The 2015–16 UEFA Champions League was the 61st season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 24th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. Barcelona were the title holders, but were eliminated by Atlético Madrid in the quarter-finals.
The final was played between Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid at the Stadio San Siro in Milan, Italy, with Real defeating Atlético 5–3 on penalties (1–1 after extra time) to win a record-extending eleventh European Cup/Champions League title. It was the second time in the tournament's history that both finalists were from the same city, after the same clubs faced each other in the 2014 final.
As the winners of the 2015–16 UEFA Champions League, Real Madrid qualified as the UEFA representative for the 2016 FIFA Club World Cup in Japan (their third Club World Cup appearance), and also earned the right to play against the winners of the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League, Sevilla, in the 2016 UEFA Super Cup. Madrid won both competitions.
Format changes The UEFA Executive Committee held in May 2013 approved the following changes to the UEFA Champions League starting from the 2015–16 season (for the three-year cycle until the 2017–18 season): The winners of the previous season's UEFA Europa League will qualify for the UEFA Champions League. They will enter at least the play-off round, and will enter the group stage if the berth reserved for the Champions League title holders is not used. The previous limit of a maximum of four teams per association will be increased to five, meaning that if the Champions League title holders or the Europa League title holders are from the top three ranked associations (but not both from the same one) and finish outside the top four of their domestic league, the fourth-placed team of their association will not be prevented from participating in the tournament. However, if both the Champions League title holders and the Europa League title holders are from the same top three ranked association and finish outside the top four of their domestic league, the fourth-placed team of their association will be moved to the Europa League.
Association team allocation A total of 78 teams from 53 of the 54 UEFA member associations participated in the 2015–16 UEFA Champions League (the exception being Liechtenstein, which does not organise a domestic league). The association ranking based on the UEFA country coefficients was used to determine the number of participating teams for each association: 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 16–54 (except Liechtenstein) each have one team qualify. The winners of the 2014–15 UEFA Champions League and 2014–15 UEFA Europa League were each given an additional entry if they would not qualify for the 2015–16 UEFA Champions League through their domestic league. Because a maximum of five teams from one association can enter the UEFA Champions League, if both the Champions League title holders and the Europa League title holders were from the same top three ranked association and finished outside the top four of their domestic league, the fourth-placed team of their association would be moved to the Europa League. For this season: The winners of the 2014–15 UEFA Champions League, Barcelona, qualified through their domestic league, meaning the additional entry for the Champions League title holders was not necessary. The winners of the 2014–15 UEFA Europa League, Sevilla, did not qualify through their domestic league, meaning the additional entry for the Europa League title holders was necessary.
Association ranking For the 2015–16 UEFA Champions League, the associations are allocated places according to their 2014 UEFA country coefficients, which takes into account their performance in European competitions from 2009–10 to 2013–14.
Apart from the allocation based on the country coefficients, associations may have additional teams participating in the Champions League, as noted below: – Additional berth for Europa League title holders
RankAssociationCoeff.TeamsNotes197.7134284.748381.641466.9383562.299656.500746.9982844.312940.9661036.3001134.2001233.6001333.2251430.9251529.3501627.25711726.8751823.250RankAssociationCoeff.TeamsNotes1921.30012019.6252118.8752218.6252316.5662416.3252515.6252614.2752714.1252811.6252911.0003011.0003110.3753210.375339.875348.250357.500367.175RankAssociationCoeff.TeamsNotes376.7501386.250396.000405.500415.250425.250435.125444.875454.833464.5000473.6251483.000492.875502.875512.125520.999530.833540.000
Distribution In the default access list, the Champions League title holders enter the group stage. However, since Barcelona already qualified for the group stage (as the champions of the 2014–15 La Liga), the Champions League title holders berth in the group stage is given to the Europa League title holders, Sevilla and the following changes to the default allocation system are made:
The third-placed teams of associations 4 (Italy) and 5 (Portugal) are promoted from the third qualifying round to the play-off round.
Teams entering in this roundTeams advancing from previous roundFirst qualifying round(8 teams)8 champions from associations 47–54Second qualifying round(34 teams)30 champions from associations 16–46 (except Liechtenstein)4 winners from the first qualifying roundThird qualifying roundChampions Route(20 teams)3 champions from associations 13–1517 winners from the second qualifying roundLeague Route(10 teams)9 runners-up from associations 7–15 1 third-placed team from association 6Play-off roundChampions Route(10 teams)10 winners from the third qualifying round (Champions Route)League Route(10 teams)2 third-placed teams from associations 4–5 3 fourth-placed teams from associations 1–35 winners from the third qualifying round (League Route)Group stage(32 teams)Europa League title holders 12 champions from associations 1–12 6 runners-up from associations 1–6 3 third-placed teams from associations 1–35 winners from the play-off round (Champions Route) 5 winners from the play-off round (League Route)Knockout phase(16 teams)8 group winners from the group stage 8 group runners-up from the group stage
Teams League positions of the previous season qualified via league position shown in parentheses. Sevilla qualified as Europa League title holders. (TH: Champions League title holders; EL: Europa League title holders).
