The group stage of the 2013–14 UEFA Champions League was played from 17 September to 11 December 2013. A total of 32 teams competed in the group stage.[1]
The draw was held on 29 August 2013, 17:45 CEST (UTC+2), at the Grimaldi Forum, Monaco.[2] 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 were decided after the draw. On each matchday, four groups played their matches on Tuesday, while the other four groups played their matches on Wednesday, with the two sets of groups (A–D, E–H) alternating between each matchday. There were other restrictions, e.g., teams from the same city (e.g., Chelsea and Arsenal, Manchester United and Manchester City, Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid) in general did not play at home on the same matchday (UEFA tried to avoid teams from the same city playing at home on the same day or on consecutive days), and Russian teams did not play at home on the last matchday due to cold weather.
Below were the 32 teams which qualified for the group stage (with their 2013 UEFA club coefficients),[3] grouped by their seeding pot.[4] [5] They included 22 teams which entered in this stage, and the 10 winners of the play-off round (5 in Champions Route, 5 in League Route).
| Key to colours in group tables | |
|---|---|
| Group winners and runners-up advanced to the round of 16 | |
| Third-placed teams entered the Europa League round of 32 |
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In each group, teams played against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The group winners and runners-up advanced to the round of 16, while the third-placed teams entered the Europa League round of 32.[1]
The teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria are applied to determine the rankings:[1]
The matchdays were 17–18 September, 1–2 October, 22–23 October, 5–6 November, 26–27 November, and 10–11 December 2013.[6] The match kickoff times were 20:45 CEST/CET, except for matches in Russia which were 18:00 CEST/CET.[7]
Times are CET/CEST, as listed by UEFA (local times are in parentheses).
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--------------------The match was abandoned after 31 minutes due to heavy snow, and was resumed on 11 December 2013, 14:00, from the point of abandonment.[8]
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