2014–15 UEFA Champions League
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 2015 UEFA Champions League Final was played at the Olympiastadion in Berlin, Germany, with Spanish side Barcelona defeating Italian side Juventus by 3–1 to win their fifth title and complete their treble. Real Madrid were the title holders, but they were eliminated by Juventus in the semi-finals.
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 competed in the tournament, after the Gibraltar Football Association was accepted as the 54th UEFA member at the UEFA Congress 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 member associations participated in the 2014–15 UEFA Champions League. The association ranking based on the UEFA country coefficients 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 each have one team qualify.
Association ranking
For the 2014–15 UEFA Champions League, the associations are allocated places according to their 2013 UEFA country coefficients, which takes into account their performance in European competitions from 2008–09 to 2012–13.DistributionSince the title holders Real Madrid qualified for the Champions League group stage through their domestic league, the group stage spot reserved for the title holders is vacated, and the following changes to the default allocation system are made:
;Notes Round and draw datesThe schedule of the competition is as follows.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 roundsIn 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 roundThe 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 roundThe first legs were played on 15 and 16 July, and the second legs were played on 22 and 23 July 2014.Third qualifying roundThe third qualifying round was split into two separate sections: one for champions and one for non-champions. 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 roundThe play-off round was split into two separate sections: one for champions and one for non-champions. 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. The first legs were played on 19 and 20 August, and the second legs were played on 26 and 27 August 2014. Group stageThe draw for the group stage was held in Monaco 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 and Malmö FF made their debut appearances in 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], while the third-placed teams entered the 2014–15 UEFA Europa League round of 32. See 2014–15 UEFA Champions League group stage#Tiebreakers for tiebreakers if two or more teams are equal on points. Group AGroup BGroup CGroup DGroup EGroup FGroup GGroup HKnockout phaseIn the knockout phase, 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:
Round of 16The 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-finalsThe 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-finalsThe draw for the semi-finals and final 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.FinalStatisticsStatistics exclude qualifying rounds and play-off round.Top goalscorers
Top assistsSquad of the seasonThe UEFA technical study group selected the following 18 players as the squad of the tournament:
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Neymar
Barcelona
Cristiano Ronaldo
Lionel Messi
Shakhtar Donetsk
Jackson Martínez
Thomas Müller
Luis Suárez
Juventus
Manchester City
Karim Benzema
Robert Lewandowski
Branislav Ivanović
Ivan Rakitić