The 2021–22 UEFA Champions League was the 67th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 30th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League.
Real Madrid defeated Liverpool 1–0 in the final, which was played at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, France, for a record-extending 14th European Cup title, and their fifth in nine years. It was originally scheduled to be played at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany. However, due to the postponement and relocation of the 2020 final, the hosts were shifted back a year, with Saint Petersburg, Russia scheduled to host the 2022 final. The final was eventually moved to Saint-Denis, due to the war in Ukraine. As the winners, Real Madrid automatically qualified for the 2022–23 UEFA Champions League group stage, as well as earning the right to play against the winners of the 2021–22 UEFA Europa League, Eintracht Frankfurt, in the 2022 UEFA Super Cup and participate in the 2022 FIFA Club World Cup, both of which they went on to win.
Chelsea were the defending champions, but they were eliminated in the quarter-finals by eventual winners Real Madrid.
This season was the first since 1999–2000 (the first season after the dissolution of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup) where three major European club competitions (UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, and the newly created UEFA Europa Conference League) are organised by UEFA. No changes were made to the format of the Champions League, but teams that were eliminated from the preliminary round and first qualifying round of the Champions League were now transferred to the Europa Conference League instead of the Europa League.
On 24 June 2021, UEFA approved the proposal to abolish the away goals rule in all UEFA club competitions, which had been used since 1965. Accordingly, if in a two-legged tie two teams scored the same number of aggregate goals, the winner of the tie would not be decided by the number of away goals scored by each team but always by 30 minutes of extra time, and if the two teams scored the same number of goals in extra time, the winner would be decided by a penalty shoot-out.
Association team allocation A total of 80 teams from 54 of the 55 UEFA member associations participated in the 2021–22 UEFA Champions League (the exception being Liechtenstein, which did not organise a domestic league). The association ranking based on the UEFA association coefficients was used to determine the number of participating teams for each association: Associations 1–4 each had four teams qualify. Associations 5–6 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 2020–21 UEFA Champions League and 2020–21 UEFA Europa League were each given an additional entry if they did not qualify for the 2021–22 UEFA Champions League through their own domestic league. (As Chelsea, the Champions League title holders, did qualify through their own domestic league this season, the additional entry for the Champions League title holders was re-allocated.)
Association ranking For the 2021–22 UEFA Champions League, the associations were allocated places according to their 2020 UEFA association coefficients, which took into account their performance in European competitions from 2015–16 to 2019–20.
Apart from the allocation based on the association coefficients, associations could have additional teams participating in the Champions League, as noted below: – Additional berth for UEFA Europa League title holders
+Association ranking for 2021–22 UEFA Champions LeagueRankAssociationCoeff.TeamsNotes1102.2834290.462374.784470.653559.2483649.449745.5492837.900936.1001035.7501133.6001232.9251329.2501427.8751527.3001626.75011726.4001826.3001925.500RankAssociationCoeff.TeamsNotes2024.87512122.7502221.7502319.6252419.2502518.8752618.7502717.3752816.7002916.6253015.8753113.50003213.00013312.875348.000357.875367.625377.625RankAssociationCoeff.TeamsNotes387.3751397.375406.875416.750426.700436.500445.750455.750465.375475.000484.875494.750504.375514.375524.000533.750542.831550.666
Distribution The following is the access list for this season. As the Champions League title holders, Chelsea, which were guaranteed a berth in the Champions League group stage, already qualified via their domestic league (as fourth place in the 2020-21 Premier League), the following changes to the access list were made: The champions of association 11 (Turkey) enter the group stage instead of the play-off round (Champions Path). The champions of association 13 (Denmark) enter the play-off round instead of the third qualifying round (Champions Path). The champions of association 15 (Czech Republic) enter the third qualifying round instead of the second qualifying round (Champions Path). The champions of associations 18 (Greece) and 19 (Serbia) enter the second qualifying round instead of the first qualifying round (Champions Path).
+Access list for 2021–22 UEFA Champions LeagueTeams entering in this roundTeams advancing from previous roundPreliminary round(4 teams)4 champions from associations 52–55First qualifying round(32 teams)31 champions from associations 20–51 (except Liechtenstein)1 winner from the preliminary roundSecond qualifying round(26 teams) Champions Path(20 teams)4 champions from associations 16–1916 winners from the first qualifying roundLeague Path(6 teams)6 runners-up from associations 10–15Third qualifying round(20 teams)Champions Path(12 teams)2 champions from associations 14–1510 winners from the second qualifying round (Champions Path)League Path(8 teams)3 runners-up from associations 7–9 2 third-placed teams from associations 5–63 winners from the second qualifying round (League Path)Play-off round(12 teams)Champions Path(8 teams)2 champions from associations 12–136 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 holders 11 champions from associations 1–11 6 runners-up from associations 1–6 4 third-placed teams from associations 1–4 4 fourth-placed teams from associations 1–44 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
Teams 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 were 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 were divided into Champions Path (CH) and League Path (LP).
