UEFA Champions League group stage draw
Monday, June 1, 2015
Article summary
The group stage draw comprised 32 clubs, 22 of whom were direct entrants while ten qualified via the play-offs.
Article body
2015/16 UEFA Champions League group stage draw
Group A: Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid, Shakhtar Donetsk, Malmö
Group B: PSV Eindhoven, Manchester United, CSKA Moskva, Wolfsburg
Group C: Benfica, Atlético, Galatasaray, Astana
Group D: Juventus, Manchester City, Sevilla, Borussia Mönchengladbach
Group E: Barcelona, Bayer Leverkusen, Roma, BATE Borisov
Group F: Bayern München, Arsenal, Olympiacos, Dinamo Zagreb
Group G: Chelsea, Porto, Dynamo Kyiv, Maccabi Tel-Aviv
Group H: Zenit, Valencia, Lyon, Gent
The group stage draw as it happened
Group stage dates
Matchday one: 15–16/09/14
Matchday two: 29–30/09/14
Matchday three: 20–21/10/14
Matchday four: 03–04/11/14
Matchday five: 24–25/11/14
Matchday six: 08–09/12/14
Full season calendar
17.45CET, 27 August
Which teams were in which pots?
Pot 1: Barcelona, Bayern München, Chelsea, Benfica, Paris, Juventus, Zenit and PSV Eindhoven. There will be one side from pot 1 in each group.
- The remaing three pots, as usual, were decided by each team's UEFA club coefficient.
Pot 2: Real Madrid, Atlético, Porto, Arsenal, Manchester United, Valencia, Bayer Leverkusen, Manchester City
Pot 3: Shakhtar Donetsk, Sevilla, Lyon, Dynamo Kyiv, Olympiacos, CSKA Moskva, Galatasaray, Roma
Pot 4: BATE Borisov, Borussia Mönchengladbach, Wolfsburg, Dinamo Zagreb, Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Gent, Malmö, Astana
- No team can play a club from their own association and Russian and Ukrainian teams cannot meet.
- The draw also established the groups for the UEFA Champions League path of the expanded UEFA Youth League.
- The draw ceremony included the vote for and presentation of the 2014/15 UEFA Best Player in Europe Awards for men and women.
What was new about this draw?
Qualifiers:
- As for every season since 1999/2000, 32 teams entered the draw and were split into eight groups of four, to play each other home and away.
- Twenty-two teams assured of their place were joined by the ten play-off winners.
- The teams included Sevilla, the first club to qualify as UEFA Europa League winners.
- As Valencia beat Monaco in the play-offs, Spain were the first nation to have five teams in the group stage.
- Astana were the first team from Kazakhstan to make it.
- Unlike in previous years, following a change in the regulations, pot 1 for the draw was formed by the holders and the champions of the top seven associations: Spain, England, Germany, Italy, Portugal, France and Russia.
- As Barcelona are also Spanish champions, the eighth-ranked Netherlands received the vacant seeding place.
Do seedings matter? We investigate...
When will matches be played?
Group stage draw: 17.45CET, 27 August, Monaco
Matchday one: 15/16 September
Matchday two: 29/30 September
Matchday three: 20/21 October
Matchday four: 3/4 November
Matchday five: 24/25 November
Matchday six: 8/9 December
Round of 16 draw: 12.00CET, 14 December, Nyon
Round of 16, first leg: 16/17/23/24 February
Round of 16, second leg: 8/9/15/16 March
Quarter-final draw: 12.00CET, 18 March, Nyon
Quarter-final, first leg: 5/6 April
Quarter-final second leg: 12/13 April
Semi-final draw: 12.00CET, 15 April. Nyon
Semi-final, first leg: 26/27 April
Semi-final, second leg: 3/4 May
Final: 20.45CET, 28 May, San Siro