2014–15 UEFA Champions League qualifying was the preliminary phase of the 2014–15 UEFA Champions League, prior to the competition proper. Qualification consisted of the qualifying phase (first to third rounds) and the play-off round. It was played from 1 July to 27 August 2014. A total of 55 teams competed in the qualifying phase and play-off round to decide 10 of the 32 places in the group stage.
All times were CEST (UTC+2).
Round and draw dates All draws were held at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.
RoundDraw date and timeFirst legSecond legFirst qualifying round23 June 2014, 12:001–2 July 20148–9 July 2014Second qualifying round15–16 July 201422–23 July 2014Third qualifying round18 July 2014, 12:0029–30 July 20145–6 August 2014Play-off round8 August 2014, 12:0019–20 August 201426–27 August 2014
Format In the qualifying phase and play-off round, each tie was played over two legs, with each team playing one leg at home. The team that scored more goals on aggregate over the two legs advanced to the next round. If the aggregate score was level, the away goals rule was applied, i.e. the team that scored more goals away from home over the two legs advanced. If away goals were also equal, then 30 minutes of extra time was played. The away goals rule was again applied after extra time, i.e. if there were goals scored during extra time and the aggregate score was still level, the visiting team advanced by virtue of more away goals scored. If no goals were scored during extra time, the tie was decided by penalty shoot-out.
In the draws for each round, teams were seeded based on their UEFA club coefficients at the beginning of the season, with the teams divided into seeded and unseeded pots. A seeded team was drawn against an unseeded team, with the order of legs in each tie decided randomly. Due to the limited time between matches, the draws for the second and third qualifying rounds took place before the results of the previous round were known. For these draws (or in any cases where the result of a tie in the previous round was not known at the time of the draw), the seeding was carried out under the assumption that the team with the higher coefficient of an undecided tie advanced to this round, which means if the team with the lower coefficient was to advance, it simply took the seeding of its defeated opponent. Prior to the draws, UEFA may form "groups" in accordance with the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee, but they were purely for convenience of the draw and for ensuring that teams from the same association were not drawn against each other, and did not resemble any real groupings in the sense of the competition.
Teams There were two routes which the teams were separated into during qualifying: Champions Route, which included all domestic champions which did not automatically qualify for the group stage. League Route (also called the Non-champions Path or the Best-placed Path), which included all domestic non-champions which did not automatically qualify for the group stage.
A total of 55 teams (40 in Champions Route, 15 in League Route) were involved in the qualifying phase and play-off round. The 10 winners of the play-off round (5 in Champions Route, 5 in League Route) advanced to the group stage to join the 22 automatic qualifiers. The 15 losers of the third qualifying round entered the Europa League play-off round, and the 10 losers of the play-off round entered the Europa League group stage.
Below were the participating teams (with their 2014 UEFA club coefficients), grouped by their starting rounds.
Key to coloursWinners of the play-off round advanced to the group stageLosers of the play-off round entered the Europa League group stageLosers of the third qualifying round entered the Europa League play-off round
Champions Route +Third qualifying roundTeam Red Bull Salzburg46.185 APOEL37.650 AaB5.260+Second qualifying roundTeam Steaua București39.451 Celtic36.813 BATE Borisov33.725 Sparta Prague28.870 Dinamo Zagreb23.925 Ludogorets Razgrad18.125 Maccabi Tel Aviv17.875 Sheriff Tiraspol17.075 Maribor16.200 Legia Warsaw15.275 Partizan14.825 Debrecen10.325 Slovan Bratislava8.700 Aktobe8.150 Ventspils7.750 Qarabağ7.575 HJK7.435 Dinamo Tbilisi6.975 Malmö FF6.265 KR5.350 F91 Dudelange4.975 Strømsgodset4.855 The New Saints4.850 St Patrick's Athletic4.775 Skënderbeu4.600 Rabotnicki4.550 Valletta4.466 Zrinjski Mostar4.000 Cliftonville3.225 Žalgiris3.050 Sutjeska2.450+First qualifying roundTeam Levadia Tallinn4.575 HB3.175 FC Santa Coloma2.166 Banants1.325 La Fiorita0.699 Lincoln Red Imps0.000
League Route +Play-off roundTeam Arsenal112.949 Porto105.459 Bayer Leverkusen70.328 Napoli61.387 Athletic Bilbao54.542+Third qualifying roundTeam Zenit Saint Petersburg73.899 Lille45.300 Copenhagen45.260 Standard Liège38.260 Beşiktaş32.840 Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk32.193 Panathinaikos30.220 Feyenoord13.362 Grasshopper9.645 AEL Limassol7.650
First qualifying round
Seeding A total of six teams played in the first qualifying round. The draw was held on 23 June 2014. SeededUnseeded Levadia Tallinn HB FC Santa Coloma Banants La Fiorita Lincoln Red Imps
Summary The first legs were played on 1 and 2 July, and the second legs were played on 8 July 2014.
Matches
3–3 on aggregate; FC Santa Coloma won on away goals.
HB won 6–3 on aggregate.
Levadia Tallinn won 8–0 on aggregate.
Second qualifying round
Seeding A total of 34 teams played in the second qualifying round: 31 teams which entered in this round, and the three winners of the first qualifying round. The draw was held on 23 June 2014.
