on 14 August 2018. The losers from Champions Path entered the2018–19 UEFA Europa League play-off round, while the losers from League Path entered the2018–19 UEFA Europa League group stage.
The play-off round was split into two separate sections: Champions Path (for league champions) and League Path (for league non-champions). The draw for the play-off round was held on 6 August 2018.[26] The first legs were played on 21 and 22 August, and the second legs were played on 28 and 29 August. The losers from both Champions Path and League Path entered the2018–19 UEFA Europa League group stage.
Location of teams of the2018–19 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 on 30 August 2018 at theGrimaldi Forum in Monaco.[27] The 32 teams were drawn into eight groups of four, with the restriction that teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other. For the draw, the teams were seeded into four pots based on the following principles (introduced starting this season):[13]
Pot 1 contained the Champions League and Europa League title holders, and the champions of the top six associations based on their 2017UEFA country coefficients. If either or both title holders were one of the champions of the top six associations, the champions of the next highest ranked association(s) are also seeded into Pot 1.
In each group, teams played against each other home-and-away in around-robin format. The group winners and runners-up advanced to theround of 16, while the third-placed teams entered the2018–19 UEFA Europa League round of 32. The matchdays were 18–19 September, 2–3 October, 23–24 October, 6–7 November, 27–28 November, and 11–12 December 2018.
The youth teams of the clubs that qualified for the group stage also participated in the2018–19 UEFA Youth League on the same matchdays, where they competed in theUEFA Champions League Path (the youth domestic champions of the top 32 associations competed in a separateDomestic Champions Path until the play-offs).
Teams were ranked according topoints (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Articles 17.01):[13]
Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
Away goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
If more than two teams were tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams were still tied, all head-to-head criteria above was reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
Goal difference in all group matches;
Goals scored in all group matches;
Away goals scored in all group matches;
Wins in all group matches;
Away wins in all group matches;
Disciplinary points (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points);
In theknockout phase, teams played against each other overtwo legs on a home-and-away basis, except for the one-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 cannot 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. As the draws for the quarter-finals and semi-finals were held together before the quarter-finals were played, the identity of the quarter-final winners was not known at the time of the semi-final draw. A draw was also held to determine which semi-final winner was designated as the "home" team for the final (for administrative purposes as it was played at a neutral venue).
The draw for the round of 16 was held on 17 December 2018.[28] The first legs were played on 12, 13, 19 and 20 February, and the second legs were played on 5, 6, 12 and 13 March 2019.
The draw for the quarter-finals was held on 15 March 2019.[29] The first legs were played on 9 and 10 April, and the second legs were played on 16 and 17 April 2019.
^Order of legs reversed after original draw, in order to avoid a scheduling conflict with the Manchester City v Tottenham Hotspur match in the same city.
The draw for the semi-finals was held on 15 March 2019 (after the quarter-final draw).[29] The first legs were played on 30 April and 1 May, and the second legs were played on 7 and 8 May 2019.
Liverpool staged an improbable 4–0 comeback win againstBarcelona in areturn leg fixture atAnfield, having lost the first leg to the Spanish side 3–0 at theCamp Nou. Meanwhile,Ajax were winning 3–0 on aggregate by the 54th minute of the second leg againstTottenham Hotspur, yet Spurs made a similarly dramatic comeback; with Ajax seconds away from the final,Lucas Moura completed his hat-trick in the 96th minute to seal the tie on the away goals rule. Both semifinals are considered among the greatest Champions League comebacks of all time.[30]
The final was played on 1 June 2019 at theEstadio Metropolitano inMadrid. The nominal home team (for administrative purposes) was determined by an additional draw held after the quarter-final and semi-final draws.[29]
Votes were cast for players of the season by coaches of the 32 teams in the group stage, together with 55 journalists selected by theEuropean Sports Media (ESM) group, representing each of UEFA's member associations. The coaches were not allowed to vote for players from their own teams. Jury members selected their top three players, with the first receiving five points, the second three and the third one. The shortlist of the top three players was announced on 8 August 2019.[34] The award winners were announced and presented during the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League group stage draw in Monaco on 29 August 2019.
.jpg)
