The 2013âÂÂ14 UEFA Champions League was the 59th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 22nd season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League.
The final was played between Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid at the Estádio da Luz in Lisbon, Portugal, marking it the fifth final to feature two teams from the same association (after the finals of 2000, 2003, 2008, and 2013) and the first time in tournament history that both finalists were from the same city. Real Madrid, who eliminated the title holders, Bayern Munich, in the semi-finals, won in extra time, giving them a record-extending 10th title in the competition. Real equalized late in the second half through Sergio Ramos and then pulled away during extra time to win 4âÂÂ1.
For the first time, the clubs who qualified for the group stage also qualified for the newly formed 2013âÂÂ14 UEFA Youth League, a competition available to players aged 19 or under.
A total of 76 teams from 52 of the 54 UEFA member associations participated in the 2013âÂÂ14 UEFA Champions League (the exceptions being Liechtenstein, which do not organise a domestic league, and Gibraltar, which started participating in the 2014âÂÂ15 season after being admitted as a UEFA member in May 2013). The association ranking based on the UEFA country coefficients was used to determine the number of participating teams for each association:
The winners of the 2012âÂÂ13 UEFA Champions League were given an additional entry as title holders if they would not qualify for the 2013âÂÂ14 UEFA Champions League through their domestic league (because of the restriction that no association can have more than four teams playing in the Champions League, if the title holders are from the top three associations and finish outside the top four in their domestic league, the title holders' entry comes at the expense of the fourth-placed team of their association). However, this additional entry was not necessary for this season since the title holders qualified for the tournament through their domestic league.
For the 2013âÂÂ14 UEFA Champions League, the associations were allocated places according to their 2012 UEFA country coefficients, which took into account their performance in European competitions from 2007âÂÂ08 to 2011âÂÂ12.
Since the title holders (Bayern Munich) 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 allocation system are made:
League positions of the previous season shown in parentheses (TH: Title holders).
The schedule of the competition was as follows (all draws held at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, unless stated otherwise).
In the qualifying rounds and the play-off round, teams were divided into seeded and unseeded teams based on their 2013 UEFA club coefficients, and then drawn into two-legged home-and-away ties. Teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other.
The draws for the first and second qualifying rounds were held on 24 June 2013. The first legs were played on 2 July, and the second legs were played on 9 July 2013.
The first legs were played on 16 and 17 July, and the second legs were played on 23 and 24 July 2013.
The third qualifying round was split into two separate sections: one for champions and one for non-champions. The losing teams in both sections entered the 2013âÂÂ14 UEFA Europa League play-off round.
The play-off round was split into two separate sections: one for champions and one for non-champions. The losing teams in both sections entered the 2013âÂÂ14 UEFA Europa League group stage.
The draw for the play-off round was held on 9 August 2013. The first legs were played on 20 and 21 August, and the second legs were played on 27 and 28 August 2013.
On 14 August 2013, Metalist Kharkiv were disqualified from the 2013âÂÂ14 UEFA club competitions because of previous match-fixing. UEFA decided to replace Metalist Kharkiv in the Champions League play-off round with PAOK, who were eliminated by Metalist Kharkiv in the third qualifying round.
Red Bull Salzburg lodged a protest after being defeated by Fenerbahçe in the third qualifying round, but it was rejected by UEFA and the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The draw for the group stage was held in Monaco on 29 August 2013. The 32 teams were allocated into four pots based on their 2013 UEFA club coefficients, with the title holders, Bayern Munich, being placed in Pot 1 automatically. They were drawn into eight groups of four, with the restriction that teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other.
In each group, teams played against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The matchdays were 17âÂÂ18 September, 1âÂÂ2 October, 22âÂÂ23 October, 5âÂÂ6 November, 26âÂÂ27 November, and 10âÂÂ11 December 2013. The group winners and runners-up advanced to the round of 16, while the third-placed teams entered the 2013âÂÂ14 UEFA Europa League round of 32.
A total of 18 national associations were represented in the group stage. Austria Wien made their debut appearance in the group stage.
Teams that qualify for the group stage also participate in the newly formed 2013âÂÂ14 UEFA Youth League, a competition available to players aged 19 or under.
In the knockout phase, teams played against each other over two legs on a home-and-away basis, except for the one-match final. The mechanism of the draws for each round was as follows:
Statistics exclude qualifying rounds and play-off round.
The UEFA technical study group selected the following 18 players as the squad of the tournament: