The 2017–18 UEFA Champions League was the 63rd season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 26th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League.
The final was played between Real Madrid and Liverpool at the NSC Olimpiyskiy in Kyiv, Ukraine. Real Madrid beat Liverpool 3-1 to win a record-extending 13th title, their third title in a row and fourth in five seasons. It was also the fifth and final consecutive year that a Spanish club won the competition.
As winners, Real Madrid qualified as the UEFA representative for the 2018 FIFA Club World Cup in the United Arab Emirates, and also earned the right to play against the winners of the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League, Atlético Madrid, in the 2018 UEFA Super Cup, winning the former. Additionally, they would have been automatically qualified for the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League group stage, but since they had already qualified through their league performance, the berth reserved was given to the champions of the 2017–18 Czech First League, the 11th-ranked association according to the 2018–19 access list.
Association team allocation 79 teams from 54 of the 55 UEFA member associations participated (the exception being Liechtenstein, which did not organise a domestic league). The association ranking based on the UEFA country coefficients was used to determine the number of participating teams for each association: Associations 1–3 each had four teams qualify. Associations 4–6 each had three teams qualify. Associations 7–15 each had two teams qualify. Associations 16–55 (except Liechtenstein) each had one team qualify. The winners of the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League and 2016–17 UEFA Europa League were each given an additional entry if they did not qualify for the 2017–18 UEFA Champions League through their domestic league. Because a maximum of five teams from one association could enter the Champions League, if both the Champions League title holders and the Europa League title holders were from the same top three ranked association and finished outside the top four of their domestic league, the fourth-placed team of their association was moved to the Europa League. For this season: The winners of the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League, Real Madrid, qualified through their domestic league, meaning the additional entry for the Champions League title holders was not necessary. The winners of the 2016–17 UEFA Europa League, Manchester United, did not qualify through their domestic league, meaning the additional entry for the Europa League title holders was necessary.
Kosovo, who became a UEFA member on 3 May 2016, made their debut in the UEFA Champions League.
Association ranking For the 2017–18 UEFA Champions League, the associations were allocated places according to their 2016 UEFA country coefficients, which took into account their performance in European competitions from 2011–12 to 2015–16.
Apart from the allocation based on the country coefficients, associations could have additional teams participating in the Champions League, as noted below: – Additional berth for UEFA Europa League title holders
RankAssociationCoeff.TeamsNotes1105.7134280.177376.284470.4393553.082652.749751.0822844.883940.0001035.5631134.6001233.7751332.9251429.7001525.3831625.10011723.8751822.5001922.175RankAssociationCoeff.TeamsNotes2020.00012119.8752219.2502318.6252418.6002517.3002614.8752714.6252814.1252913.1253013.1253112.0003210.5000339.8751349.125358.750368.125377.400RankAssociationCoeff.TeamsNotes387.1251396.625406.000415.450425.375435.250444.875454.625464.500474.250484.125493.625503.583513.500521.000530.999540.333550.000
Distribution In the default access list, the Champions League title holders entered the group stage. However, since Real Madrid already qualified for the group stage (as the champions of the 2016–17 La Liga), the Champions League title holders berth in the group stage was given to the Europa League title holders, Manchester United. and the following changes to the default allocation system are made:
The third-placed teams of associations 4 (Italy) and 5 (Portugal) are promoted from the third qualifying round to the play-off round.
Teams entering in this roundTeams advancing from previous roundFirst qualifying round(10 teams)10 champions from associations 46–55Second qualifying round(34 teams)29 champions from associations 16–45 (except Liechtenstein)5 winners from the first qualifying roundThird qualifying roundChampions Route(20 teams)3 champions from associations 13–1517 winners from the second qualifying roundLeague Route(10 teams)9 runners-up from associations 7–15 1 third-placed team from association 6Play-off roundChampions Route(10 teams)10 winners from the third qualifying round (Champions Route)League Route(10 teams)2 third-placed teams from associations 4–5 3 fourth-placed teams from associations 1–35 winners from the third qualifying round (League Route)Group stage(32 teams)Europa League title holders 12 champions from associations 1–12 6 runners-up from associations 1–6 3 third-placed teams from associations 1–35 winners from the play-off round (Champions Route) 5 winners from the play-off round (League Route)Knockout phase(16 teams)8 group winners from the group stage 8 group runners-up from the group stage
Teams League positions of the previous season qualified via league position shown in parentheses. Manchester United qualified as Europa League title holders. (TH: Champions League title holders; EL: Europa League title holders).
