The 2006–07 UEFA Champions League was the 15th season of UEFA's premier European club football tournament, the UEFA Champions League, since it was rebranded from the European Cup, and the 52nd season overall. The final was contested by Milan and Liverpool on 23 May 2007. Beforehand, the match was billed as a repeat of the 2005 final, the only difference being that the 2007 final was to be played at the Olympic Stadium in Athens, Greece. Milan won the match 2–1 to claim their seventh European Cup, with both goals coming from Filippo Inzaghi. Dirk Kuyt scored for Liverpool.
Barcelona were the defending champions, but were eliminated by Liverpool in the first knockout round.
Association team allocation A total of 73 teams from 49 UEFA member associations participated in the 2006–07 UEFA Champions League. Liechtenstein (who did not have their own domestic league) as well as the 2 lowest-ranked federations, Andorra and San Marino, did not participate. Montenegro, which did not become a UEFA member until January 2007 also did not take part. Each association enters a certain number of clubs to the Champions League based on its league coefficient, which takes into account the performance of its clubs in European competitions from 2000–01 to 2004–05; associations with a higher league coefficients may enter more clubs than associations with a lower league coefficient, but no association may enter more than four teams. Italy's representatives were decided based on the revised table following the match-fixing scandal which saw Juventus relegated to Serie B after winning the league the previous season.
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 16–50 (except Liechtenstein) each have one team qualify.
Association ranking For the 2006–07 UEFA Champions League, the associations are allocated places according to their 2006 UEFA country coefficients, which takes into account their performance in European competitions from 2001–02 to 2005–06.
RankAssociationCoeff.Teams173.7174263.224361.186449.4693548.989644.666739.8312835.498931.7501031.7501129.9161227.9501325.6661424.8751524.8501621.87411721.2491821.000RankAssociationCoeff.Teams1920.87512020.2002118.5402218.1252317.2002416.3312515.4572615.3832711.665289.665298.165307.165316.664326.540336.332346.165355.332RankAssociationCoeff.Teams364.8321374.497384.164394.082404.0000412.9981422.998432.665442.498452.165461.832471.665481.332490.999500.666510.0000520.000
Distribution Since the title holders (Barcelona) 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 (Israel) are promoted from the second qualifying round to the third qualifying round. The champions of associations 26 and 27 (Sweden and Slovakia) are promoted from the first qualifying round to the second qualifying round.
Teams entering in this roundTeams advancing from previous roundFirst qualifying round(22 teams)22 champions from associations 28–50 (except Liechtenstein)Second qualifying round(28 teams)11 champions from associations 17–27 6 runners-up from associations 10–1511 winners from the first qualifying roundThird qualifying round(32 teams)6 champions from associations 11–16 3 runners-up from associations 7–9 6 third-place finishers from associations 1–6 3 fourth-place finishers from associations 1–314 winners from the second qualifying roundGroup stage(32 teams)10 champions from associations 1–10 (including title holders Barcelona) 6 runners-up from associations 1–616 winners from the third qualifying roundKnockout phase(16 teams)8 group winners from the group stage 8 group runners-up from the group stage
Teams Group stage Barcelona TH Internazionale Bayern Munich PSV Eindhoven Real Madrid Roma Werder Bremen Olympiacos Chelsea Lyon Porto Anderlecht Manchester United Bordeaux Sporting CP Celtic Third qualifying round Valencia Chievo AEK Athens CSKA Moscow Osasuna Lille Standard Liège Austria Wien Liverpool Hamburger SV Galatasaray Shakhtar Donetsk Arsenal Benfica Slovan Liberec Maccabi Haifa Milan Ajax Second qualifying round Heart of Midlothian Dynamo Kyiv Vålerenga Debrecen Fenerbahçe Red Star Belgrade Levski Sofia F.C. Steaua București Mladá Boleslav Legia Warsaw Dinamo Zagreb Djurgårdens IF Spartak Moscow Zürich Copenhagen Ružomberok Red Bull Salzburg First qualifying round HIT Gorica Sioni Bolnisi Pyunik The New Saints Apollon Limassol Ekranas Birkirkara F91 Dudelange Široki Brijeg FH Elbasani Baku Liepājas Metalurgs Rabotnicki TVMK B36 MYPA Cork City Linfield Aktobe Sheriff Tiraspol Shakhtyor Soligorsk
Notes
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 round23 June 200611–12 July 200618–19 July 2006Second qualifying round25–26 July 20061–2 August 2006Third qualifying round28 July 20068–9 August 200622–23 August 2006Group stageMatchday 124 August 2006(Monaco)12–13 September 2006Matchday 226–27 September 2006Matchday 317–18 October 2006Matchday 431 October – 1 November 2006Matchday 521–22 November 2006Matchday 65–6 December 2006Knockout phaseRound of 1615 December 200620–21 February 20076–7 March 2007Quarter-finals9 March 20073–4 April 200710–11 April 2007Semi-finals24–25 April 20071–2 May 2007Final23 May 2007 at Olympic Stadium, Athens
Qualifying rounds
First qualifying round
Second qualifying round
Third qualifying round
Group stage
The draw for this round was held on 24 August 2006 in Monaco. The first matches were played on 12 September 2006, and the stage concluded on 6 December.
