2017-18 UEFA Champions League

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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.

The final was played between Real Madrid and Liverpool at the NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium in Kiev, Ukraine. Real Madrid, the defending champions, beat Liverpool 3-1 to win a record-extending 13th title and their third title in a row.

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. Moreover, they would also have been automatically qualified for the 2018-19 UEFA Champions League group stage, 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 next season's access list.

Video 2017-18 UEFA Champions League

Association team allocation

79 teams from 54 of the 55 UEFA member associations participated (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 1-3 each have four teams qualify.
• Associations 4-6 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 2016-17 UEFA Champions League and 2016-17 UEFA Europa League are each given an additional entry if they do not qualify for the 2017-18 UEFA Champions League through their domestic league. Because a maximum of five teams from one association can enter the Champions League, if both the Champions League title holders and the Europa League title holders are from the same top three ranked association and finish outside the top four of their domestic league, the fourth-placed team of their association will be moved to the Europa League. For this season:
  • The winners of the 2016-17 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 2016-17 UEFA Europa League, Manchester United, did not qualify through their domestic league, meaning the additional entry for the Europa League title holders is necessary.

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

Association ranking

For the 2017-18 UEFA Champions League, the associations are allocated places according to their 2016 UEFA country coefficients, which takes into account their performance in European competitions from 2011-12 to 2015-16.

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

• (UEL) - Additional berth for UEFA Europa League title holders

Distribution

In the default access list, the Champions League title holders enter the group stage. 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 is given to the Europa League title holders, Manchester United.

Teams

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

Notes

Maps 2017-18 UEFA Champions League

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).

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Qualifying rounds

In the qualifying rounds and the play-off round, teams are divided into seeded and unseeded teams based on their 2017 UEFA club coefficients, and then drawn into two-legged home-and-away ties. Teams from the same association cannot be drawn against each other.

First qualifying round

The draw for the first qualifying round was held on 19 June 2017, 12:00 CEST. The first legs were played on 27 and 28 June, and the second legs were played on 4 July 2017.

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). The first legs were played on 11, 12 and 14 July, and the second legs were played on 18 and 19 July 2017.

Notes

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. The first legs were played on 25 and 26 July, and the second legs were played on 1 and 2 August 2017.

Notes

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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. The first legs were played on 15 and 16 August, and the second legs were played on 22 and 23 August 2017.

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Group stage

The draw for the group stage was held on 24 August 2017, 18:00 CEST, at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco. The 32 teams were 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 were seeded into four pots based on the following principles (introduced starting 2015-16 season):

• Pot 1 contained the title holders and the champions of the top seven associations based on their 2016 UEFA country coefficients. As the title holders, Real Madrid, are one of the champions of the top seven associations, the champions of the association ranked eighth are also seeded into Pot 1 (regulations Article 13.05).

• Pot 2, 3 and 4 contained the remaining teams, seeded based on their 2017 UEFA club coefficients.

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 qualify 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 compete in a separate Domestic Champions Path until the play-offs).

17 national associations were represented in the group stage. Qaraba? and RB Leipzig made their debut appearances in the group stage. Qaraba? were the first team from Azerbaijan to play in the Champions League group stage.

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Group E

Group F

Group G

Group H

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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.

Bracket

Round of 16

The draw for the round of 16 was held on 11 December 2017, 12:00 CET. 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.

Quarter-finals

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

Semi-finals

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

Final

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

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Statistics

Statistics exclude qualifying rounds and play-off round.

Top goalscorers

Source:

Top assists

Source:

Squad of the season

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

Players of the season

Votes are 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 are not allowed to vote for players from their own teams. Jury members select 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. The award winners will be announced and presented during the 2018-19 UEFA Champions League group stage draw in Monaco on 30 August 2018.

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See also

• 2017-18 UEFA Europa League
• 2018 UEFA Super Cup
• 2018 FIFA Club World Cup
• 2017-18 UEFA Women's Champions League
• 2017-18 UEFA Youth League

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References

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External links

• UEFA Champions League (official website)
  • UEFA Champions League history: 2017/18

Source of article : Wikipedia