2008–09 UEFA Champions League group stage explained

See main article: 2008–09 UEFA Champions League. The 2008–09 UEFA Champions League group stage matches took place between 16 September and 10 December 2008.

Seeding structure

Seeding was determined by the UEFA coefficients:^[1] Pot 1 held teams ranked 1–10 (since Milan and Sevilla did not qualify), Pot 2 held teams ranked 11–23, Pot 3 held teams ranked 25–45, while Pot 4 held teams ranked 46–193 and unranked teams.

Clubs from the same association were paired up to split the matchdays between Tuesday and Wednesday. Clubs with the same pairing letter played on different days, ensuring that teams from the same city (e.g. Milan and Internazionale, who also share a stadium) did not play on the same day.^[2]

Group winners and runners-up advanced to the round of 16
Third-placed teams entered the UEFA Cup at the round of 32
TH = Title holder

Pot 1
width=170	Team !	width=65	Coeff.
Manchester United^TH	107.996
	124.996
	118.996
	117.837
	110.996
	99.380
	96.934
	93.837

Pot 2
width=170	Team !	width=65	Coeff.
	92.078
	91.610
	90.837
	81.934
	81.176
	74.078
	70.271
	66.934

Pot 3
width=170	Team !	width=65	Coeff.
	63.380
	60.437
	59.398
	52.525
	52.380
	52.013
	51.993
	51.469

Pot 4
width=170	Team !	width=65	Coeff.
	49.932
	40.934
	36.837
	34.932
	13.398
	12.748
	4.327
	1.760

Of the 16 teams in Pots 1 and 2, 14 eventually qualified for the first knockout round. The exceptions were Werder Bremen (to the UEFA Cup) and PSV Eindhoven (eliminated). Their places went to Panathinaikos (from Pot 3) and Atlético Madrid (from Pot 4). AaB were the lowest-ranked Pot 4 team to qualify for the UEFA Cup Round of 32.

Tie-breaking criteria

Based on paragraph 6.05 in the UEFA regulations for the current season, if two or more teams were equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria were applied to determine the rankings:

higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among the teams in question;
superior goal difference from the group matches played among the teams in question;
higher number of goals scored away from home in the group matches played among the teams in question;
superior goal difference from all group matches played;
higher number of goals scored in all group matches played;
higher number of coefficient points accumulated by the club in question, as well as its association, over the previous five seasons.

Groups

Times are CET/CEST, as listed by UEFA (local times are in parentheses).

Group A

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Group B

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Group C

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Group D

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Group E

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Group F

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Group G

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Group H

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References

Web site: Result of the draw . 28 August 2008 . 28 August 2008 . UEFA . https://web.archive.org/web/20080913060143/http://www.uefa.com/multimediafiles/download/competitions/ucl/74/33/44/743344_download.pdf . 13 September 2008 . live .

Notes and References

Web site: Club coefficients 2008. UEFA.
Web site: Europe's finest set for group stage draw . UEFA. 28 August 2008.