2015–16 UEFA Champions League

The San Siro in Milan hosted the final.
Tournament details
Dates	Qualifying: 30 June – 26 August 2015 Competition proper: 15 September 2015 – 28 May 2016
Teams	Competition proper: 32 Total: 78 (from 53 associations)
Final positions
Champions	Real Madrid (11th title)
Runners-up	Atlético Madrid
Tournament statistics
Matches played	125
Goals scored	347 (2.78 per match)
Attendance	5,114,427 (40,915 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Cristiano Ronaldo (16 goals)
← 2014–15 2016–17 →

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.^[1] 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 (1–1 after extra time) 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 (their third Club World Cup appearance),^[2] and also earned the right to play against the winners of the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League, Sevilla, in the 2016 UEFA Super Cup.^[3]

Format changes[edit]

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):^[4]

• 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.^[5]

Association team allocation[edit]

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:^[6]

• 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.^[7] 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[edit]

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.^[8][9]

Apart from the allocation based on the country coefficients, associations may have additional teams participating in the Champions League, as noted below:

• 
  (EL) – Additional berth for Europa League title holders

Rank Association Coeff. Teams Notes 1 Spain 97.713 4 +1(EL) 2 England 84.748 3 Germany 81.641 4 Italy 66.938 3 5 Portugal 62.299 6 France 56.500 7 Russia 46.998 2 8 Netherlands 44.312 9 Ukraine 40.966 10 Belgium 36.300 11 Turkey 34.200 12 Greece 33.600 13 Switzerland 33.225 14 Austria 30.925 15 Czech Republic 29.350 16 Romania 27.257 1 17 Israel 26.875 18 Cyprus 23.250

Rank Association Coeff. Teams Notes 19 Denmark 21.300 1 20 Croatia 19.625 21 Poland 18.875 22 Belarus 18.625 23 Scotland 16.566 24 Sweden 16.325 25 Bulgaria 15.625 26 Norway 14.275 27 Serbia 14.125 28 Hungary 11.625 29 Slovenia 11.000 30 Slovakia 11.000 31 Moldova 10.375 32 Azerbaijan 10.375 33 Georgia 9.875 34 Kazakhstan 8.250 35 Bosnia and Herzegovina 7.500 36 Finland 7.175

Rank Association Coeff. Teams Notes 37 Iceland 6.750 1 38 Latvia 6.250 39 Montenegro 6.000 40 Albania 5.500 41 Lithuania 5.250 42 Macedonia 5.250 43 Republic of Ireland 5.125 44 Luxembourg 4.875 45 Malta 4.833 46 Liechtenstein 4.500 0 47 Northern Ireland 3.625 1 48 Wales 3.000 49 Armenia 2.875 50 Estonia 2.875 51 Faroe Islands 2.125 52 San Marino 0.999 53 Andorra 0.833 54 Gibraltar 0.000

Distribution[edit]

In the default access list, the Champions League title holders enter the group stage.^[10][11] 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.^[12][13]

Teams[edit]

League positions of the previous season shown in parentheses, except Sevilla which qualified as Europa League title holders. (TH: Champions League title holders; EL: Europa League title holders).^[14][15]

Group stage
BarcelonaTH(1st)	Bayern Munich (1st)	Porto (2nd)	Gent (1st)
Real Madrid (2nd)	Wolfsburg (2nd)	Paris Saint-Germain (1st)	Galatasaray (1st)
Atlético Madrid (3rd)	Borussia Mönchengladbach (3rd)	Lyon (2nd)	Olympiacos (1st)
Chelsea (1st)	Juventus (1st)	Zenit Saint Petersburg (1st)	Sevilla (EL)
Manchester City (2nd)	Roma (2nd)	PSV Eindhoven (1st)
Arsenal (3rd)	Benfica (1st)	Dynamo Kyiv (1st)
Play-off round
Champions Route	League Route
	Valencia (4th)	Bayer Leverkusen (4th)	Sporting CP (3rd)
	Manchester United (4th)	Lazio (3rd)
Third qualifying round
Champions Route	League Route
Basel (1st)	Monaco (3rd)	Club Brugge (2nd)	Rapid Wien (2nd)
Red Bull Salzburg (1st)	CSKA Moscow (2nd)	Fenerbahçe (2nd)	Sparta Prague (2nd)
Viktoria Plzeň (1st)	Ajax (2nd)	Panathinaikos (2nd)
	Shakhtar Donetsk (2nd)	Young Boys (2nd)
Second qualifying round
Steaua București (1st)	Malmö FF (1st)	Qarabağ (1st)	Skënderbeu Korçë (1st)
Maccabi Tel Aviv (1st)	Ludogorets Razgrad (1st)	Dila Gori (1st)	Žalgiris Vilnius (1st)
APOEL (1st)	Molde (1st)	Astana (1st)	Vardar (1st)
Midtjylland (1st)	Partizan (1st)	Sarajevo (1st)	Dundalk (1st)
Dinamo Zagreb (1st)	Videoton (1st)	HJK (1st)	Fola Esch (1st)
Lech Poznań (1st)	Maribor (1st)	Stjarnan (1st)	Hibernians (1st)
BATE Borisov (1st)	Trenčín (1st)	Ventspils (1st)
Celtic (1st)	Milsami Orhei (1st)	Rudar Pljevlja (1st)
First qualifying round
Crusaders (1st)	Pyunik (1st)	B36 Tórshavn (1st)	FC Santa Coloma (1st)
The New Saints (1st)	Levadia Tallinn (1st)	Folgore (1st)	Lincoln Red Imps (1st)

