2017–18_UEFA_Champions_League

2017–18 UEFA Champions League

2017–18 UEFA Champions League

63rd season of the UEFA club football tournament


The 2017–18 UEFA Champions League was the 63rd season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 26th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League.

Quick Facts Tournament details, Dates ...

The final was played between Real Madrid and Liverpool at the NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium in Kyiv, Ukraine.[5] Real Madrid beat Liverpool 3-1 to win a record-extending 13th title, their third title in a row and fourth in five seasons.

As winners, Real Madrid qualified as the UEFA representative for the 2018 FIFA Club World Cup in the United Arab Emirates, and also earned the right to play against the winners of the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League, Atlético Madrid, in the 2018 UEFA Super Cup, winning the former. Additionally, they would have been automatically qualified for the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League group stage,[6] but since they had already qualified through their league performance, the berth reserved was given to the champions of the 2017–18 Czech First League, the 11th-ranked association according to the 2018–19 access list.[7] This edition of the Champions League was particularly influenced by controversial refereeing decisions, such as two clear penalties not given to AS Roma in the semifinal. These controversies were among the reasons that pushed UEFA to introduce VAR in the competition starting from the 2018-19 UEFA Champions League.[8]

Association team allocation

79 teams from 54 of the 55 UEFA member associations participated (the exception being Liechtenstein, which did not organise a domestic league).[9] The association ranking based on the UEFA country coefficients was used to determine the number of participating teams for each association:[10]

  • Associations 1–3 each had four teams qualify.
  • Associations 4–6 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 the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League and 2016–17 UEFA Europa League were each given an additional entry if they did not qualify for the 2017–18 UEFA Champions League through their domestic league. Because a maximum of five teams from one association could enter the Champions League, if both the Champions League title holders and the Europa League title holders were from the same top three ranked association and finished outside the top four of their domestic league, the fourth-placed team of their association was moved to the Europa League.[11] For this season:

Kosovo, who became a UEFA member on 3 May 2016, made their debut in the UEFA Champions League.[12][13]

Association ranking

For the 2017–18 UEFA Champions League, the associations were allocated places according to their 2016 UEFA country coefficients, which took into account their performance in European competitions from 2011–12 to 2015–16.[14][15]

Apart from the allocation based on the country coefficients, associations could have additional teams participating in the Champions League, as noted below:

  • (UEL) – Additional berth for UEFA Europa League title holders
More information Rank, Association ...

Distribution

In the default access list, the Champions League title holders entered the group stage.[13] However, since Real Madrid already qualified for the group stage (as the champions of the 2016–17 La Liga), the Champions League title holders berth in the group stage was given to the Europa League title holders, Manchester United.[16][17][18][19] and the following changes to the default allocation system are made:

  • The third-placed teams of associations 4 (Italy) and 5 (Portugal) are promoted from the third qualifying round to the play-off round.
More information Teams entering in this round, Teams advancing from previous round ...

Teams

League positions of the previous season qualified via league position shown in parentheses. Manchester United qualified as Europa League title holders. (TH: Champions League title holders; EL: Europa League title holders).[20][21]

More information Group stage, Play-off round ...
Notes
  1. ^
    France (FRA): AS Monaco are a club based in Monaco (which is not a UEFA member), but participated in the Champions League through one of the berths for France (any coefficient points they earned counted towards France's total).

Round and draw dates

The schedule of the competition was as follows (all draws were held at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, unless stated otherwise).[13][22][23]

More information Phase, Round ...

Qualifying rounds

In the qualifying rounds and the play-off round, teams were divided into seeded and unseeded teams based on their 2017 UEFA club coefficients,[24][25][26] 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 qualifying round was held on 19 June 2017, 12:00 CEST.[27] The first legs were played on 27 and 28 June, and the second legs were played on 4 July 2017.

More information Team 1, Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score ...

Second qualifying round

The draw for the second qualifying round was held on 19 June 2017, 12:00 CEST (after the completion of the first qualifying round draw).[27] The first legs were played on 11, 12 and 14 July, and the second legs were played on 18 and 19 July 2017.

Notes
  1. ^
    Order of legs reversed after original draw.

Third qualifying round

The third qualifying round was split into two separate sections: Champions Route (for league champions) and League Route (for league non-champions). The losing teams in both sections entered the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League play-off round. The draw for the third qualifying round was held on 14 July 2017, 12:00 CEST.[28] The first legs were played on 25 and 26 July, and the second legs were played on 1 and 2 August 2017.

More information Team 1, Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score ...
More information Team 1, Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score ...
Notes
  1. ^
    Order of legs reversed after original draw.

Play-off round

The play-off round was split into two separate sections: Champions Route (for league champions) and League Route (for league non-champions). The losing teams in both sections entered the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League group stage. The draw for the play-off round was held on 4 August 2017, 12:00 CEST.[29] The first legs were played on 15 and 16 August, and the second legs were played on 22 and 23 August 2017.

More information Team 1, Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score ...
More information Team 1, Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score ...

Group stage

Location of teams of the 2017–18 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 24 August 2017, 18:00 CEST, at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco.[30] 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 2015–16 season):[31][32]

In each group, teams played against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The group winners and runners-up advanced to the round of 16, while the third-placed teams entered the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League round of 32. The matchdays were 12–13 September, 26–27 September, 17–18 October, 31 October – 1 November, 21–22 November, and 5–6 December 2017.

The youth teams of the clubs that qualified for the group stage also participated in the 2017–18 UEFA Youth League on the same matchdays, where they competed in the UEFA Champions League Path (the youth domestic champions of the top 32 associations competed in a separate Domestic Champions Path until the play-offs).

