The 2008âÂÂ09 UEFA Champions League group stage matches took place between 16 September and 10 December 2008.
Seeding was determined by the UEFA coefficients: Pot 1 held teams ranked 1âÂÂ10 (since Milan and Sevilla did not qualify), Pot 2 held teams ranked 11âÂÂ23, Pot 3 held teams ranked 25âÂÂ45, while Pot 4 held teams ranked 46âÂÂ193 and unranked teams.
Clubs from the same association were paired up to split the matchdays between Tuesday and Wednesday. Clubs with the same pairing letter played on different days, ensuring that teams from the same city (e.g. Milan and Internazionale, who also share a stadium) did not play on the same day.
Notes
Of the 16 teams in Pots 1 and 2, 14 eventually qualified for the first knockout round. The exceptions were Werder Bremen (to the UEFA Cup) and PSV Eindhoven (eliminated). Their places went to Panathinaikos (from Pot 3) and Atlético Madrid (from Pot 4). AaB were the lowest-ranked Pot 4 team to qualify for the UEFA Cup Round of 32.
Based on paragraph 6.05 in the regulations for the current season, if two or more teams were equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria were applied to determine the rankings:
Times are CET/CEST, as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).
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