2023–24 UEFA Champions League explained

Tourney Name:UEFA Champions League
Year:2023–24
Size:275px
Num Teams:Competition proper: 32
Total: 78
Associations:53
Champion Other: Real Madrid
Count:15
Second Other: Borussia Dortmund
Matches:125
Goals:375
Player: Vinícius Júnior (Real Madrid)
Young Player: Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid)
Prevseason:2022–23
Nextseason:2024–25

The 2023–24 UEFA Champions League was the 69th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 32nd season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League.

Real Madrid defeated Borussia Dortmund 2–0 in the final, which was played at the Wembley Stadium in London, England,[1] for a record-extending 15th European Cup title, and their sixth in eleven years.[2] As winners, Real Madrid earned the right to play against Atalanta, the winners of the 2023–24 UEFA Europa League, in the 2024 UEFA Super Cup. They also qualified for the final of the brand-new 2024 FIFA Intercontinental Cup and the expanded 2025 FIFA Club World Cup in the United States.

This was the final season with the current format of 32 teams participating in the group stage, following UEFA's announcement of a new expanded format to be introduced for the following edition.[3]

Manchester City were the defending champions, but were eliminated by eventual winners Real Madrid in the quarter-finals.

Association team allocation

A total of 78 teams from 53 of the 55 UEFA member associations participated in the 2023–24 UEFA Champions League (the exceptions being Liechtenstein, which did not organise a domestic league, and Russia). The association ranking based on the UEFA association coefficients was used to determine the number of participating teams for each association:[4]

Association ranking

For the 2023–24 UEFA Champions League, the associations were allocated places according to their 2022 UEFA association coefficients, which took into account their performance in European competitions from 2017–18 to 2021–22.[5] The team allocation reflected Russia's ongoing suspension from UEFA competitions.

Apart from the allocation based on the association coefficients, associations could have additional teams (a maximum of 5 per association) participating in the Champions League, as noted below:

Association ranking for 2023–24 UEFA Champions League
RankAssociationCoeff.TeamsNotes
1106.641align=center rowspan=44
296.141
376.902
475.213
560.0813
653.382
749.3002
838.850
936.900
1034.4820
1133.375align=center rowspan=52
1231.800
1330.600
1429.675
1528.200
1627.800align=center rowspan=41
1727.250
1827.175
1927.150
RankAssociationCoeff.TeamsNotes
2027.100align=center rowspan=191
2126.375
2224.375
2322.875
2419.500
2517.150
2617.000
2716.375
2815.875
2915.750
3015.625
3115.000
3212.500
3311.250
3410.000
359.125
368.875
378.750
388.625
RankAssociationCoeff.TeamsNotes
398.1661
408.125
418.125
428.083
438.000
447.250
457.041
467.000
477.000
487.000
496.5000
505.5001
515.416
525.375
534.875
544.665
551.332

Distribution

The following is the default access list for the 2023–24 season.[6]

Access list for 2023–24 UEFA Champions League
Teams entering in this roundTeams advancing from previous round
Preliminary round
(4 teams)
  • 4 champions from associations 52–55
First qualifying round
(30 teams)
  • 29 champions from associations 22–51 (except Liechtenstein)
  • 1 winner from the preliminary round
Second qualifying round
(24 teams)
Champions Path
(20 teams)
  • 5 champions from associations 17–21
  • 15 winners from the first qualifying round
League Path
(4 teams)
  • 4 runners-up from associations 12–15
Third qualifying round
(20 teams)
Champions Path
(12 teams)
  • 2 champions from associations 15–16
  • 10 winners from the second qualifying round (Champions Path)
League Path
(8 teams)
  • 4 runners-up from associations 7–11 (except Russia)
  • 2 third-placed teams from associations 5–6
  • 2 winners from the second qualifying round (League Path)
Play-off round
(12 teams)
Champions Path
(8 teams)
  • 2 champions from associations 13–14
  • 6 winners from the third qualifying round (Champions Path)
League Path
(4 teams)
  • 4 winners from the third qualifying round (League Path)
Group stage
(32 teams)
  • Europa League title holder
  • 11 champions from associations 1–12 (except Russia)
  • 6 runners-up from associations 1–6
  • 4 third-placed teams from associations 1–4
  • 4 fourth-placed teams from associations 1–4
  • 4 winners from the play-off round (Champions Path)
  • 2 winners from the play-off round (League Path)
Knockout phase
(16 teams)
  • 8 group winners from the group stage
  • 8 group runners-up from the group stage

Due to the suspension of Russia for the 2023–24 European season, the following changes to the access list were made:

Since the Champions League title holders (Manchester City) qualified via their domestic league, the following changes to the access list were made:

Teams

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).

Notes

Schedule

The schedule of the competition was as follows.[7] [8] [9] All matches were played on Tuesdays and Wednesdays apart from the preliminary round final and the final.

