2015–16 UEFA Champions League


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 2016 UEFA Champions League Final was played between Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid at the San Siro in Milan, Italy. 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. Real Madrid defeated Atlético Madrid 5–3 on penalties in the final to win a record-extending eleventh European Cup/Champions League title.
As the winners of the 2015–16 UEFA Champions League, Real Madrid qualified as the UEFA representative at the 2016 FIFA Club World Cup in Japan, and also earned the right to play against the winners of the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League, Sevilla, in the 2016 UEFA Super Cup.

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 :
A total of 78 teams from 53 of the 54 UEFA member associations participated in the 2015–16 UEFA Champions League. The association ranking based on the UEFA country coefficients was used to determine the number of participating teams for each association:
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:

Distribution

In the default access list, the Champions League title holders enter the group stage. However, since Barcelona already qualified for the group stage, the Champions League title holders berth in the group stage is given to the Europa League title holders, Sevilla.

Teams

League positions of the previous season shown in parentheses, except Sevilla which qualified as Europa League title holders..

Round and draw dates

The schedule of the competition is as follows.

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 and League Route. 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 and League Route. 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 :
  • 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 were one of the champions of the top seven associations, the champions of the association ranked eighth were also seeded into Pot 1.
  • 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.
A total of 17 national associations were represented in the group stage. Astana, Borussia Mönchengladbach and KAA Gent made their debut appearances in the group stage. Astana were the first team from Kazakhstan to play in the Champions League group stage. With the maximum teams from the same association in the group stage increased from four to five, Spain became the first association to have five teams in the Champions League group stage. Since all three qualifying teams from the highest ranked leagues won their ties in the league route playoff round, the three countries of Spain, England and Germany had 13 of the 32 clubs in the group stage.
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 in the order given to determine the rankings :
  1. higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among the teams in question;
  2. superior goal difference from the group matches played among the teams in question;
  3. higher number of goals scored in the group matches played among the teams in question;
  4. higher number of goals scored away from home in the group matches played among the teams in question;
  5. if, after having applied criteria 1 to 4, teams still have an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 4 are reapplied exclusively to the matches between the teams in question to determine their final rankings. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 6 to 12 apply;
  6. superior goal difference in all group matches;
  7. higher number of goals scored in all group matches;
  8. higher number of away goals scored in all group matches;
  9. higher number of wins in all group matches;
  10. higher number of away wins in all group matches;
  11. lower disciplinary points total based only on yellow and red cards received in all group matches ;
  12. higher club coefficient.

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Group E

Group F

Group G

Group H

Knockout phase

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:
  • In the draw for the round of 16, the eight group winners were seeded, and the eight group runners-up were unseeded. The seeded teams were drawn against the unseeded teams, with the seeded teams hosting the second leg. Teams from the same group or the same association could not be drawn against each other.
  • In the draws for the quarter-finals onwards, there were no seedings, and teams from the same group or the same association could be drawn against each other.

    Bracket

Round of 16

The draw for the round of 16 was held on 14 December 2015. The first legs were played on 16, 17, 23 and 24 February, and the second legs were played on 8, 9, 15 and 16 March 2016.

Quarter-finals

The draw for the quarter-finals was held on 18 March 2016. The first legs were played on 5 and 6 April, and the second legs were played on 12 and 13 April 2016.

Semi-finals

The draw for the semi-finals was held on 15 April 2016. The first legs were played on 26 and 27 April, and the second legs were played on 3 and 4 May 2016.

Final

The final was played on 28 May 2016 at the San Siro in Milan, Italy. The "home" team was determined by an additional draw held after the semi-final draw.

Statistics

Statistics exclude qualifying rounds and play-off round.

Top goalscorers

Top assists

Squad of the Season

The UEFA technical study group selected the following 18 players as the squad of the tournament.
NameTeam
Jan Oblak Atlético Madrid
Manuel Neuer Bayern Munich
Diego Godín Atlético Madrid
Juanfran Atlético Madrid
Thiago Silva Paris Saint-Germain
Sergio Ramos Real Madrid
Marcelo Real Madrid
Gabi Atlético Madrid
Koke Atlético Madrid
Andrés Iniesta Barcelona
Toni Kroos Real Madrid
Luka Modrić Real Madrid
Antoine Griezmann Atlético Madrid
Luis Suárez Barcelona
Lionel Messi Barcelona
Robert Lewandowski Bayern Munich
Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid
Gareth Bale Real Madrid

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