Group stage Barcelona TH Arsenal Benfica Dynamo Kyiv Real Madrid Bayern Munich Porto Gent Atlético Madrid VfL Wolfsburg Paris Saint-Germain Galatasaray Sevilla Borussia Mönchengladbach Lyon Olympiacos Chelsea Juventus Zenit Saint Petersburg Manchester City Roma PSV Eindhoven Play-off round Valencia Bayer Leverkusen Sporting CP Manchester United Lazio Third qualifying round Basel Monaco Club Brugge Rapid Wien Red Bull Salzburg CSKA Moscow Fenerbahçe Sparta Prague Viktoria Plzeň Ajax Panathinaikos Shakhtar Donetsk Young Boys Second qualifying round Steaua București Malmö FF Qarabağ Skënderbeu Maccabi Tel Aviv Ludogorets Razgrad Dila Gori Žalgiris APOEL Molde Astana Vardar Midtjylland Partizan Sarajevo Dundalk Dinamo Zagreb Videoton HJK Fola Esch Lech Poznań Maribor Stjarnan Hibernians BATE Borisov Trenčín Ventspils Celtic Milsami Orhei Rudar Pljevlja First qualifying round Crusaders Pyunik B36 FC Santa Coloma The New Saints Levadia Tallinn Folgore Lincoln Red Imps
Round and draw dates The schedule of the competition was as follows (all draws were held at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, unless stated otherwise).
PhaseRoundDraw dateFirst legSecond legQualifyingFirst qualifying round22 June 201530 June–1 July 20157–8 July 2015Second qualifying round14–15 July 201521–22 July 2015Third qualifying round17 July 201528–29 July 20154–5 August 2015Play-offPlay-off round7 August 201518–19 August 201525–26 August 2015Group stageMatchday 127 August 2015(Monaco)15–16 September 2015Matchday 229–30 September 2015Matchday 320–21 October 2015Matchday 43–4 November 2015Matchday 524–25 November 2015Matchday 68–9 December 2015Knockout phaseRound of 1614 December 201516–17 & 23–24 February 20168–9 & 15–16 March 2016Quarter-finals18 March 20165–6 April 201612–13 April 2016Semi-finals15 April 201626–27 April 20163–4 May 2016Final28 May 2016 at Stadio San Siro, Milan
Qualifying rounds
In the qualifying rounds and the play-off round, teams were divided into seeded and unseeded teams based on their 2015 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.
First qualifying round The draw for the first and second qualifying rounds was held on 22 June 2015. The first legs were played on 30 June and 1 July, and the second legs were played on 7 July 2015.
Lincoln Red Imps became the first Gibraltar team to win a tie in a UEFA competition, two years after Gibraltar's teams were first admitted entry.
Second qualifying round The first legs were played on 14 and 15 July, and the second legs were played on 21 and 22 July 2015.
Third qualifying round The third qualifying round was split into two separate sections: Champions Route (for league champions) and League Route (for league non-champions). The losing teams in both sections entered the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League play-off round.
The draw for the third qualifying round was held on 17 July 2015. The first legs were played on 28 and 29 July, and the second legs were played on 4 and 5 August 2015.
Play-off round
The play-off round was split into two separate sections: Champions Route (for league champions) and League Route (for league non-champions). The losing teams in both sections entered the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League group stage.
The draw for the play-off round was held on 7 August 2015. The first legs were played on 18 and 19 August, and the second legs were played on 25 and 26 August 2015.
Group stage
The draw for the group stage was held in Monaco on 27 August 2015. The 32 teams were drawn into eight groups of four, with the restriction that teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other. For the draw, the teams were seeded into four pots based on the following principles (introduced starting this season): Pot 1 contained the title holders and the champions of the top seven associations based on their 2014 UEFA country coefficients. As the title holders (Barcelona) were one of the champions of the top seven associations, the champions of the association ranked eighth (Netherlands' PSV Eindhoven) were also seeded into Pot 1 (regulations Article 13.05). Pot 2, 3 and 4 contained the remaining teams, seeded based on their 2015 UEFA club coefficients.
In each group, teams played against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The group winners and runners-up advanced to the round of 16, while the third-placed teams entered the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League round of 32. The matchdays were 15–16 September, 29–30 September, 20–21 October, 3–4 November, 24–25 November, and 8–9 December 2015.
The youth teams of the clubs that qualified for the group stage also played in the 2015–16 UEFA Youth League on the same matchdays, where they competed in the UEFA Champions League Path (with the UEFA Youth League expanded to 64 teams, the youth domestic champions of the top 32 associations compete in a separate Domestic Champions Path until the play-offs).