Seventeen national associations were represented in the group stage. Qarabağ and RB Leipzig made their debut appearances in the group stage. Qarabağ were the first team from Azerbaijan to play in the Champions League group stage.[33] For the first time since the 1997–98 edition, England's Arsenal did not qualify for the group stage.

More information Tiebreakers ...

Group A

More information Pos, Pld ...
Source: UEFA

Group B

More information Pos, Pld ...
Source: UEFA
Notes:
  1. Head-to-head results: Paris Saint-Germain 3–0 Bayern Munich, Bayern Munich 3–1 Paris Saint-Germain.
  2. Head-to-head results: Anderlecht 0–3 Celtic, Celtic 0–1 Anderlecht.

Group C

More information Pos, Pld ...
Source: UEFA
Notes:
  1. Head-to-head results: Chelsea 3–3 Roma, Roma 3–0 Chelsea.

Group D

More information Pos, Pld ...
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers

Group E

More information Pos, Pld ...
Source: UEFA

Group F

More information Pos, Pld ...
Source: UEFA

Group G

More information Pos, Pld ...
Source: UEFA

Group H

More information Pos, Pld ...
Source: UEFA
Notes:
  1. Head-to-head results: APOEL 1–1 Borussia Dortmund, Borussia Dortmund 1–1 APOEL (tied on head-to-head results, ranked on total goal difference).

Knockout phase

In 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:

  • 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 Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final
              
Spain Sevilla 0 2 2
England Manchester United 0 1 1
Spain Sevilla 1 0 1
Germany Bayern Munich 2 0 2
Germany Bayern Munich 5 3 8
Turkey Beşiktaş 0 1 1
Germany Bayern Munich 1 2 3
Spain Real Madrid 2 2 4
Italy Juventus 2 2 4
England Tottenham Hotspur 2 1 3
Italy Juventus 0 3 3
Spain Real Madrid 3 1 4
Spain Real Madrid 3 2 5
France Paris Saint-Germain 1 1 2
Spain Real Madrid 3
England Liverpool 1
Portugal Porto 0 0 0
England Liverpool 5 0 5
England Liverpool 3 2 5
England Manchester City 0 1 1
Switzerland Basel 0 2 2
England Manchester City 4 1 5
England Liverpool 5 2 7
Italy Roma 2 4 6
England Chelsea 1 0 1
Spain Barcelona 1 3 4
Spain Barcelona 4 0 4
Italy Roma (a) 1 3 4
Ukraine Shakhtar Donetsk 2 0 2
Italy Roma (a) 1 1 2

Round of 16

The draw for the round of 16 was held on 11 December 2017, 12:00 CET.[34] The first legs were played on 13, 14, 20 and 21 February, and the second legs were played on 6, 7, 13 and 14 March 2018.

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Quarter-finals

The draw for the quarter-finals was held on 16 March 2018, 12:00 CET.[35][36] The first legs were played on 3 and 4 April, and the second legs were played on 10 and 11 April 2018.

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Semi-finals

The draw for the semi-finals was held on 13 April 2018, 13:00 CEST.[37] The first legs were played on 24 and 25 April, and the second legs were played on 1 and 2 May 2018.

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Final

The final was played at the NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium in Kyiv on 26 May 2018. The "home" team (for administrative purposes) was determined by an additional draw held after the semi-final draw.[37]

More information Real Madrid, 3–1 ...

Statistics

Statistics exclude qualifying rounds and play-off round.

Top goalscorers

Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo finished the tournament as the top goalscorer, having scored 15 goals.

Squad of the season

The UEFA technical study group selected the following 18 players as the squad of the tournament.[40]

Players of the season

Votes were cast for players of the season by coaches of the 32 teams in the group stage, together with 55 journalists selected by the European 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 were announced on 9 August 2018.[41] The award winners were announced and presented during the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League group stage draw in Monaco on 30 August 2018.

More information Rank, Player ...
More information Rank, Player ...

See also


References

  1. "Keylor Navas: Champions League Goalkeeper of the Season". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 30 August 2018. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  2. "Sergio Ramos: Champions League Defender of the Season". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 30 August 2018. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  3. "Luka Modrić: Champions League Midfielder of the Season". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 30 August 2018. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  4. "Cristiano Ronaldo: Champions League Forward of the Season". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 30 August 2018. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  5. "Kyiv to host 2018 Champions League final". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 15 September 2016.
  6. "Football Federation of Kosovo joins UEFA". UEFA. 3 May 2016. Archived from the original on 16 September 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  7. "Timeline for UEFA Presidential elections decided". UEFA. 18 May 2016. Archived from the original on 22 July 2016. Retrieved 21 December 2016.
  8. "Preliminary Access List 2017/18" (PDF). Bert Kassies. RFEF.
  9. "UEFA Country Ranking 2016". Bert Kassies. Retrieved 28 May 2016.
  10. "Access list 2017/2018". Bert Kassies. Archived from the original on 2 June 2017. Retrieved 21 December 2016.
  11. "Qualification for European Cup Football 2017/2018". Bert Kassies. Archived from the original on 2 June 2017. Retrieved 21 December 2016.
  12. "UEFA European Football Calendar 2017/2018". Bert Kassies. Archived from the original on 2017-08-18. Retrieved 2016-12-21.
  13. "Seeding in the Champions League 2017/2018". Bert Kassies. Archived from the original on 24 April 2017. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
  14. "Champions League group stage number crunching". UEFA.org. Union of European Football Associations. 24 August 2017.
  15. "Full Time Report Final – Real Madrid v Liverpool" (PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 26 May 2018. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
  16. "Statistics — Tournament phase — Players". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. Archived from the original on 3 June 2018. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
  17. "UEFA Champions League Squad of the Season". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 27 May 2018.
  18. "Champions League positional awards: nominees announced". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 9 August 2018. Retrieved 9 August 2018.

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