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2014–15 UEFA Champions League group stage


The 2014–15 UEFA Champions League group stage was played from 16 September to 10 December 2014. A total of 32 teams competed in the group stage to decide the 16 places in the knockout phase of the 2014–15 UEFA Champions League.

The draw was held on 28 August 2014, 17:45 CEST, at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco. The 32 teams were allocated into four pots based on their UEFA club coefficients at the beginning of the season, with the title holders being placed in Pot 1 automatically. They were drawn into eight groups of four containing one team from each of the four seeding pots, with the restriction that teams from the same national association could not be drawn against each other. Moreover, the draw was controlled for teams from the same association in order to split the teams evenly into the two sets of groups (A–D, E–H) for maximum television coverage.

The fixtures are decided after the draw. On each matchday, four groups play their matches on Tuesday, while the other four groups play their matches on Wednesday, with the two sets of groups (A–D, E–H) alternating between each matchday. There are other restrictions: for example, teams from the same city (e.g., Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid, Chelsea and Arsenal, Benfica and Sporting CP) in general do not play at home on the same matchday (UEFA tries to avoid teams from the same city playing at home on the same day or on consecutive days), and Russian teams do not play at home on the last matchday due to cold weather.

On 17 July 2014, the UEFA emergency panel ruled that Ukrainian and Russian clubs would not be drawn against each other "until further notice" due to the political unrest between the countries. Therefore, Ukrainian club Shakhtar Donetsk (Pot 2) and Russian club CSKA Moscow (Pot 3) could not be drawn into the same group despite being in different pots.


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