2009–10 UEFA Champions League

2009–10 UEFA Champions League

Tournament details
Dates	30 June 2009 – 22 May 2010
Teams	32 (group stage) 76 (qualifying)

The 2009–10 UEFA Champions League is the 55th edition of Europe's premier club football tournament and the eighteenth edition under the current UEFA Champions League format. It is also the first edition under the new qualifying format. Barcelona are the defending champions. The final will be played on 22 May 2010, at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, home ground of Real Madrid, in Madrid, Spain. This year's final will be the first to be played on a Saturday night, and the matches from the first knockout round will be spread over four weeks instead of two.

Association team allocation

A total of 76 teams will participate in the 2009–10 Champions League, from 52 UEFA associations (Liechtenstein organizes no domestic league competition). Countries are allocated places according to the 2008 UEFA league coefficient. The UEFA ranking determines the number of teams competing in the season after the next, not in the first season after the publication of the ranking. Thus, the 2008 ranking determines the proportion in 2009–10, not 2008–09.

Since Barcelona, the Champions League title holder, have obtained a place in the group stage through their domestic league placing, the reserved defending champion spot will not be used. To compensate, the champion of association 13 (Belgium) will be entered into the group stage, the champion of association 16 (Switzerland) will be promoted to the third qualifying round and the champions of associations 48 and 49 (Faroe Islands and Luxembourg, respectively) to the second qualifying round.

Below is the qualification scheme for the 2009–10 UEFA Champions League:

• 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 16–53 each have one team qualify (excluding Liechtenstein)

Distribution

First qualifying round (4 teams)

• 4 champions from associations 50–53

Second qualifying round (34 teams)

• 2 winners from the first qualifying round
• 32 champions from associations 17–49 (excluding Liechtenstein)

Third qualifying round for champions (20 teams)

• 17 winners from the second qualifying round
• 3 champions from associations 14–16

Third qualifying round for non-champions (10 teams)

• 9 runners-up from associations 7–15
• 1 third-placed team from association 6

Play-off round for champions (10 teams)

• 10 winners from the third qualifying round for champions

Play-off round for non-champions (10 teams)

• 5 winners from the third qualifying round for non-champions
• 2 third-placed teams from associations 4 and 5
• 3 fourth-placed teams from associations 1–3

Group stage (32 teams)

• 5 winners from the play-off round for champions
• 5 winners from the play-off round for non-champions
• 13 champions from associations 1–13
• 6 runners-up from associations 1–6
• 3 third-placed teams from associations 1–3

Teams

Number of still active teams per country in 2009–10 UEFA Champions League.

Group stage
Manchester United	Internazionale	Bayern Munich	AZ
Liverpool	Milan	Rubin Kazan	Rangers
Chelsea	Juventus	CSKA Moscow	Beşiktaş
BarcelonaTH	Bordeaux	Unirea Urziceni	Dynamo Kyiv
Real Madrid	Marseille	Porto	Standard Liège
Sevilla	Wolfsburg
Play-off round
Champions	Non-champions
	Arsenal	Fiorentina	Stuttgart
	Atlético Madrid	Lyon
Third qualifying round
Champions	Non-champions
Olympiacos	Dynamo Moscow	Celtic	Anderlecht
Slavia Prague	Timişoara	Sivasspor	Panathinaikos
Zürich	Sporting CP	Shakhtar Donetsk	Sparta Prague
	Twente
Second qualifying round (all Champions)
Levski Sofia	Wisła Kraków	Ekranas	Baku
Stabæk	Debrecen	Sheriff Tiraspol	Tirana
Copenhagen	Dinamo Zagreb	Bohemians	Pyunik
Red Bull Salzburg	APOEL	Makedonija	Aktobe
Partizan	Maribor	FH	Glentoran
Maccabi Haifa	Inter Turku	WIT Georgia	Rhyl
Kalmar FF	Ventspils	BATE	EB/Streymur
Slovan Bratislava	Zrinjski	Levadia	Dudelange
First qualifying round (all Champions)
Hibernians	Sant Julià	Mogren	Tre Fiori

