The 2008–09 UEFA Champions League group stage matches took place between 16 September and 10 December 2008.
Teams Seeding was determined by the UEFA coefficients: 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.
Group winners and runners-up advanced to the round of 16Third-placed teams entered the UEFA Cup at the round of 32
+Pot 1TeamNotes Manchester United 107.996 Chelsea 124.996 Liverpool 118.996 Barcelona 117.837 Arsenal 110.996 Lyon 99.380 Internazionale 96.934 Real Madrid 93.837 +Pot 2TeamNotes Bayern Munich 92.078 PSV Eindhoven 91.610 Villarreal 90.837 Roma 81.934 Porto 81.176 Werder Bremen 74.078 Sporting CP 70.271 Juventus 66.934 +Pot 3TeamNotes Marseille 63.380 Zenit Saint Petersburg 60.437 Steaua București 59.398 Panathinaikos 52.525 Bordeaux 52.380 Celtic 52.013 Basel 51.993 Fenerbahçe 51.469 +Pot 4TeamNotes Shakhtar Donetsk 49.932 Fiorentina 40.934 Atlético Madrid 36.837 Dynamo Kyiv 34.932 CFR Cluj 13.398 AaB 12.748 Anorthosis Famagusta 4.327 BATE Borisov 1.760
Notes
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 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, if different, are in parentheses).
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Group E
Group F
Group G
Group H
Notes
References