2014–15 UEFA Champions League
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The 2014–15 UEFA Champions League was the 60th season of Europe's premier club
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
tournament organised by
UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...
, and the 23rd season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the
UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...
. The
final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...
was played at the Olympiastadion in
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
, Germany, with Spanish side
Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...
defeating Italian side
Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...
3–1 to win their fifth title and complete an unprecedented second continental treble.
Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...
were the title holders, but they were eliminated by
Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...
in the
semi-finals A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, ...
. This season was the first where clubs must comply with UEFA Financial Fair Play Regulations in order to participate. Moreover, this season was the first where a club from
Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...
competed in the tournament, after the Gibraltar Football Association was accepted as the 54th UEFA member at the
UEFA Congress The UEFA Congress (, ) is the supreme controlling organ of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). UEFA is the administrative body for association football and futsal in Europe, and is one of six continental confederations of world fo ...
in May 2013. They were granted one spot in the Champions League, which was taken by Lincoln Red Imps, the champions of the 2013–14 Gibraltar Premier Division. 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 political unrest between the countries. Another ruling centred in regional instability was also made where Israeli teams were prohibited from hosting any UEFA competitions due to the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict. 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. Moreover, this was the first season in which vanishing spray was used.


Association team allocation

A total of 77 teams from 53 of the 54
UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...
member associations participated in the 2014–15 UEFA Champions League (the exception being
Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (, ; ; ), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein ( ), is a Landlocked country#Doubly landlocked, doubly landlocked Swiss Standard German, German-speaking microstate in the Central European Alps, between Austria in the east ...
, which do not organise a domestic league). The association ranking based on the
UEFA country coefficient In European football, the UEFA coefficients are statistics based in weighted arithmetic means used for ranking and seeding teams in club and international competitions. Introduced in 1979 for men's football tournaments (country rankings only), ...
s was used to determine the number of participating teams for each association: *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
UEFA country coefficient In European football, the UEFA coefficients are statistics based in weighted arithmetic means used for ranking and seeding teams in club and international competitions. Introduced in 1979 for men's football tournaments (country rankings only), ...
s, which takes into account their performance in European competitions from 2008–09 to 2012–13.


Distribution

Since the title holders
Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...
qualified for the Champions League group stage through their domestic league (as the third-placed team of the 2013–14 La Liga), the group stage spot reserved for the title holders is vacated, and the following changes to the default allocation system are made: *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

League positions of the previous season shown in parentheses (TH: Title holders). Notes


Round and draw dates

The schedule of the competition is as follows (all draws held at UEFA headquarters in
Nyon Nyon (; historically German language, German: or and Italian language, Italian: , ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in Nyon District in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It is located some 25 kilometer ...
, Switzerland, unless stated otherwise). 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.


Qualifying rounds

In the qualifying rounds and the play-off round, teams were divided into seeded and unseeded teams based on their 2014 UEFA club coefficients, and then drawn into two-legged home-and-away ties. 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. The first legs were played on 1 and 2 July, and the second legs were played on 8 July 2014.


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.


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. The first legs were played on 29 and 30 July, and the second legs were played on 5 and 6 August 2014.


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 2014–15 UEFA Europa League group stage was played from 18 September to 11 December 2014. A total of 48 teams competed in the group stage to decide 24 of the 32 places in the knockout phase of the 2014–15 UEFA Europa League. Draw The draw ...
. The draw for the play-off round was held on 8 August 2014. The first legs were played on 19 and 20 August, and the second legs were played on 26 and 27 August 2014.


Group stage

The draw for the group stage was held in
Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...
on 28 August 2014. The 32 teams were allocated into four pots based on their 2014 UEFA club coefficients, 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 a round-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 Professional Football Club Ludogorets 1945 (), commonly known as Ludogorets Razgrad or simply Ludogorets, is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Razgrad, which currently competes in the First Professional Football League ...
and
Malmö FF Malmö Fotbollförening (), commonly known simply as Malmö FF or MFF, is a Swedish professional football club based in Malmö, Scania. They compete in the Allsvenskan, the top division of Swedish football, and play home matches at the Eleda S ...
made their debut appearances in the group stage. For the first time since the 1995–96 season, England's
Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...
did not qualify for the group stage. Teams that qualified for the group stage also participated in the 2014–15 UEFA Youth League, a competition available to players aged 19 or under. The group winners and runners-up advanced to the
round of 16 A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...
, while the third-placed teams entered the 2014–15 UEFA Europa League round of 32. See 2014–15 UEFA Champions League group stage for tiebreakers if two or more teams are equal on points.


Group A


Group B


Group C


Group D


Group E


Group F


Group G


Group H


Knockout phase

In the
knockout phase A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...
, teams played against each other over two 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 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.


Bracket


Round of 16

The draw for the round of 16 was held on 15 December 2014. 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.


Quarter-finals

The draw for the quarter-finals was held on 20 March 2015. The first legs were played on 14 and 15 April, and the second legs were played on 21 and 22 April 2015.


Semi-finals

The draw for the semi-finals and final (to determine the "home" team for administrative purposes) was held on 24 April 2015. The first legs were played on 5 and 6 May, and the second legs were played on 12 and 13 May 2015.


Final


Statistics

Statistics exclude qualifying rounds and play-off round.


Top goalscorers


Top assists


Squad of the season

The UEFA technical study group selected the following 18 players as the squad of the tournament:


See also

*
2014–15 UEFA Europa League The 2014–15 UEFA Europa League was the 44th season of Europe's secondary club association football, football tournament organised by UEFA, and the sixth season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The 2015 UEFA Eur ...
* 2015 UEFA Super Cup * 2015 FIFA Club World Cup * 2014–15 UEFA Women's Champions League * 2014–15 UEFA Youth League


References


External links


2014–15 UEFA Champions League2014/15 UEFA Champions League season review
{{DEFAULTSORT:2014-15 UEFA Champions League UEFA Champions League seasons 1 1