Round and draw dates[edit]

The schedule of the competition is as follows (all draws are held at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, unless stated otherwise).^[10][16][17]

Qualifying rounds[edit]

In the qualifying rounds and the play-off round, teams were divided into seeded and unseeded teams based on their 2015 UEFA club coefficients,^[18][19][20] 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[edit]

The draw for the first and second qualifying rounds was held on 22 June 2015.^[21][22] The first legs were played on 30 June and 1 July, and the second legs were played on 7 July 2015.

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Lincoln Red Imps	2–1	FC Santa Coloma	0–0	2–1
Crusaders	1–1 (a)	Levadia Tallinn	0–0	1–1
Pyunik	4–2	Folgore	2–1	2–1
B36 Tórshavn	2–6	The New Saints	1–2	1–4

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.^[23]

Second qualifying round[edit]

The first legs were played on 14 and 15 July, and the second legs were played on 21 and 22 July 2015.

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Hibernians	3–6	Maccabi Tel Aviv	2–1	1–5
APOEL	1–1 (a)	Vardar	0–0	1–1
Qarabağ	1–0	Rudar Pljevlja	0–0	1–0
Sarajevo	0–3	Lech Poznań	0–2	0–1
Maribor	2–3	Astana	1–0	1–3
BATE Borisov	2–1	Dundalk	2–1	0–0
Ventspils	1–4[A]	HJK	1–3	0–1
Midtjylland	3–0	Lincoln Red Imps	1–0	2–0
Molde	5–1	Pyunik	5–0	0–1
Malmö FF	1–0	Žalgiris Vilnius	0–0	1–0
Celtic	6–1	Stjarnan	2–0	4–1
Trenčín	3–4	Steaua București	0–2	3–2
Partizan	3–0	Dila Gori	1–0	2–0
Ludogorets Razgrad	1–3	Milsami Orhei	0–1	1–2
Dinamo Zagreb	4–1[A]	Fola Esch	1–1	3–0
Skënderbeu Korçë	6–4	Crusaders	4–1	2–3
The New Saints	1–2	Videoton	0–1	1–1 (a.e.t.)

Notes

Third qualifying round[edit]

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.^[24][25] The first legs were played on 28 and 29 July, and the second legs were played on 4 and 5 August 2015.

Champions Route

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Lech Poznań	1–4	Basel	1–3	0–1
Milsami Orhei	0–4	Skënderbeu Korçë	0–2	0–2
HJK	3–4	Astana	0–0	3–4
Celtic	1–0	Qarabağ	1–0	0–0
Steaua București	3–5	Partizan	1–1	2–4
Midtjylland	2–2 (a)	APOEL	1–2	1–0
Maccabi Tel Aviv	3–2	Viktoria Plzeň	1–2	2–0
Dinamo Zagreb	4–4 (a)	Molde	1–1	3–3
Videoton	1–2	BATE Borisov	1–1	0–1
Red Bull Salzburg	2–3	Malmö FF	2–0	0–3

League Route

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Panathinaikos	2–4	Club Brugge	2–1	0–3
Young Boys	1–7	Monaco	1–3	0–4
CSKA Moscow	5–4	Sparta Prague	2–2	3–2
Rapid Wien	5–4	Ajax	2–2	3–2
Fenerbahçe	0–3	Shakhtar Donetsk	0–0	0–3

Play-off round[edit]

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.^[26][27] The first legs were played on 18 and 19 August, and the second legs were played on 25 and 26 August 2015.