Group 1Group 2Group 3SeededUnseededSeededUnseededSeededUnseeded BATE Borisov Maccabi Tel Aviv Sheriff Tiraspol Maribor Aktobe Dinamo Tbilisi Skënderbeu Zrinjski Mostar Sutjeska FC Santa Coloma Celtic Sparta Prague Partizan Debrecen Slovan Bratislava Ventspils Malmö FF KR The New Saints Levadia Tallinn Cliftonville HB Steaua București Dinamo Zagreb Ludogorets Razgrad Legia Warsaw Qarabağ HJK F91 Dudelange Strømsgodset St Patrick's Athletic Rabotnicki Valletta Žalgiris
Notes
Summary The first legs were played on 15 and 16 July, and the second legs were played on 22 and 23 July 2014.
Matches
1–1 on aggregate; BATE Borisov won on away goals.
Maccabi Tel Aviv won 3–0 on aggregate.
Aktobe won 4–0 on aggregate.
Maribor won 2–0 on aggregate.
Sheriff Tiraspol won 5–0 on aggregate.
Sparta Prague won 8–1 on aggregate.
Malmö FF won 1–0 on aggregate.
Slovan Bratislava won 3–0 on aggregate.
Celtic won 5–0 on aggregate.
Debrecen won 2–0 on aggregate.
Partizan won 6–1 on aggregate.
Legia Warsaw won 6–1 on aggregate.
HJK won 2–1 on aggregate.
Dinamo Zagreb won 4–0 on aggregate.
Ludogorets Razgrad won 5–1 on aggregate.
Qarabağ won 5–0 on aggregate.
Steaua București won 3–0 on aggregate.
Third qualifying round Seeding A total of 30 teams played in the third qualifying round: Champions Route: three teams which entered in this round, and the 17 winners of the second qualifying round. League Route: ten teams which entered in this round. The draw was held on 18 July 2014.
Champions RouteLeague RouteGroup 1Group 2SeededUnseededSeededUnseededSeededUnseeded Red Bull Salzburg Celtic BATE Borisov Dinamo Zagreb Sheriff Tiraspol Legia Warsaw Debrecen Slovan Bratislava Qarabağ AaB Steaua București APOEL Sparta Prague Ludogorets Razgrad Maccabi Tel Aviv Maribor Partizan Aktobe Malmö FF HJK Zenit Saint Petersburg Lille Copenhagen Standard Liège Beşiktaş Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk Panathinaikos Feyenoord Grasshopper AEL Limassol
Notes
Summary The first legs were played on 29 and 30 July, and the second legs were played on 5 and 6 August 2014.
Champions Route matches
Red Bull Salzburg won 3–2 on aggregate.
BATE Borisov won 3–2 on aggregate.
Slovan Bratislava won 2–1 on aggregate.
AaB won 2–1 on aggregate.
4–4 on aggregate; Celtic won on away goals.
Steaua București won 4–3 on aggregate.
Maribor won 3–2 on aggregate.
APOEL won 4–2 on aggregate.
4–4 on aggregate; Malmö FF won on away goals.
2–2 on aggregate; Ludogorets Razgrad won on away goals.
League Route matches
Zenit Saint Petersburg won 3–1 on aggregate.
Copenhagen won 2–0 on aggregate.
Beşiktaş won 5–2 on aggregate.
Lille won 3–1 on aggregate.
Standard Liège won 2–1 on aggregate.
Play-off round
Seeding A total of 20 teams played in the play-off round: Champions Route: the ten Champions Route winners of the third qualifying round. League Route: five teams which entered in this round, and the five League Route winners of the third qualifying round. The draw was held on 8 August 2014.
Champions RouteLeague RouteSeededUnseededSeededUnseeded Red Bull Salzburg Steaua București APOEL Celtic BATE Borisov Ludogorets Razgrad Maribor Slovan Bratislava Malmö FF AaB Arsenal Porto Zenit Saint Petersburg Bayer Leverkusen Napoli Athletic Bilbao Lille Copenhagen Standard Liège Beşiktaş
Summary The first legs were played on 19 and 20 August, and the second legs were played on 26 and 27 August 2014.
Champions Route matches
Maribor won 2–1 on aggregate.
Malmö FF won 4–2 on aggregate.
APOEL won 5–1 on aggregate.
1–1 on aggregate; Ludogorets Razgrad won 6–5 on penalties.
BATE Borisov won 4–1 on aggregate.
League Route matches
Arsenal won 1–0 on aggregate.
Zenit Saint Petersburg won 4–0 on aggregate.
Bayer Leverkusen won 7–2 on aggregate.
Porto won 3–0 on aggregate.
Athletic Bilbao won 4–2 on aggregate.
Statistics There were 212 goals in 90 matches in the qualifying phase and play-off round, for an average of 2.36 goals per match.
Top goalscorers RankPlayerTeamGoalsMinutes played1 David Lafata Sparta Prague82622 Miroslav Radović Legia Warsaw53583 Markus Rosenberg Malmö FF45404 Stefan Kießling Bayer Leverkusen3163 Levi Hanssen HB3270 Demba Ba Beşiktaş3298 Danko Lazović Partizan3305 Cillian Sheridan APOEL3329 Tomás De Vincenti APOEL3330 Petar Škuletić Partizan3343 Ibrahima Sidibe Debrecen3353 Michał Żyro Legia Warsaw3354 Agim Ibraimi Maribor3519 Callum McGregor Celtic3540
Top assists RankPlayerTeamAssistsMinutes played1 Michał Kucharczyk Legia Warsaw3234 Josef Hušbauer Sparta Prague3249 Marat Khairullin Aktobe3296 Domagoj Antolić Dinamo Zagreb3311 Tomás De Vincenti APOEL3330 Darko Brašanac Partizan3353 Michał Żyro Legia Warsaw3354 Anderson Mineiro Aktobe3360 Alexandru Chipciu Steaua București3445 Adrian Popa Steaua București3448
Notes
References
External links