^TH Title Holder

Round and draw dates

Phase	Round	Draw date	First leg	Second leg
Qualifying	First qualifying round	22 June 2009	30 June–1 July 2009	7–8 July 2009
	Second qualifying round		14–15 July 2009	21–22 July 2009
	Third qualifying round	17 July 2009	28–29 July 2009	4–5 August 2009
Play-off	Play-off round	7 August 2009	18–19 August 2009	25–26 August 2009
Group stage	Matchday 1	27 August 2009	15–16 September 2009
	Matchday 2		29–30 September 2009
	Matchday 3		20–21 October 2009
	Matchday 4		3–4 November 2009
	Matchday 5		24–25 November 2009
	Matchday 6		8–9 December 2009
Knockout round	First knockout round	18 December 2009	16–17 & 23–24 February 2010	9–10 & 16–17 March 2010
Final phase	Quarter-finals	19 March 2010	30–31 March 2010	6–7 April 2010
	Semi-finals		20–21 April 2010	27–28 April 2010
	Final		22 May 2010 at Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, Madrid

Qualifying phase

Main article: 2009–10 UEFA Champions League qualifying phase

In a new system for the Champions League, there are two separate qualifying tournaments. One is for the Champion clubs who did not automatically qualify for the group stage. The other one is for teams who did not win their domestic league and did not automatically qualify for the group stage.

For both sections, the losing teams from the third qualifying round are entered into the UEFA Europa League play-off round and the losing teams from the play-off round are entered into the UEFA Europa League group stage.

First qualifying round

The draw for the first and second qualifying rounds was held on Monday, 22 June 2009 in Nyon, Switzerland. The first leg matches were played on 30 June and 1 July, while the second legs were played on 7 July and 8 July 2009.

None of the seeded teams were eliminated.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Tre Fiori	2–2 (4–5p)1	Sant Julià	1–1	1–1 (aet)
Hibernians	0–6	Mogren	0–2	0–4

Notes

• Note 1: Sant Julià was originally drawn to play the first leg at home, but the tie was reversed and Tre Fiori hosted the first leg instead.

Second qualifying round

For the draw clubs were separated into seeded and unseeded teams based on their club coefficient, and because the draw for this round took place before the first qualifying round matches were played, the teams were seeded as if the higher-ranked side in the previous round would be victorious. The first leg matches were played on 14 July and 15 July, while the second legs were played on 21 July and 22 July 2009.

Five of the seeded teams were eliminated: Wisła Kraków, Kalmar FF, FH, Inter Turku, and Ekranas.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Tirana	1–5	Stabæk	1–1	0–4
WIT Georgia	1–3	Maribor	0–0	1–3
EB/Streymur	0–5	APOEL	0–2	0–3
Copenhagen	12–0	Mogren	6–0	6–0
Debrecen	3–3 (a)	Kalmar FF	2–0	1–3
Makedonija Gjorče Petrov	0–4	BATE	0–2	0–2
FH	0–6	Aktobe	0–4	0–2
Pyunik	0–3	Dinamo Zagreb	0–0	0–3
Ventspils	6–1	F91 Dudelange	3–0	3–1
Ekranas	4–6	Baku	2–2	2–4
Red Bull Salzburg	2–1	Bohemians	1–1	1–0
Zrinjski	1–4	Slovan Bratislava	1–0	0–4
Inter Turku	0–2	Sheriff Tiraspol	0–1	0–1
Rhyl	0–12	Partizan	0–4	0–8
Wisła Kraków	1–2	Levadia	1–1	0–1
Levski Sofia	9–0	Sant Julià	4–0	5–0
Maccabi Haifa	10–0	Glentoran	6–0	4–0

Third qualifying round

The third qualifying round was split into two separate sections: one for champions and one for non-champions. The losing teams in both sections were entered into the play-off round of the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League. The draw for the third qualifying round, which was conducted by UEFA Competitions Director Giorgio Marchetti and Michael Heselschwerdt, Head of Club Competitions, was held on Friday, 17 July 2009 in Nyon, Switzerland. The first leg matches were played on 28 July and 29 July, while the second legs were played on 4 August and 5 August 2009.

Five of the seeded teams were eliminated: Shakhtar Donetsk, Slavia Prague, Partizan, Dinamo Zagreb, and Levadia.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Champions Path
Red Bull Salzburg	3–2	Dinamo Zagreb	1–1	2–1
Slovan Bratislava	0–4	Olympiacos	0–2	0–2
Zürich	5–3	Maribor	2–3	3–0
APOEL	2–1	Partizan	2–0	0–1
Sheriff Tiraspol	1–1 (a)	Slavia Prague	0–0	1–1
Aktobe	3–4	Maccabi Haifa	0–0	3–4
Baku	0–2	Levski Sofia	0–0	0–2
Ventspils	2–2 (a)	BATE	1–0	1–2
Levadia	0–2	Debrecen	0–1	0–1
Copenhagen	3–1	Stabæk	3–1	0–0
Non-Champions Path
Sparta Prague	3–4	Panathinaikos	3–1	0–3
Shakhtar Donetsk	2–2 (a)	Timişoara	2–2	0–0
Sporting CP	1–1 (a)	Twente	0–0	1–1
Celtic	2–1	Dynamo Moscow	0–1	2–0
Anderlecht	6–3	Sivasspor	5–0	1–3

