2018-19 UEFA Champions League

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The 2018-19 UEFA Champions League is the 64th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 27th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League.

The final will be played at the Wanda Metropolitano in Madrid, Spain. The winners of the 2018-19 UEFA Champions League will earn the right to play against the winners of the 2018-19 UEFA Europa League in the 2019 UEFA Super Cup. They will also automatically qualify for the 2019-20 UEFA Champions League group stage, and if they have already qualified through their league performance, the berth reserved will be given to the champions of the 2018-19 Austrian Bundesliga, the 11th-ranked association according to next season's access list.

Real Madrid are the defending champions, having won the title for three successive seasons in 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18.

Video 2018-19 UEFA Champions League

Format changes

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. As per the new regulations, the previous season's UEFA Europa League winners will qualify automatically for the UEFA Champions League group stage. Meanwhile, the top four teams from the leagues of the four top-ranked national associations in the UEFA country coefficients list will qualify automatically for the group stage as well. Only six teams will qualify for the group stage via the qualification rounds, down from ten in the previous season.

Maps 2018-19 UEFA Champions League

Association team allocation

A total of 79 teams from 54 of the 55 UEFA member associations participate in the 2018-19 UEFA Champions League (the exception being Liechtenstein, which does not organise a domestic league). The association ranking based on the UEFA country coefficients is used to determine the number of participating teams for each association:

• Associations 1-4 each have four teams qualify.
• Associations 5-6 each have three teams qualify.
• Associations 7-15 each have two teams qualify.
• Associations 16-55 (except Liechtenstein) each have one team qualify.
• The winners of the 2017-18 UEFA Champions League and 2017-18 UEFA Europa League are each given an additional entry if they do not qualify for the 2018-19 UEFA Champions League through their domestic league.
  • The winners of the 2017-18 UEFA Champions League, Real Madrid, have qualified through their domestic league, meaning the additional entry for the Champions League title holders is not necessary.
  • The winners of the 2017-18 UEFA Europa League, Atlético Madrid, have qualified through their domestic league, meaning the additional entry for the Europa League title holders is not necessary.

Association ranking

For the 2018-19 UEFA Champions League, the associations are allocated places according to their 2017 UEFA country coefficients, which takes into account their performance in European competitions from 2012-13 to 2016-17.

Apart from the allocation based on the country coefficients, associations may 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

Distribution

In the default access list, the Champions League title holders qualify for the group stage. However, since Real Madrid already qualified for the group stage via their domestic league (as third place of the 2017-18 La Liga), the following changes to the access list was made:

• 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 and 19 (Denmark and Belarus) entered the second qualifying round instead of the first qualifying round.

In addition, the Europa League title holders qualify for the group stage. However, since Atlético Madrid, the Europa League champions, already qualified for the group stage via their domestic league (as second place of the 2017-18 La Liga), the following changes to the access list was made:

• The third-placed team of association 5 (France) entered the group stage instead of the third qualifying round.
• The runners-up of association 10 and 11 (Turkey and Czech Republic) entered the third qualifying round instead of the second qualifying round.

Teams

League positions of the previous season shown in parentheses (TH: Champions League title holders; EL: Europa League title holders).

Notes

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Round and draw dates

The schedule of the competition is as follows (all draws are held at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, unless stated otherwise).

From this season, there will be 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 will be 21:00 CET.

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Preliminary round

In the preliminary round, teams are divided into seeded and unseeded teams based on their 2018 UEFA club coefficients, and then drawn into one-legged semi-final and final ties. The draw for the preliminary round was held on 12 June 2018. The semi-final round was played on 26 June, and the final round was played on 29 June 2018, both at the Victoria Stadium in Gibraltar. The losers of both semi-final and final rounds enter the 2018-19 UEFA Europa League second qualifying round.

Drita's win on 26 June 2018 was the first time that a team representing Kosovo had won a game in any UEFA competition.

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Qualifying rounds

In the qualifying and play-off rounds, teams are divided into seeded and unseeded teams based on their 2018 UEFA club coefficients, and then drawn into two-legged home-and-away ties.

First qualifying round

The draw for the first qualifying round was held on 19 June 2018. The first legs will be played on 10 and 11 July, and the second legs will be played on 17 and 18 July 2018. The losers enter the 2018-19 UEFA Europa League second qualifying round, except for the losers of the Cork City/Legia Warsaw tie who were randomly drawn to receive a bye to the 2018-19 UEFA Europa League third qualifying round.

