| Tourney Name: | UEFA Champions League |
| Year: | 2000–01 |
| Size: | 300px |
| Dates: | Qualifying: 12 July – 23 August 2000 Competition proper: 12 September 2000 – 23 May 2001 |
| Num Teams: | Competition proper: 32 Total: 72 |
| Champion Other: | Bayern Munich |
| Count: | 4 |
| Second Other: |  Valencia |
| Matches: | 157 |
| Goals: | 449 |
| Attendance: | 5688155 |
| Top Scorer: | Raúl (Real Madrid) 7 goals |
| Prevseason: | 1999–2000 |
| Nextseason: | 2001–02 |
The 2000–01 UEFA Champions League was the 46th season of the UEFA Champions League, UEFA's premier European club football tournament, and the ninth since it was rebranded from the "European Champion Clubs' Cup" or "European Cup". The competition was won by Bayern Munich for their first title since 1976, defeating Valencia 5–4 on penalties after a 1–1 draw after extra time. It was the German club's first UEFA Champions League title and their fourth European Cup overall; Valencia suffered their second consecutive final defeat, having lost to Real Madrid in the previous season. The knockout phase saw Bayern eliminate the preceding two Champions League winners, Manchester United and Real Madrid, winning all four games in the process. Valencia, meanwhile, defeated English sides Arsenal and Leeds United in the knockout phase en route to the final.
The 2001 final saw the two previous seasons' runners-up clash, Bayern Munich lost to Manchester United in the 1999 final and Valencia lost to Real Madrid in the 2000 final.
Real Madrid were the defending champions, but they were eliminated by eventual winners Bayern Munich in the semi-finals.
A total of 72 teams participated in the 2000–01 Champions League, from 48 of 51 UEFA associations. Liechtenstein (who don't have their own league) as well as Andorra and San Marino were not admitted.
Below is the qualification scheme for the 2000–01 UEFA Champions League:[1]
Countries are allocated places according to their 1999 UEFA league coefficient, which takes into account their performance in European competitions from 1994–95 to 1998–99.[2]
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The title holders Real Madrid finished 5th in domestic league. As a result, La Liga 4th-placed team Zaragoza were demoted to UEFA Cup and their Champions League Third qualifying round spot was vacated. The following changes to the default access list are made:
| Teams entering in this round | Teams advancing from previous round | |||
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| First qualifying round (20 teams) |
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| Second qualifying round (28 teams) |
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| Third qualifying round (32 teams) |
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| Group stage (32 teams) |
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| Second group stage (16 teams) |
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| Knockout phase (8 teams) |
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League positions of the previous season shown in parentheses (TH: Champions League title holders).
The schedule of the competition is as follows (all draws were held in Geneva, Switzerland, unless stated otherwise).[3]
| Phase | Round | Draw date | First leg | Second leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qualifying | First qualifying round | 23 June 2000 | 12 July 2000 | 19 July 2000 |
| Second qualifying round | 26 July 2000 | 2 August 2000 | ||
| Third qualifying round | 21 July 2000 (Nyon) | 8–9 August 2000 | 22–23 August 2000 | |
| First group stage | Matchday 1 | 25 August 2000 (Monaco) | 12–13 September 2000 | |
| Matchday 2 | 19–20 September 2000 | |||
| Matchday 3 | 26–27 September 2000 | |||
| Matchday 4 | 17–18 October 2000 | |||
| Matchday 5 | 24–25 October 2000 | |||
| Matchday 6 | 7–8 November 2000 | |||
| Second group stage | Matchday 1 | 10 November 2000 | 21–22 November 2000 | |
| Matchday 2 | 5–6 December 2000 | |||
| Matchday 3 | 13–14 February 2001 | |||
| Matchday 4 | 20–21 February 2001 | |||
| Matchday 5 | 6–7 March 2001 | |||
| Matchday 6 | 13–14 March 2001 | |||
| Knockout phase | Quarter-finals | 16 March 2001 | 3–4 April 2001 | 17–18 April 2001 |
| Semi-finals | 1–2 May 2001 | 8–9 May 2001 | ||
| Final | 23 May 2001 at San Siro, Milan | |||
See main article: 2000–01 UEFA Champions League qualifying rounds.
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See main article: 2000–01 UEFA Champions League first group stage.
16 winners from the third qualifying round, 10 champions from countries ranked 1–10, and six second-placed teams from countries ranked 1–6 were drawn into eight groups of four teams each. The top two teams in each group advanced to the second group stage, and the third placed team in each group advanced to round 3 of the 2000–01 UEFA Cup.
Deportivo La Coruña, Hamburg, Heerenveen, Helsingborg, Leeds United, Lyon and Shakhtar Donetsk made their debut in the group stage.
See main article: 2000–01 UEFA Champions League second group stage.
Eight winners and eight runners-up from the first group stage were drawn into four groups of four teams each, each containing two group winners and two runners-up. Teams from the same country or from the same first-round group could not be drawn together. The top two teams in each group advanced to the quarter-finals.
See main article: 2000–01 UEFA Champions League knockout stage.
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See main article: 2001 UEFA Champions League final.
Statistics exclude qualifying rounds.
| Rank | Name | Team | Goals | Minutes played |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Raúl | Real Madrid | 7 | 995 |
| 2 |  Marco Simone |  Monaco | 6 | 505 |
 Rivaldo | Barcelona | 6 | 523 | |
| Giovane Élber | Bayern Munich | 6 | 1034 | |
| Paul Scholes | Manchester United | 6 | 1042 | |
| Lee Bowyer | Leeds United | 6 | 1170 | |
| Iván Helguera | Real Madrid | 6 | 1232 | |
| Mário Jardel |  Galatasaray | 6 | 1240 | |
| 9 | Filippo Inzaghi | Juventus | 5 | 431 |
 Claudio López | Lazio | 5 | 464 | |
 Frode Johnsen | Rosenborg | 5 | 509 | |
| Christian | Paris Saint-Germain | 5 | 586 | |
| Walter Pandiani | Deportivo La Coruña | 5 | 664 | |
| Teddy Sheringham | Manchester United | 5 | 720 | |
| Nicolas Anelka | Paris Saint-Germain | 5 | 734 | |
| Juan Sánchez | Valencia | 5 | 1018 | |
 Tomasz Radzinski |  Anderlecht | 5 | 1021 | |
 Andriy Shevchenko | Milan | 5 | 1080 | |
| Luís Figo | Real Madrid | 5 | 1205 | |
| Mehmet Scholl | Bayern Munich | 5 | 1207 | |
| Alan Smith | Leeds United | 5 | 1248 |
