2016–17 UEFA Champions League
The Millennium Stadium in Cardiff will host the final.
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| Tournament details | |
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| Dates | 28 June – 24 August 2016 (qualifying) 13 September 2016 – 3 June 2017 (competition proper) |
| Teams | 32 (group stage) 78 (total) (from 53 associations) |
The 2016–17 UEFA Champions League will be the 62nd season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 25th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League.
The 2017 UEFA Champions League Final will be played at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales.[1][2]
The winners of the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League will qualify as the UEFA representative at the 2017 FIFA Club World Cup in the United Arab Emirates, and also earn the right to play against the winners of the 2016–17 UEFA Europa League in the 2017 UEFA Super Cup.
Real Madrid are the defending champions.
Contents
Association team allocation
A total of 78 teams from 53 of the 55 UEFA member associations are expected to participate in the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League (the exception being Liechtenstein, which does not organise a domestic league; the participation of teams from Kosovo is to be confirmed). The association ranking based on the UEFA country coefficients is used to determine the number of participating teams for each association:[3]
- 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 16–54 (except Liechtenstein) each have one team qualify.
- The winners of the 2015–16 UEFA Champions League and 2015–16 UEFA Europa League are each given an additional entry if they do not qualify for the 2016–17 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 would be moved to the Europa League.[4] For this season:
- The winners of the 2015–16 UEFA Champions League, Real Madrid, qualified through their domestic league, meaning the additional entry for the Champions League title holders was not necessary.
- The winners of the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League, Sevilla, did not qualify through their domestic league, meaning the additional entry for the Europa League title holders was necessary.
Association ranking
For the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League, the associations are allocated places according to their 2015 UEFA country coefficients, which takes into account their performance in European competitions from 2010–11 to 2014–15.[5][6]
Apart from the allocation based on the country coefficients, associations may have additional teams participating in the Champions League, as noted below:
- (EL) – Additional berth for Europa League title holders
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- Notes
- ^ Kosovo (KOS): Kosovo became a UEFA member on 3 May 2016.[7] UEFA decided that their domestic champions could participate in the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League only if they could meet licensing criteria under article 15 of the UEFA Club Licensing & Financial Fair Play regulations, which will be confirmed following the assessment made by the UEFA administration within the deadline of 31 May 2016.[8] If Kosovo's entry is allowed, the champions of the 2015–16 Football Superleague of Kosovo, Feronikeli, will enter the first qualifying round, and the champions of association 46 (Liepāja of Latvia) will be moved from the second qualifying round to the first qualifying round.[9]
Distribution
In the default access list, the Champions League title holders enter the group stage.[3][10] However, since Real Madrid already qualified for the group stage (as the runners-up of the 2015–16 La Liga), the Champions League title holders berth in the group stage is given to the Europa League title holders, Sevilla.[11][9][12]
| Teams entering in this round | Teams advancing from previous round | ||
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| First qualifying round (8 teams) |
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| Second qualifying round (34 teams) |
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| Third qualifying round | Champions Route (20 teams) |
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| League Route (10 teams) |
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| Play-off round | Champions Route (10 teams) |
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| League Route (10 teams) |
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| Group stage (32 teams) |
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| Knockout phase (16 teams) |
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Teams
League positions of the previous season shown in parentheses (TH: Champions League title holders; EL: Europa League title holders).[13]
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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).[3][14][15]
| Phase | Round | Draw date | First leg | Second leg |
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| Qualifying | First qualifying round | 20 June 2016 | 28–29 June 2016 | 5–6 July 2016 |
| Second qualifying round | 12–13 July 2016 | 19–20 July 2016 | ||
| Third qualifying round | 15 July 2016 | 26–27 July 2016 | 2–3 August 2016 | |
| Play-off | Play-off round | 5 August 2016 | 16–17 August 2016 | 23–24 August 2016 |
| Group stage | Matchday 1 | 25 August 2016 (Monaco) |
13–14 September 2016 | |
| Matchday 2 | 27–28 September 2016 | |||
| Matchday 3 | 18–19 October 2016 | |||
| Matchday 4 | 1–2 November 2016 | |||
| Matchday 5 | 22–23 November 2016 | |||
| Matchday 6 | 6–7 December 2016 | |||
| Knockout phase | Round of 16 | 12 December 2016 | 14–15 & 21–22 February 2017 | 7–8 & 14–15 March 2017 |
| Quarter-finals | 17 March 2017 | 11–12 April 2017 | 18–19 April 2017 | |
| Semi-finals | 21 April 2017 | 2–3 May 2017 | 9–10 May 2017 | |
| Final | 3 June 2017 at Millennium Stadium, Cardiff | |||
Qualifying rounds
In the qualifying rounds and the play-off round, teams are divided into seeded and unseeded teams based on their 2016 UEFA club coefficients,[16][17][18] and then drawn into two-legged home-and-away ties. Teams from the same association cannot be drawn against each other.
UEFA club coefficient of each team shown after "Coeff.".[16][17]
First qualifying round
A total of eight teams are expected to play in the first qualifying round.
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Second qualifying round
A total of 34 teams are expected to play in the second qualifying round: 30 teams which enter in this round, and the four winners of the first qualifying round.
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Third qualifying round
The third qualifying round is split into two separate sections: Champions Route (for league champions) and League Route (for league non-champions). The losing teams in both sections enter the 2016–17 UEFA Europa League play-off round.
A total of 30 teams are expected to play in the third qualifying round:
Champions Route
Three teams which enter in this round, and the 17 winners of the second qualifying round.
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League Route
Ten teams which enter in this round.
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Play-off round
The play-off round is split into two separate sections: Champions Route (for league champions) and League Route (for league non-champions). The losing teams in both sections enter the 2016–17 UEFA Europa League group stage.
A total of 20 teams play in the play-off round.
UEFA club coefficient of each team shown after "Coeff.".[16][17]
Champions Route
The ten Champions Route winners of the third qualifying round.
League Route
Five teams which enter in this round, and the five League Route winners of the third qualifying round.
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Group stage
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 2015–16 season):[19][20]
- Pot 1 contains the title holders and the champions of the top seven associations based on their 2015 UEFA country coefficients.[5][6] If the title holders 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).[3]
- Pot 2, 3 and 4 contain the remaining teams, seeded based on their 2016 UEFA club coefficients.[16][17][18]
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 2016–17 UEFA Europa League round of 32.
The youth teams of the clubs that qualify for the group stage also play in the 2016–17 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 knockout phase).
A total of 32 teams play in the group stage: 22 teams which enter in this stage, and the 10 winners of the play-off round (5 from Champions Route, 5 from League Route).
UEFA club coefficient of each team shown after "Coeff.".[16][17]
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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.
See also
- 2016–17 UEFA Europa League
- 2017 UEFA Super Cup
- 2017 FIFA Club World Cup
- 2016–17 UEFA Women's Champions League
References
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External links
- UEFA Champions League (official website)
