The 2020–21 UEFA Champions League was the 66th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 29th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League.
Chelsea defeated Manchester City 1–0 in the final, which was played at the Estádio do Dragão in Porto, Portugal, for their second European Cup title. The Atatürk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul, Turkey, was originally appointed to host the 2020 UEFA Champions League Final, but it was moved due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe to the Estádio da Luz in Lisbon. Istanbul was again appointed to host the final of the 2021 edition, but was eventually moved to Estádio do Dragão after Turkey was placed on the United Kingdom's red list for tourists and hosting it in England was ruled out.
Bayern Munich were the defending champions, but they were eliminated in the quarter-finals by Paris Saint-Germain, whom they had beaten in the previous year's final. As the winners of the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League, Chelsea played against Villarreal, the winners of the 2020–21 UEFA Europa League, in the 2021 UEFA Super Cup. They were also the European entry for the 2021 FIFA Club World Cup. Since they had already qualified to the 2021–22 UEFA Champions League group stage through their league performance, the berth originally reserved for the Champions League title holders has been transferred to the Champions of the 2020–21 Süper Lig, Beşiktaş, the 11th ranked association according to the next season access-list.
The 2020–21 season was the last season of UEFA European club competitions to feature the away goals rule.
Association team allocation A total of 79 teams from 54 of the 55 UEFA member associations participate in the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League (the exception being Liechtenstein, which does not organise a domestic league). The association ranking based on the UEFA country coefficients is used to determine the number of participating teams for each association: Associations 1–4 each have four teams qualify. Associations 5–6 each have three teams qualify. Associations 7–15 each have two teams qualify. Associations 16–55 (except Liechtenstein) each have one team qualify. The winners of the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League and 2019–20 UEFA Europa League are each given an additional entry if they do not qualify for the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League through their domestic leagues. However, the Champions League and Europa League title holders have qualified through their domestic leagues, meaning the two additional entries are not necessary for this season.
Association ranking For the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League, the associations are allocated places according to their 2019 UEFA country coefficients, which takes into account their performance in European competitions from 2014–15 to 2018–19.
Apart from the allocation based on the country coefficients, associations may have additional teams participating in the Champions League, as noted below: – Additional berth for UEFA Champions League title holders – Additional berth for UEFA Europa League title holders
+Association ranking for 2020–21 UEFA Champions League Rank Association Coeff. Teams Notes 1 103.569 4 2 85.462 3 74.725 4 71.927 5 58.498 3 6 50.549 7 48.232 2 8 39.900 9 38.900 10 34.600 11 32.433 12 31.250 13 28.675 14 27.600 15 27.375 16 27.025 1 17 26.900 18 24.925 19 22.250 Rank Association Coeff. Teams Notes 20 22.125 1 21 21.875 22 20.900 23 20.200 24 19.250 25 19.250 26 19.000 27 18.625 28 17.500 29 15.950 30 15.625 31 15.000 32 13.500 0 33 10.500 1 34 8.000 35 7.750 36 7.500 37 7.450 38 7.275 Rank Association Coeff. Teams Notes 39 7.250 1 40 7.125 41 6.750 42 5.625 43 5.500 44 5.250 45 5.125 46 5.000 47 4.750 48 4.125 49 4.125 50 4.000 51 4.000 52 3.875 53 2.500 54 1.831 55 0.666
Distribution The following is the access list for this season.
