The draw for the group stage was held on 31 August 2012, 13:00 CEST, at Grimaldi Forum, Monaco. Teams were seeded into four pots based on their 2012 UEFA club coefficients. The title holders, Atlético Madrid, were automatically seeded into Pot 1.
Key to colours in group tables
Group winners and runners-up advance to the round of 32
;Notes
th Title holder
Q Qualifiers through play-off round
CL-CR Losing teams from the Champions League play-off round
CL-LR Losing teams from the Champions League play-off round
Each group contained one team from each of the four pots, with the restriction that teams from the same national association cannot be drawn against each other. Moreover, the draw was controlled for teams from the same association in order to split the teams evenly into the two sets of groups for maximum television coverage. The fixtures were decided after the draw. On each matchday, six groups played their matches at 19:00 CET/CEST, while the other six groups played their matches at 21:05 CET/CEST, with the two sets of groups alternating between each matchday. There were other restrictions, e.g., teams from the same city in general did not play at home on the same matchday, and Russian teams did not play at home on the last matchday due to cold weather.
Tiebreakers
The teams are ranked according to points. 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 in the group matches played among the teams in question;
If, after applying criteria 1) to 4) to several teams, two teams still have an equal ranking, criteria 1) to 4) are reapplied exclusively to the matches between the two teams in question to determine their final rankings. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 6) to 8) apply;
superior goal difference from all group matches played;
higher number of goals scored from 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.
Stuttgart are ranked ahead of Copenhagen on head-to-head points.
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Group F
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Group G
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Note 3: The Sporting CP v Videoton match, originally scheduled to take place on 6 December 2012, 21:05 CET, was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch. It was rescheduled to take place on 7 December 2012, 21:05 CET.
Note 6: The Ironi Kiryat Shmona v Athletic Bilbao match, originally scheduled to take place on 22 November 2012, 19:00 CET, was postponed by UEFA on 21 November due to the ongoing security situation in Israel. It was rescheduled to take place on 28 November 2012, 19:00 CET.
Group J
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Group K
;Tiebreakers
Metalist Kharkiv are ranked ahead of Bayer Leverkusen on head-to-head points.
Note 8: The Rapid Wien v Rosenborg match was played behind closed doors due to the punishment handed to Rapid Wien by UEFA following incidents at their play-off round first leg against PAOK on 23 August 2012.