Play-off round

Main article: 2009–10 UEFA Champions League play-off round

The play-off round has been split into two separate sections: one for champions and one for non-champions. The losing teams in both sections will be entered into the group stage of the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League. The draw ceremony for the play-off round, which was conducted by UEFA General Secretary David Taylor and UEFA Competitions Director Giorgio Marchetti, was held on Friday, 7 August 2009 in Nyon, Switzerland. For the draw clubs were separated into seeded and unseeded teams based on their club coefficient. The first leg matches will be played on 18 August and 19 August, while the second legs will be played on 25 August and 26 August 2009.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Champions Path
Sheriff Tiraspol	0–3	Olympiacos	0–2	0–1
Red Bull Salzburg	1–5	Maccabi Haifa	1–2	0–3
Ventspils	1–5	Zürich	0–3	1–2
Copenhagen	v	APOEL	1–0	26 August
Levski Sofia	1–4	Debrecen	1–2	0–2
Non-Champions Path
Lyon	8–2	Anderlecht	5–1	3–1
Celtic	v	Arsenal	0–2	26 August
Timişoara	v	Stuttgart	0–2	26 August
Sporting CP	v	Fiorentina	2–2	26 August
Panathinaikos	2–5	Atlético Madrid	2–3	0–2

Group stage

Main article: 2009–10 UEFA Champions League group stage

The following teams will compete, where the blank team from the undecided play-off matches, in the group stage of the Champions League:

• Barcelona^TH
• Chelsea
• Liverpool
• Manchester United
• Milan
• Sevilla
• Bayern Munich
• Lyon

• Internazionale
• Real Madrid
• CSKA Moscow
• Porto
• AZ
• Juventus
• Rangers
• Marseille

• Dynamo Kyiv
• Atlético Madrid
• Bordeaux
• Beşiktaş
• Wolfsburg
• Standard Liège
• Maccabi Haifa²
• Zürich

• Rubin Kazan
• Unirea Urziceni³
• Debrecen⁴

Notes

• Note 2: Will play group matches in Ramat Gan at Ramat Gan Stadium as Maccabi Haifa's Kiryat Eliezer Stadium did not meet UEFA criteria.
• Note 3: Will play group matches in Bucharest at Stadionul Steaua as Unirea Urziceni's Stadionul Tineretului did not meet UEFA criteria.
• Note 4: Will play group matches in Budapest at Stadium Puskás Ferenc as Debrecen's Stadion Oláh Gábor Út did not meet UEFA criteria.

The total of 32 teams will be drawn into eight groups of four. Each team will play the others in its group twice. The top 2 in each group will proceed to the knockout stage, and the third-placed teams will enter the UEFA Europa League Round of 32. The draw will take place on 27 August 2009, 18.00 CEST.

Clubs from the same association cannot be drawn into the same group.

Knockout stage

First knockout round

The eight group winners and eight runners-up from the group stage are drawn into eight pairs of home-and-away matches. In this round, group winners may not be paired with the runner-up from the same group, nor with another team from the same country. Group runners-up play the first leg at home.

Quarter-finals

The eight winners from the first knockout round are drawn into four pairs of home-and-away matches, regardless of association or previous group status.

Semi-finals

The four quarter-final winners are drawn into two pairs of home-and-away matches.

Final

Main article: 2010 UEFA Champions League Final

The 2010 UEFA Champions League Final is scheduled to be played at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid on 22 May 2010. If the scores are level after 90 minutes, two 15-minute periods of extra time will be played. If the game remains tied after extra time has been played, a penalty shootout will determine the winner. It will also be the first time that a UEFA Champions League final will be played on a Saturday night.

Trivia

• AZ, Wolfsburg, Standard Liège, Zürich, Rubin Kazan, Unirea Urziceni and Debrecen are set to make their debut in the group stage. This makes a record for most debuting teams in the group stage of the Champions League.
• Partizan's 8–0 win over Rhyl in the 2nd leg of the second qualifying round represents the largest margin of victory in the current Champions League format.

See also

• 2009–10 UEFA Europa League

References

External links

• UEFA Executive Committee approves changes to UEFA club competitions (includes access list for this competition)
• Access list 2009/2010 (UEFA European Cup Football by Bert Kassies)