The top two teams in each group advanced to the knockout stage, and the third-placed teams entered the round of 32 of the UEFA Cup. Based on paragraph 4.05 in the UEFA regulations, if two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria are applied to determine the rankings: higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among the teams in question; superior goal difference from the group matches played among the teams in question; higher number of goals scored away from home in the group matches played among the teams in question; superior goal difference from all group matches played; higher number of goals scored in all group matches played; higher number of coefficient points accumulated by the club in question, as well as its association, over the previous five seasons.
Copenhagen and Levski Sofia both made their debut appearances in the group stage. Levski were the first Bulgarian club to appear in the Champions League group stage.
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Group E
Group F
Group G
Group H
Knockout phase
All knockout rounds are two-legged, except for the final. In the event of aggregate scores being equal after normal time in the second leg, the winning team will be that which scored more goals on their away leg: if the scores in the two matches were identical, extra time is played. The away goals rule also applies if scores are equal at the end of extra time. If there are no goals scored in extra time, the tie is decided on a penalty shootout.
The final was played over just one match, with extra time in case of a draw after 90 minutes. If the teams were still level following extra time, a penalty shootout would have determined the winner.
Bracket
Round of 16
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
Statistics Statistics exclude qualifying rounds.
Top goalscorers RankPlayerTeamGoalsMinutes played1 Kaká Milan1010822 Peter Crouch Liverpool6576 Ruud van Nistelrooy Real Madrid584 Fernando Morientes Valencia620 Didier Drogba Chelsea10556 Raúl Real Madrid56037 Nicolae Dică F.C. Steaua București4532 Louis Saha Manchester United464 Claudio Pizarro Bayern Munich620 Filippo Inzaghi Milan673 David Villa Valencia702 Francesco Totti Roma800 Wayne Rooney Manchester United1062 Squad of the season UEFA's Technical Study Group selected the following 21 players for the 2006–07 UEFA Champions League Team of the Tournament.
PlayerTeam Petr Čech Chelsea Pepe Reina Liverpool Dida AC Milan Ricardo Carvalho Chelsea John Terry Chelsea Jamie Carragher Liverpool Nemanja Vidić Manchester United Alessandro Nesta AC Milan Paolo Maldini AC Milan Clarence Seedorf AC Milan Gennaro Gattuso AC Milan Frank Lampard Chelsea Andrea Pirlo AC Milan Paul Scholes Manchester United Steven Gerrard Liverpool Didier Drogba Chelsea Cristiano Ronaldo Manchester United David Villa Valencia Wayne Rooney Manchester United Francesco Totti Roma Kaká AC Milan
See also 2006–07 UEFA Cup 2006 UEFA Intertoto Cup 2006–07 UEFA Women's Cup
References
External links
2006–07 All matches – season at UEFA website UEFA Champions League at uefa.com All scorers 2006–07 UEFA Champions League (excluding qualifying round) according to protocols UEFA + all scorers qualifying round – results and line-ups (archive)