Group stage Real Madrid TH Chelsea Benfica Anderlecht Barcelona Tottenham Hotspur Porto Feyenoord Atlético Madrid Manchester City Monaco Beşiktaş Bayern Munich Manchester United Paris Saint-Germain Basel RB Leipzig Juventus Spartak Moscow Borussia Dortmund Roma Shakhtar Donetsk Play-off round Sevilla Liverpool Sporting CP TSG Hoffenheim Napoli Third qualifying round Slavia Prague Nice Ajax AEK Athens Olympiacos CSKA Moscow İstanbul Başakşehir FCSB Viitorul Constanța Dynamo Kyiv Young Boys Club Brugge Viktoria Plzeň Second qualifying round Red Bull Salzburg Copenhagen Honvéd Dundalk Rijeka Celtic Sheriff Tiraspol Spartaks Jūrmala Legia Warsaw Qarabağ FH F91 Dudelange APOEL Partizan Samtredia Budućnost Podgorica BATE Borisov Astana Mariehamn Žalgiris Malmö FF Ludogorets Razgrad Zrinjski Mostar Rosenborg Maribor Kukësi Hapoel Be'er Sheva Žilina Vardar First qualifying round Linfield Víkingur Gøta Europa Trepça '89 FCI Tallinn Hibernians FC Santa Coloma Alashkert The New Saints La Fiorita
Round and draw dates The schedule of the competition was as follows (all draws were held at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, unless stated otherwise).
PhaseRoundDraw dateFirst legSecond legQualifyingFirst qualifying round19 June 201727–28 June 20174–5 July 2017Second qualifying round11–12 July 201718–19 July 2017Third qualifying round14 July 201725–26 July 20171–2 August 2017Play-offPlay-off round4 August 201715–16 August 201722–23 August 2017Group stageMatchday 124 August 2017(Monaco)12–13 September 2017Matchday 226–27 September 2017Matchday 317–18 October 2017Matchday 431 October – 1 November 2017Matchday 521–22 November 2017Matchday 65–6 December 2017Knockout phaseRound of 1611 December 201713–14 & 20–21 February 20186–7 & 13–14 March 2018Quarter-finals16 March 20183–4 April 201810–11 April 2018Semi-finals13 April 201824–25 April 20181–2 May 2018Final26 May 2018 at NSC Olimpiyskiy, Kyiv
Qualifying rounds
In the qualifying rounds and the play-off round, teams were divided into seeded and unseeded teams based on their 2017 UEFA club coefficients, and then drawn into two-legged home-and-away ties. Teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other.
First qualifying round
Second qualifying round
Third qualifying round
Play-off round
Group stage
The draw for the group stage was held on 24 August 2017, 18:00 CEST, at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco. The 32 teams were drawn into eight groups of four, with the restriction that teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other. For the draw, the teams were seeded into four pots based on the following principles (introduced starting 2015–16 season): Pot 1 contained the title holders and the champions of the top seven associations based on their 2016 UEFA country coefficients. As the title holders, Real Madrid, were one of the champions of the top seven associations, the champions of the association ranked eighth (Ukraine's Shakhtar Donetsk) were also seeded into Pot 1 (regulations Article 13.05). Pot 2, 3 and 4 contained the remaining teams, seeded based on their 2017 UEFA club coefficients.
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 2017–18 UEFA Europa League round of 32. The matchdays were 12–13 September, 26–27 September, 17–18 October, 31 October – 1 November, 21–22 November, and 5–6 December 2017.
The youth teams of the clubs that qualified for the group stage also participated in the 2017–18 UEFA Youth League on the same matchdays, where they competed in the UEFA Champions League Path (the youth domestic champions of the top 32 associations competed in a separate Domestic Champions Path until the play-offs).
Seventeen national associations were represented in the group stage. Qarabağ and RB Leipzig made their debut appearances in the group stage. Qarabağ were the first team from Azerbaijan to play in the Champions League group stage. For the first time since the 1997–98 edition, England's Arsenal did not qualify for the group stage.
Tiebreakers
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Group E
Group F
Group G
Group H
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. The mechanism of the draws for each round was as follows: In the draw for the round of 16, the eight group winners were seeded, and the eight group runners-up were unseeded. The seeded teams were drawn against the unseeded teams, with the seeded teams hosting the second leg. Teams from the same group or the same association could not be drawn against each other. In the draws for the quarter-finals onwards, there were no seedings, and teams from the same group or the same association could be drawn against each other.
Bracket
Round of 16
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
Statistics Statistics exclude qualifying rounds and play-off round.
Top goalscorers
RankPlayerTeamGoalsMinutes played1 Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid1511702 Mohamed Salah Liverpool10930 Sadio Mané Liverpool940 Roberto Firmino Liverpool10565 Wissam Ben Yedder Sevilla8651 Edin Džeko Roma10787 Harry Kane Tottenham Hotspur7597 Edinson Cavani Paris Saint-Germain6809 Neymar Paris Saint-Germain6630 Lionel Messi Barcelona783
Squad of the season The UEFA technical study group selected the following 18 players as the squad of the tournament.
PlayerTeam Keylor Navas Real Madrid Alisson Roma Joshua Kimmich Bayern Munich Sergio Ramos Real Madrid Marcelo Real Madrid Giorgio Chiellini Juventus Virgil van Dijk Liverpool Raphaël Varane Real Madrid Kevin De Bruyne Manchester City Casemiro Real Madrid Luka Modrić Real Madrid Toni Kroos Real Madrid James Rodríguez Bayern Munich Edin Džeko Roma Roberto Firmino Liverpool Lionel Messi Barcelona Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid Mohamed Salah Liverpool
Players of the season