The 1994–95 UEFA Champions League was the 40th edition of UEFA's premier European club football tournament, and the third since its rebranding as the UEFA Champions League. The tournament was won by Ajax of the Netherlands with a late goal in the final against defending champions Milan of Italy. Ajax won the competition without losing a game, either in the group or the knock-out stage, clinching the title for the first time since 1973.
Compared to the previous edition of the European Cup, radical changes were made to the format of the tournament, due to a recently expired contract that bound UEFA to the EBU for the transmission of the final. This gave occasion for a general review of the format, which attracted the interest of new and financially well-off private television companies. This edition included four groups of four teams each in the group stage, up from two groups of four teams each in 1993–94. It was also the first year in which eight teams advanced to the knock-out stage and the first of three years in which the champions of smaller nations entered the UEFA Cup instead of the Champions League. It was also the first time that this competition was known as the UEFA Champions League from the first to the last match of the competition: in two previous seasons, the UEFA Champions League involved the matches played between the second round and the European Cup final.
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia's entrants were unable to participate for the third season in a row due to the UN economic sanctions. Milan were the defending champions, but were defeated by Ajax in the final.
Teams 24 teams entered the competition: the UEFA Champions League holders, Milan, who also won their domestic league, as well as the 23 best-ranked national champions according to the 1994 UEFA club seeding coefficients. The title holders and the other 7 best-ranked national champions received a bye to the group stage, while the national champions ranked 9–24 entered in the qualifying round. The remaining national champions were only allowed to participate in the 1994–95 UEFA Cup.
Distribution RoundTeams entering in this roundTeams advancing from the previous roundQualifying round(16 teams) 16 champions ranked 9–24 by seeding coefficientGroup stage(16 teams) 8 champions ranked 1–8 by seeding coefficient (including title holders) 8 winners from the qualifying roundKnockout stage(8 teams) 4 group winners from the group stage 4 group runners-up from the group stage
Since the title holders (Milan) qualified via their domestic league and club seeding coefficient, the title holder spot was vacated and the following changes to the default access list were made: The champions ranked 8th (Anderlecht) were promoted from the qualifying round to the group stage. The champions ranked 24th (Avenir Beggen) were promoted from the UEFA Cup preliminary round to the Champions League qualifying round.
Ranking The teams were ranked according to their 1995 UEFA seeding coefficients, which took into account performances in European competitions from 1989–90 to 1993–94. Each club and national association had a seeding coefficient calculated (total points divided by total matches), with clubs taking the higher of these values as their final coefficient. This ranking then determined the competition (Champions League or UEFA Cup) and round (group stage or qualifying round) the teams would enter. Therefore, which associations had a participating team in the 1994–95 Champions League was partially dependent upon which club won the national championship.
+Key to coloursTeams ranked 1 to 24 qualifiedTeams ranked 25 and below did not qualify
+ Ranking of national champions for 1994–95 UEFA competitionsAssociationTeamGroup stage1Milan TH1.8612Ajax 1.6423Manchester United 1.6314Bayern Munich 1.6255Barcelona 1.5756Benfica 1.5677Spartak Moscow 1.4708Anderlecht 1.441Qualifying round9Paris Saint-Germain 1.42610Rangers 1.400Legia Warsaw 1.40012Casino Salzburg 1.21413IFK Göteborg 1.18714Dynamo Kyiv 1.17815Galatasaray 1.125Steaua București 1.12517Sparta Prague 1.11518AEK Athens 1.000Hajduk Split 1.000Maccabi Haifa 1.00021Servette 0.90622Vác Samsung 0.87523Silkeborg 0.80324Avenir Beggen 0.750Entered UEFA Cup preliminary round25Rosenborg 0.700Slovan Bratislava 0.70027Levski Sofia 0.65228Apollon Limassol 0.500Dinamo Minsk 0.500ÍA 0.500Linfield 0.50032Jazz 0.47533Olimpija Ljubljana 0.400Teuta 0.40035Skonto 0.25036Shamrock Rovers 0.20837Hibernians 0.16638Ararat Yerevan 0.000Bangor City 0.000Dinamo Tbilisi 0.000Flora 0.000GÍ 0.000ROMAR Mažeikiai 0.000Turan Tovuz 0.000Vardar 0.000Zimbru Chișinău 0.000
+Associations without a participating team
Round and draw dates The schedule of the competition was as follows. The draw was held in Geneva, Switzerland on 20 July 1994, where qualifying round pairs as well as group formations were drawn. The knockout phase pairs were made automatically by a predetermined bracket.
PhaseRoundDraw dateFirst legSecond legQualifying round20 July 199410 August 199424 August 1994Group stageMatchday 114 September 1994Matchday 228 September 1994Matchday 319 October 1994Matchday 42 November 1994Matchday 523 November 1994Matchday 67 December 1994Knockout phaseQuarter-finals1 March 199515 March 1995Semi-finals5 April 199519 April 1995Final24 May 1995 at Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna
Qualifying round
Group stage
Ten of the sixteen participating teams made their UEFA Champions League group stage debut: AEK Athens, Ajax, Bayern Munich, Benfica, Casino Salzburg, Dynamo Kyiv, Hajduk Split, Manchester United, Paris Saint-Germain and Steaua București. Two of these teams, Benfica and Dynamo Kyiv, had previously contested the 1991–92 European Cup group stage. Casino Salzburg, Hajduk Split, Manchester United and Steaua București were the first teams to qualify for group stage from Austria, Croatia, England and Romania respectively.
It was also the last edition of the Champions League that saw teams in the group stage awarded two points for each win, with one point awarded for each draw.
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Knockout stage
Bracket
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
Top goalscorers RankNameTeamGoals1 George Weah Paris Saint-Germain72 Jari Litmanen Ajax63 Magnus Erlingmark IFK Göteborg4 Marco Simone Milan45 José Mari Bakero Barcelona3 Romário Barcelona3 Hristo Stoichkov Barcelona3 Claudio Caniggia Benfica3 Christian Nerlinger Bayern Munich3 Mehmet Scholl Bayern Munich3 Viktor Leonenko Dynamo Kyiv3
See also 1994–95 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 1994–95 UEFA Cup
References
External links
1994–95 All matches – season at UEFA website European Cup results at RSSSF All scorers 1994–95 UEFA Champions League (excluding qualifying round) according to protocols UEFA All scorers qualifying round - results and line-ups (archive)