Notes

Second qualifying round

The second qualifying round is 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. The first legs will be played on 24 and 25 July, and the second legs will be played on 31 July and 1 August 2018. The losers from both Champions Path and League Path enter the 2018-19 UEFA Europa League third qualifying round.

Third qualifying round

Note: All qualified teams below are listed with their 2018 UEFA club coefficients (CC). A new club coefficient system will be used for seeding starting from the 2018-19 season, which is calculated by the maximum of either the club points in the previous five years or 20% of the association points over the same period (instead of the sum of the two values). In cases where the club coefficients are to be determined (teams from their associations are still active in 2017-18 UEFA club competitions), the latest club coefficients are listed.

The third qualifying round is split into two separate sections: Champions Path (for league champions) and League Path (for league non-champions). The draw for the third qualifying round will be held on 23 July 2018. The first legs will be played on 7 and 8 August, and the second legs will be played on 14 August 2018. The losers from Champions Path enter the 2018-19 UEFA Europa League play-off round, while the losers from League Path enter the 2018-19 UEFA Europa League group stage.

A total of 20 teams play in the third qualifying round:

Champions Path

Two teams which enter in this round, and the 10 Champions Path winners of the second qualifying round.

League Path

Six teams which enter in this round, and the two League Path winners of the second qualifying round.

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Play-off round

The play-off round is split into two separate sections: Champions Path (for league champions) and League Path (for league non-champions). The draw for the play-off round will be held on 6 August 2018. The first legs will be played on 21 and 22 August, and the second legs will be played on 28 and 29 August 2018. The losers from both Champions Path and League Path enter the 2018-19 UEFA Europa League group stage.

A total of twelve teams play in the play-off round:

Champions Path

Two teams which enter in this round, and the six Champions Path winners of the third qualifying round.

League Path

The four League Path winners of the third qualifying round.

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Group stage

The draw for the group stage will be held on 30 August 2018 at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco. The 32 teams are drawn into eight groups of four, with the restriction that teams from the same association cannot be drawn against each other. For the draw, the teams are seeded into four pots based on the following principles (introduced starting this season):

• Pot 1 contains the Champions League and Europa League title holders, and the champions of the top six associations based on their 2017 UEFA country coefficients. If either or both title holders are one of the champions of the top six associations, the champions of the next highest ranked association(s) are also seeded into Pot 1.
• Pot 2, 3 and 4 contain the remaining teams, seeded based on their 2018 UEFA club coefficients.

In each group, teams play against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The group winners and runners-up advance to the round of 16, while the third-placed teams enter the 2018-19 UEFA Europa League round of 32. The matchdays are 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 qualify for the group stage also participate in the 2018-19 UEFA Youth League on the same matchdays, where they compete in the UEFA Champions League Path (the youth domestic champions of the top 32 associations compete in a separate Domestic Champions Path until the play-offs).

A total of 32 teams play in the group stage: 26 teams which enter in this stage, and the six winners of the play-off round (four from Champions Path, two from League Path).

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Knockout phase

In the knockout phase, teams play 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 is as follows:

• In the draw for the round of 16, the eight group winners are seeded, and the eight group runners-up are unseeded. The seeded teams are 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 are no seedings, and teams from the same group or the same association can be drawn against each other.

Round of 16

The draw for the round of 16 will be held on 17 December 2018. The first legs will be played on 12, 13, 19 and 20 February, and the second legs will be played on 5, 6, 12 and 13 March 2019.

Quarter-finals

The draw for the quarter-finals will be held on 15 March 2019. The first legs will be played on 9 and 10 April, and the second legs will be played on 16 and 17 April 2019.

Semi-finals

The draw for the semi-finals will be held on 19 April 2019. The first legs will be played on 30 April and 1 May, and the second legs will be played on 7 and 8 May 2019.

Final

The final will be played on 1 June 2019 at the Wanda Metropolitano in Madrid. The "home" team (for administrative purposes) will be determined by an additional draw held after the semi-final draw.

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See also

• 2018-19 UEFA Europa League
• 2019 UEFA Super Cup
• 2018-19 UEFA Women's Champions League
• 2018-19 UEFA Youth League
• 2018-19 UEFA Futsal Champions League

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References

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External links

• UEFA Champions League (official website)

Source of article : Wikipedia