The 2021–22 UEFA Champions League was the 67th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 30th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League.
Real Madrid defeated Liverpool 1–0 in the final, which was played at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, France, for a record-extending 14th European Cup title, and their fifth in nine years.[3] It was originally scheduled to be played at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany.[4] However, due to the postponement and relocation of the 2020 final, the hosts were shifted back a year, with Saint Petersburg scheduled to host the 2022 final.[5] Due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine which commenced in February 2022, the final was eventually moved to Saint-Denis.[4] As the winners, Real Madrid automatically qualified for the 2022–23 UEFA Champions League group stage, as well as earning the right to play against the winners of the 2021–22 UEFA Europa League, Eintracht Frankfurt, in the 2022 UEFA Super Cup and participate in the 2022 FIFA Club World Cup, both of which they went on to win.
Chelsea were the defending champions, but they were eliminated in the quarter-finals by eventual winners Real Madrid.
This season was the first since 1999–2000 (the first season after the dissolution of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup) where three major European club competitions (UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, and the newly created UEFA Europa Conference League) are organised by UEFA. No changes were made to the format of the Champions League, but teams that were eliminated from the preliminary round and first qualifying round of the Champions League were now transferred to the Europa Conference League instead of the Europa League.[6]
On 24 June 2021, UEFA approved the proposal to abolish the away goals rule in all UEFA club competitions, which had been used since 1965. Accordingly, if in a two-legged tie two teams scored the same number of aggregate goals, the winner of the tie would not be decided by the number of away goals scored by each team but always by 30 minutes of extra time, and if the two teams scored the same number of goals in extra time, the winner would be decided by a penalty shoot-out.[7]
A total of 80 teams from 54 of the 55 UEFA member associations participated in the 2021–22 UEFA Champions League (the exception being Liechtenstein,[Note LIE] which did not organise a domestic league). The association ranking based on the UEFA association coefficients was used to determine the number of participating teams for each association:[8]
For the 2021–22 UEFA Champions League, the associations were allocated places according to their 2020 UEFA association coefficients, which took into account their performance in European competitions from 2015–16 to 2019–20.[9]
Apart from the allocation based on the association coefficients, associations could have additional teams participating in the Champions League, as noted below:
The following is the access list for this season.[10] As the Champions League title holders, Chelsea, which were guaranteed a berth in the Champions League group stage, already qualified via their domestic league (as fourth place in the 2020-21 Premier League), the following changes to the access list were made:
The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round:
The second qualifying round, third qualifying round and play-off round were divided into Champions Path (CH) and League Path (LP).
CC: 2021 UEFA club coefficients.[12]
Notes
All matches were played on Tuesdays and Wednesdays apart from the preliminary round final, which was played on a Friday, and the final, which was played on a Saturday. The third qualifying round second legs were only played on a Tuesday due to the 2021 UEFA Super Cup on the following Wednesday. Scheduled kick-off times starting from the play-off round were 18:45 (instead of 18:55 previously) and 21:00 CEST/CET.[17]
All draws were held at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, except the group stage draw, which took place in Istanbul, Turkey, on 26 August 2021.[18]
The draw for the preliminary round was held on 8 June 2021, 12:00 CEST.[20]The preliminary round matches, which consisted of two semi-finals on 22 June 2021 and the final on 25 June 2021, were originally to be played at Gundadalur, Tórshavn in the Faroe Islands,[21] but were moved due to restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Faroe Islands.[22] The matches were instead played in Albania, with the semi-finals at Elbasan Arena, Elbasan and Niko Dovana Stadium, Durrës, and the final at Elbasan Arena.[23]
The winner of the preliminary round final advanced to the first qualifying round. The losers of the semi-finals and final were transferred to the Europa Conference League Champions Path second qualifying round.
The draw for the first qualifying round was held on 15 June 2021, 12:00 CEST.[24]The first legs were played on 6 and 7 July, and the second legs were played on 13 and 14 July 2021.
The winners of the ties advanced to the Champions Path second qualifying round. The losers were transferred to the Europa Conference League Champions Path second qualifying round.
Notes
The draw for the second qualifying round was held on 16 June 2021, 12:00 CEST.[25]The first legs were played on 20 and 21 July, and the second legs were played on 27 and 28 July 2021.
The winners of the ties advanced to the third qualifying round of their respective path. The Champions Path losers were transferred to the Europa League Champions Path third qualifying round, while the League Path losers were transferred to the Europa League Main Path third qualifying round.
The draw for the third qualifying round was held on 19 July 2021, 12:00 CEST.[26]The first legs were played on 3 and 4 August, and the second legs were played on 10 August 2021.
The winners of the ties advanced to the play-off round of their respective path. The Champions Path losers were transferred to the Europa League play-off round, while the League Path losers were transferred to the Europa League group stage.
The draw for the play-off round was held on 2 August 2021, 12:00 CEST.[27]The first legs were played on 17 and 18 August, and the second legs were played on 24 and 25 August 2021.