+Access list for 2020–21 UEFA Champions LeagueTeams entering in this roundTeams advancing from previous roundPreliminary round(4 teams)4 champions from associations 52–55First qualifying round(34 teams)33 champions from associations 18–51 (except Liechtenstein)1 winner from preliminary roundSecond qualifying roundChampions Path(20 teams)3 champions from associations 15–1717 winners from first qualifying roundLeague Path(6 teams)6 runners-up from associations 10–15Third qualifying roundChampions Path(10 teams)10 winners from second qualifying round (Champions Path)League Path(6 teams)3 runners-up from associations 7–93 winners from second qualifying round (League Path)Play-off roundChampions Path(8 teams)3 champions from associations 12–145 winners from third qualifying round (Champions Path)League Path(4 teams)1 third-placed team from association 63 winners from third qualifying round (League Path)Group stage(32 teams)11 champions from associations 1–11 6 runners-up from associations 1–6 5 third-placed teams from associations 1–5 4 fourth-placed teams from associations 1–44 winners from play-off round (Champions Path) 2 winners from play-off round (League Path)Knockout phase(16 teams)8 group winners from group stage 8 group runners-up from group stage
Changes were made to the default access list since the Champions League title holders, Bayern Munich, and the Europa League title holders, Sevilla, which were guaranteed berths in the Champions League group stage, already qualified for the Champions League group stage via their domestic leagues. However, as a result of schedule delays to both the 2019–20 and 2020–21 European seasons due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020–21 European season started before the conclusion of the 2019–20 European season. Therefore, the changes to the access list that should be made based on the Champions League and Europa League title holders could not be certain until matches of the earlier qualifying rounds had been played and/or their draws had been made. UEFA used "adaptive re-balancing" to change the access list once the berths for the Champions League and Europa League title holders were determined, and rounds which had already been drawn or played by the time the title holders were determined would not be impacted (Regulations Article 3.04). The following changes were made: At the time when the draws for the first qualifying round and second qualifying round (Champions Path) were held on 9 and 10 August 2020, it was not certain whether the Champions League title holder berth would be vacated as one of the eight quarter-finalists of the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League, Lyon, did not qualify for the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League group stage via their domestic league. Therefore, these draws proceeded as normal per the default access list, and the matches drawn, which were played on 18–19 and 25–26 August 2020, were not changed even though after the semi-finals of the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League, which were played on 18–19 August 2020, it was confirmed both finalists, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain, already qualified for the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League group stage via their domestic leagues, meaning the Champions League title holder berth would be vacated. As a result, "adaptive re-balancing" started from the third qualifying round (Champions Path), whose draw was held on 31 August 2020, and the following changes to the access list were made: The champions of association 11 (Netherlands), Ajax, entered the group stage instead of the play-off round (Champions Path). The champions of associations 13 and 14 (Czech Republic and Greece), Slavia Prague and Olympiacos, entered the play-off round (Champions Path) instead of the third qualifying round (Champions Path). At the time when the draw for the second qualifying round (League Path) was held on 10 August 2020, it was not certain whether the Europa League title holder berth would be vacated as four of the quarter-finalists of the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Bayer Leverkusen, Copenhagen and Basel, did not qualify for the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League group stage via their domestic leagues. Therefore, this draw proceeded as normal per the default access list, and the matches drawn, which were played on 25–26 August 2020, were not changed even though after the quarter-finals of the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League, which were played on 10–11 August 2020, it was confirmed all four semi-finalists, Sevilla, Manchester United, Internazionale and Shakhtar Donetsk, already qualified for the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League group stage via their domestic leagues, meaning the Europa League title holder berth would be vacated. As a result, "adaptive re-balancing" started from the third qualifying round (League Path), whose draw was held on 31 August 2020, and the following changes to the access list were made: The third-placed team of association 5 (France), Rennes, entered the group stage instead of the third qualifying round (League Path). The third-placed team of association 6 (Russia), Krasnodar, entered the play-off round (League Path) instead of the third qualifying round (League Path).
Teams
In early April 2020, UEFA announced that due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, the deadline for entering the tournament had been postponed until further notice. UEFA also sent a letter to all member associations that domestic leagues must be completed in full without ending prematurely in order to qualify for European competitions. After meeting with the 55 UEFA associations on 21 April 2020, UEFA strongly recommended them to finish domestic top league and cup competitions, although in some special cases where it is not possible, UEFA would develop guidelines concerning participation in its club competitions in case of a cancelled league or cup. After the UEFA Executive Committee meeting on 23 April 2020, UEFA announced that if a domestic competition is prematurely terminated for legitimate reasons in accordance with conditions related to public health or economic problems, the national associations concerned are required to select their participating teams for the 2020–21 UEFA club competitions based on sporting merit in the 2019–20 domestic competitions, and UEFA reserves the right to refuse their admission if UEFA deems the termination of the competitions not legitimate, or the selection procedure not objective, transparent and non-discriminatory, or the team is perceived by the public as qualifying unfairly. A suspended domestic competition may also be restarted with a different format from the original one in a manner which would still facilitate qualification on sporting merit. All leagues should communicate to UEFA by 25 May 2020 whether they intend to restart their competitions, but this deadline was later extended. On 17 June 2020, UEFA announced that associations must enter their teams by 3 August 2020.
The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round: TH: Champions League title holders EL: Europa League title holders 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc.: League positions of the previous season Abd-: League positions of abandoned season due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe as determined by the national association; all teams are subject to approval by UEFA as per the guidelines for entry to European competitions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The second qualifying round, third qualifying round and play-off round are divided into Champions Path (CH) and League Path (LP).