The 2008–09 UEFA Champions League was the 54th edition of Europe's premier club football tournament and the 17th edition under the current UEFA Champions League format. The final was played at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome on 27 May 2009. It was the eighth time the European Cup final has been held in Italy and the fourth time it has been held at the Stadio Olimpico. The final was contested by the defending champions, Manchester United, and Barcelona, who had last won the tournament in 2006. Barcelona won the match 2–0, with goals from Samuel Eto'o and Lionel Messi, securing The Treble in the process. In addition, both UEFA Cup finalists, Werder Bremen and Shakhtar Donetsk featured in the Champions League group stage.
Anorthosis of Cyprus and BATE Borisov of Belarus were the first teams from their respective countries to qualify for the group stage. Romanian side CFR Cluj and Russian champions Zenit Saint Petersburg also made their Champions League debuts.
Association team allocation
A total of 76 teams from 52 UEFA associations (Liechtenstein organises no domestic league competition) participated in the 2008–09 Champions League. Countries are allocated places according to the 2007 UEFA league co-efficient ranking.
Below is the qualification scheme for the 2008–09 Champions League: Associations 1–3 each have four teams qualify. Associations 4–6 each have three teams qualify. Associations 7–15 each have two teams qualify. Associations 16–53 (except Liechtenstein) each have one team qualify.
Association ranking
For the 2008–09 UEFA Champions League, the associations are allocated places according to their 2007 UEFA country coefficients, which takes into account their performance in European competitions from 2002–03 to 2006–07.
Distribution
Since the title holders (Manchester United) qualified for the Champions League group stage through their domestic league, the group stage spot reserved for the title holders is vacated, and the following changes to the default access list are made: The champions of association 10 (Scotland) are promoted from the third qualifying round to the group stage. The champions of association 16 (Bulgaria) are promoted from the second qualifying round to the third qualifying round. The champions of associations 23 (Poland) and 24 (Hungary) are promoted from the first qualifying round to the second qualifying round.
Teams
League positions of the previous season shown in parentheses (TH: Title holders).
Notes
Round and draw dates
Qualifying rounds
First qualifying round
The draw for the first and second qualifying rounds was held on 1 July 2008 in Nyon, Switzerland. The first leg matches were held on 15 July and 16 July, while the second legs were played on 22 July and 23 July 2008.
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In the draw for the first qualifying round, teams were divided into two pots, on the basis of UEFA coefficients. The lower pot contained the 14 teams from associations 40–53: none of these teams had a team ranking.
Two of the 14 ties were won by the lower ranked team: Inter Baku (Azerbaijan, country rank 42) beat Rabotnički (Macedonia, 36); and BATE Borisov (Belarus, 40) beat Valur (Iceland, 37).
Of the 28 teams in the first qualifying round, two survived as far as the group stage: Anorthosis and BATE Borisov. Each then finished in fourth place.
Second qualifying round
The first leg matches were played on 29 July and 30 July, while the second legs were played on 5 August and 6 August 2008.
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In the draw for the second qualifying round, teams were divided into two pots, on the basis of UEFA coefficients. The higher pot contained teams ranked 166 or higher: so each tie contained exactly one team ranked in the top 166.
Three of the 14 ties were won by the lower ranked team: Kaunas (unranked, coefficient 2.640) beat Rangers (ranked 24, coefficient 66.013); BATE Borisov (unranked, 1.760) beat Anderlecht (56, 41.810); and Anorthosis (ranked 193) beat Rapid Wien (ranked 166).
Of the 28 teams in the second qualifying round, Panathinaikos were the only one to qualify for the knockout phase of the competition.
Third qualifying round
The draw for the third qualifying round took place on 1 August 2008 in Nyon, Switzerland. The first leg matches were played on 12 August and 13 August, while the second leg matches took place on 26 August and 27 August. The losing team of each match are being seeded into the 2008–09 UEFA Cup first round; while the winning teams advance into the UEFA Champions League 2008–09 group stage.