+Qualified teams for 2021–22 UEFA Champions LeagueEntry roundTeamsGroup stage Chelsea TH Villarreal Atlético Madrid Real Madrid Barcelona Sevilla Manchester City Manchester United Liverpool Bayern Munich RB Leipzig Borussia Dortmund VfL Wolfsburg Inter Milan Milan Atalanta Juventus Lille Paris Saint-Germain Sporting CP Porto Zenit Saint Petersburg Club Brugge Dynamo Kyiv Ajax Beşiktaş Play-off round Red Bull Salzburg Brøndby Third qualifying round Rangers Slavia Prague Monaco Benfica Spartak Moscow Genk Shakhtar Donetsk Second qualifying round Omonia Young Boys Olympiacos Red Star Belgrade PSV Eindhoven Galatasaray Rapid Wien Midtjylland Celtic Sparta Prague First qualifying round Dinamo Zagreb Malmö FF Bodø/Glimt Maccabi Haifa Kairat Shakhtyor Soligorsk Neftçi Ludogorets Razgrad CFR Cluj Legia Warsaw Slovan Bratislava Mura Ferencváros Fola Esch Žalgiris Alashkert Riga Teuta Shkëndija Borac Banja Luka Sheriff Tiraspol Shamrock Rovers HJK Dinamo Tbilisi Hibernians Valur Connah's Quay Nomads Linfield Lincoln Red Imps Budućnost Podgorica Flora Preliminary round Prishtina HB Inter Club d'Escaldes Folgore Notes
Schedule All matches were played on Tuesdays and Wednesdays apart from the preliminary round final, which was played on a Friday, and the final, which was played on a Saturday. The third qualifying round second legs were only played on a Tuesday due to the 2021 UEFA Super Cup on the following Wednesday. Scheduled kick-off times starting from the play-off round were 18:45 (instead of 18:55 previously) and 21:00 CEST/CET.
All draws were held at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, except the group stage draw, which took place in Istanbul, Turkey, on 26 August 2021.
+Schedule for 2021–22 UEFA Champions LeaguePhaseRoundDraw dateFirst legSecond legQualifyingPreliminary round8 June 202122 June 2021 (semi-finals)25 June 2021 (final)First qualifying round15 June 20216–7 July 202113–14 July 2021Second qualifying round16 June 202120–21 July 202127–28 July 2021Third qualifying round19 July 20213–4 August 202110 August 2021Play-offsPlay-off round2 August 202117–18 August 202124–25 August 2021Group stageMatchday 126 August 202114–15 September 2021Matchday 228–29 September 2021Matchday 319–20 October 2021Matchday 42–3 November 2021Matchday 523–24 November 2021Matchday 67–8 December 2021Knockout phaseRound of 1613 December 202115–16 & 22–23 February 20228–9 & 15–16 March 2022Quarter-finals18 March 20225–6 April 202212–13 April 2022Semi-finals26–27 April 20223–4 May 2022Final28 May 2022 at Stade de France, Saint-Denis
Qualifying rounds
Preliminary round
First qualifying round
Second qualifying round
Third qualifying round
Play-off round
Group stage
The draw for the group stage was held in Istanbul, Turkey, on 26 August 2021. 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: Pot 1 contained the Champions League and Europa League title holders, and the champions of the top six associations based on their 2020 UEFA country coefficients. Pot 2, 3 and 4 contained the remaining teams, seeded based on their 2021 UEFA club coefficients. Teams from the same association, and due to political reasons, teams from Ukraine and Russia, could not be drawn into the same group. Before the draw, UEFA formed pairings of teams from the same association (one pairing for associations with two or three teams, two pairings for associations with four or five teams) based on television audiences, where one team was drawn into Groups A–D and another team was drawn into Groups E–H, so that the two teams would play on different days.
The matches were played on 14–15 September, 28–29 September, 19–20 October, 2–3 November, 23–24 November, and 7–9 December 2021. The top two teams of each group advanced to the round of 16. The third-placed teams were transferred to the Europa League knockout round play-offs, while the fourth-placed teams were eliminated from European competitions for the season.
Sheriff Tiraspol made their debut appearance in the group stage. They were the first team from Moldova to play in the Champions League group stage.
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.
Bracket
Round of 16
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
Statistics Statistics exclude qualifying rounds and play-off round.
Top goalscorers