The winners of the ties advanced to the group stage. The losers were transferred to the Europa League group stage.
Benfica Sporting CP
Atlético Madrid
Real Madrid Manchester City
Manchester United Inter Milan Milan Brown: Group A; Red: Group B; Orange: Group C; Yellow: Group D; Green: Group E; Blue: Group F; 
Purple: Group G; 
Pink: Group H.The draw for the group stage was held in Istanbul, Turkey, on 26 August 2021.[18][28] The 32 teams were drawn into eight groups of four. For the draw, the teams were seeded into four pots, each of eight teams, based on the following principles:
Teams from the same association, and due to political reasons, teams from Ukraine and Russia, could not be drawn into the same group. Before the draw, UEFA formed pairings of teams from the same association (one pairing for associations with two or three teams, two pairings for associations with four or five teams) based on television audiences, where one team was drawn into Groups A–D and another team was drawn into Groups E–H, so that the two teams would play on different days.[29]
The matches were played on 14–15 September, 28–29 September, 19–20 October, 2–3 November, 23–24 November, and 7–9 December 2021. The top two teams of each group advanced to the round of 16. The third-placed teams were transferred to the Europa League knockout round play-offs, while the fourth-placed teams were eliminated from European competitions for the season.
Sheriff Tiraspol made their debut appearance in the group stage. They were the first team from Moldova to play in the Champions League group stage.
In the knockout phase, teams played 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 was as follows:
The draw for the round of 16 was held on 13 December 2021, originally at 12:00 CET.[30] The draw featured multiple irregularities: Manchester United were mistakenly included in the draw for Villarreal's opponent (both were in Group F), and subsequently were selected; another ball was then drawn, with Manchester City chosen instead. In the following tie, Liverpool were mistakenly included in the draw for Atlético Madrid's opponent (both were in Group B), while Manchester United were incorrectly excluded.[31] Later that day, UEFA voided the original draw due to a "technical problem" with the draw computer, and it was entirely redone at 15:00 CET.[32]The first legs were played on 15, 16, 22 and 23 February, and the second legs were played on 8, 9, 15 and 16 March 2022.
The draw for the quarter-finals was held on 18 March 2022, 12:00 CET.[33]The first legs were played on 5 and 6 April, and the second legs were played on 12 and 13 April 2022.
The draw for the semi-finals was held on 18 March 2022, 12:00 CET, after the quarter-final draw.[33]The first legs were played on 26 and 27 April, and the second legs were played on 3 and 4 May 2022.
The final was played on 28 May 2022 at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis. A draw was held on 18 March 2022, after the quarter-final and semi-final draws, to determine the "home" team for administrative purposes.[33]
Statistics exclude qualifying rounds and play-off round.
The UEFA technical study group selected the following players as the team of the tournament.[36]
Karim Benzema (
Real Madrid)[1]
Vinícius Júnior ( Real Madrid)[2]On 18 April 2021, UEFA, the Football Association, the Premier League, the Italian Football Federation, Serie A, the Royal Spanish Football Federation and La Liga learned of plans from several English, Italian and Spanish clubs to create the European Super League.[37] UEFA and the national associations announced that if such a league were to be established, its participants would be banned from playing in international and domestic competitions.[38] Later that same day, English clubs (Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur), Italian clubs (Inter Milan, Juventus and Milan) and Spanish clubs (Atlético Madrid, Barcelona and Real Madrid) announced the establishment of the Super League, putting them at risk of being banned.[39]
On 20 April 2021, Arsenal,[40] Liverpool,[41] Manchester City,[42] Manchester United[43] and Tottenham Hotspur[44] withdrew after the Football Association threatened to ban participating clubs from domestic football,[45] whilst Chelsea withdrew some hours later.[46] This led to the project's collapse,[47] as Atlético Madrid, Inter Milan and AC Milan followed the English clubs by withdrawing.[48] The Super League suspended its operations,[49] with the case to be taken by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) to establish whether UEFA and FIFA have the exclusive right to organise competitions.[50]
On 7 June 2021, the Swiss Federal Department of Justice and Police notified UEFA and FIFA of the Spanish precautionary measure – which had earlier issued an injunction against UEFA and FIFA and referred a cuestión preliminar (English: preliminary question) to the CJEU on whether UEFA and FIFA have violated articles 101 and 102 of the TFEU[51] – ruling that neither governing body could not execute sanctions against Super League clubs.[52] On 15 June 2021, it was officially confirmed that the remaining three clubs (Barcelona, Juventus and Real Madrid) – which did not sign the Commitment Declaration of the sanctioned other nine clubs[53] and filed a new motion to scrap the agreement UEFA signed with those nine clubs[50] – were admitted to the 2021–22 UEFA Champions League, pending the disciplinary proceedings UEFA opened against them but which were suspended after the Swiss notification.[54]