Schedule for 2023–24 UEFA Champions League
PhaseRoundDraw dateFirst legSecond leg
QualifyingPreliminary round13 June 202327 June 2023 (semi-finals)30 June 2023 (final)
First qualifying round20 June 202311–12 July 202318–19 July 2023
Second qualifying round21 June 202325–26 July 20231–2 August 2023
Third qualifying round24 July 20238–9 & 15 August 202315 & 19 August 2023
Play-offsPlay-off round7 August 202322–23 August 202329–30 August 2023
Group stageMatchday 131 August 202319–20 September 2023
Matchday 23–4 October 2023
Matchday 324–25 October 2023
Matchday 47–8 November 2023
Matchday 528–29 November 2023
Matchday 612–13 December 2023
Knockout phaseRound of 1618 December 202313–14 & 20–21 February 20245–6 & 12–13 March 2024
Quarter-finals15 March 20249–10 April 202416–17 April 2024
Semi-finals30 April – 1 May 20247–8 May 2024
Final1 June 2024 at Wembley Stadium, London

Qualifying rounds

Third qualifying round

Group stage

See main article: 2023–24 UEFA Champions League group stage.

The group stage draw for the 2023–24 UEFA Champions League took place at the Grimaldi Forum, Monaco, on 31 August at . 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 could not be drawn into the same group.

Union Berlin and Antwerp made their debut appearances in the group stage.

A total of 15 national associations were represented in the group stage.

Group H

Knockout phase

See main article: 2023–24 UEFA Champions League knockout phase.

In the knockout phase, teams played against each other over two legs on a home-and-away basis, except for the one-match final.

Final

Statistics

Statistics exclude qualifying rounds and play-off round.

Top goalscorers

Rank[11] PlayerTeamGoalsMinutes played
1 Harry Kane Bayern Munich81064
Kylian Mbappé Paris Saint-Germain1080
3 Erling Haaland Manchester City6778
Antoine Griezmann Atlético Madrid821
Vinícius Júnior Real Madrid901
6 Joselu Real Madrid5273
Julián Álvarez Manchester City279
Rasmus Højlund Manchester United489
Galeno Porto651
Álvaro Morata Atlético Madrid667
Phil Foden Manchester City684
Rodrygo Real Madrid1021

Team of the Season

The UEFA technical study group selected the following players as the team of the tournament.[12]

PlayerTeam
Gregor Kobel Borussia Dortmund
Dani Carvajal Real Madrid
Antonio Rüdiger Real Madrid
Mats Hummels Borussia Dortmund
Ian Maatsen Borussia Dortmund
Marcel Sabitzer Borussia Dortmund
Vitinha Paris Saint-Germain
Jude Bellingham Real Madrid
Phil Foden Manchester City
Harry Kane Bayern Munich
Vinícius Júnior Real Madrid

Player of the Season

Young Player of the Season

See also

Notes and References

  1. News: Champions League final hosts for 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024. UEFA. 24 September 2019. 27 July 2022.
  2. News: Real Madrid win Champions League: Carvajal and Vinícius Júnior see off Dortmund. UEFA. 1 June 2024. 1 June 2024.
  3. Web site: UEFA approves final format and access list for its club competitions as of the 2024/25 season . UEFA.com . 10 May 2022 . 21 April 2023.
  4. Web site: Regulations of the UEFA Champions League, 2023/24 Season. UEFA. Nyon. 2023 . 28 June 2023.
  5. Web site: Association coefficients 2021/22 . UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations . 27 July 2022. 27 July 2022.
  6. Web site: Access list 2021–24 . UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations . 16 February 2020 . 4 December 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20181204074949/https://www.uefa.com/MultimediaFiles/Download/uefaorg/General/02/58/61/42/2586142_DOWNLOAD.pdf . live .
  7. Web site: 2023/24 UEFA Champions League: Matches, final, key dates . . 1 November 2022 . 1 January 2023.
  8. International match calendar and access list for the 2023/24 season . 65/2022 . UEFA Circular Letter . . 26 September 2022 . 27 September 2022.
  9. Web site: 2023 European football calendar: Match and draw dates for all UEFA competitions . . 20 December 2022 . 1 January 2023.
  10. Web site: Club coefficients UEFA Coefficients . UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations . 2023 . 29 August 2023.
  11. Web site: UEFA Champions League – Top Scorers. UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 1 June 2024.
  12. News: 2023/24 UEFA Champions League Team of the Season. UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations. 3 June 2024. 3 June 2024.
  13. News: 3 June 2024. Vinícius Júnior named 2023/24 UEFA Champions League Player of the Season. 3 June 2024. UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations.
  14. News: 3 June 2024. Jude Bellingham named 2023/24 UEFA Champions League Young Player of the Season. 3 June 2024. UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations.