The group stage of the 1997–98 UEFA Champions League began on 17 September 1997 and ended on 10 December 1997. Eight teams qualified automatically for the group stage, while 16 more qualified via a preliminary round. The 24 teams were divided into six groups of four, and the teams in each group played against each other on a home-and-away basis, meaning that each team played a total of six group matches. For each win, teams were awarded three points, with one point awarded for each draw.
Seeding Seeding was based on the UEFA associations 1997 ranking. Title holders and champions of nations ranked 1–5 were put in the Pot 1. Champions of nations ranked 6–7 as well as runners-up of nations ranked 1–4 formed Pot 2. The remaining qualified runners-up (from the nations 5–8) and champions of nations ranked 8–9 formed Pot 3. The remaining six national champions formed Pot 4.
Key to colours in group tablesGroup winners and best-ranked runners-up advance to the knockout stage
Pot 1 Team TH Borussia Dortmund1 Juventus2 Real Madrid3 Monaco4 Bayern Munich5 PSV EindhovenPot 2 Team 6 Porto7 Manchester United1 Parma2 Barcelona3 Paris Saint-Germain4 Bayer LeverkusenPot 3 Team 5 Feyenoord6 Sporting CP 7 Newcastle United8 Galatasaray8 Beşiktaş9 Olympiacos Pot 4 Team 12 Lierse 14 IFK Göteborg15 Rosenborg16 Sparta Prague22 Dynamo Kyiv27 Košice
Groups Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Group E
Group F
Ranking of second-placed teams
References