Champions Route

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Astana	2–1	APOEL	1–0	1–1
Skënderbeu Korçë	2–6	Dinamo Zagreb	1–2	1–4
Celtic	3–4	Malmö FF	3–2	0–2
Basel	3–3 (a)	Maccabi Tel Aviv	2–2	1–1
BATE Borisov	2–2 (a)	Partizan	1–0	1–2

League Route

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Lazio	1–3	Bayer Leverkusen	1–0	0–3
Manchester United	7–1	Club Brugge	3–1	4–0
Sporting CP	3–4	CSKA Moscow	2–1	1–3
Rapid Wien	2–3	Shakhtar Donetsk	0–1	2–2
Valencia	4–3	Monaco	3–1	1–2

Group stage[edit]

Barcelona

Madrid

Valencia

Sevilla

London

Manchester

Bayern

Wolfsburg

M'gladbach

Leverkusen

Juventus

Roma

Benfica

Porto

PSG

Lyon

Zenit

CSKA

PSV

Dyn. Kyiv

Shakhtar

Gent

Galatasaray

Olympiacos

M. Tel Aviv

Din. Zagreb

BATE

Malmö

Astana
(not on map)

Madrid teams
Atlético Madrid
Real Madrid

London teams
Arsenal
Chelsea

Manchester teams
Manchester City
Manchester United

Location of teams of the 2015–16 UEFA Champions League group stage.
Brown: Group A; Red: Group B; Orange: Group C; Yellow: Group D;
Green: Group E; Blue: Group F; Purple: Group G; Pink: Group H.

The draw for the group stage was held in Monaco on 27 August 2015.^[28][29] 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):^[30][31]

• Pot 1 contained the title holders and the champions of the top seven associations based on their 2014 UEFA country coefficients.^[8][9] As the title holders (Barcelona) were one of the champions of the top seven associations, the champions of the association ranked eighth were also seeded into Pot 1 (regulations Article 13.05).^[6]


• Pot 2, 3 and 4 contained the remaining teams, seeded based on their 2015 UEFA club coefficients.^[18][19][20]

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).

A total of 17 national associations were represented in the group stage. Astana, Borussia Mönchengladbach and Gent made their debut appearances in the group stage. Astana were the first team from Kazakhstan to play in the Champions League group stage.^[32] 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.^[33] 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.

Group A[edit]

Pos	Team [ v t e ]	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		RM	PSG	SHK	MAL
1	Real Madrid	6	5	1	0	19	3	+16	16	Advance to knockout phase		—	1–0	4–0	8–0
2	Paris Saint-Germain	6	4	1	1	12	1	+11	13			0–0	—	2–0	2–0
3	Shakhtar Donetsk	6	1	0	5	7	14	−7	3	Transfer to Europa League		3–4	0–3	—	4–0
4	Malmö	6	1	0	5	1	21	−20	3			0–2	0–5	1–0	—

Group B[edit]

Pos	Team [ v t e ]	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		WOL	PSV	MU	CSKA
1	Wolfsburg	6	4	0	2	9	6	+3	12	Advance to knockout phase		—	2–0	3–2	1–0
2	PSV Eindhoven	6	3	1	2	8	7	+1	10			2–0	—	2–1	2–1
3	Manchester United	6	2	2	2	7	7	0	8	Transfer to Europa League		2–1	0–0	—	1–0
4	CSKA Moscow	6	1	1	4	5	9	−4	4			0–2	3–2	1–1	—

Group C[edit]

Pos	Team [ v t e ]	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		ATL	BEN	GAL	AST
1	Atlético Madrid	6	4	1	1	11	3	+8	13	Advance to knockout phase		—	1–2	2–0	4–0
2	Benfica	6	3	1	2	10	8	+2	10			1–2	—	2–1	2–0
3	Galatasaray	6	1	2	3	6	10	−4	5	Transfer to Europa League		0–2	2–1	—	1–1
4	Astana	6	0	4	2	5	11	−6	4			0–0	2–2	2–2	—

Group D[edit]

Pos	Team [ v t e ]	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		MC	JUV	SEV	MGB
1	Manchester City	6	4	0	2	12	8	+4	12	Advance to knockout phase		—	1–2	2–1	4–2
2	Juventus	6	3	2	1	6	3	+3	11			1–0	—	2–0	0–0
3	Sevilla	6	2	0	4	8	11	−3	6	Transfer to Europa League		1–3	1–0	—	3–0
4	Borussia Mönchengladbach	6	1	2	3	8	12	−4	5			1–2	1–1	4–2	—

Group E[edit]

Pos	Team [ v t e ]	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		BAR	ROM	LEV	BATE
1	Barcelona	6	4	2	0	15	4	+11	14	Advance to knockout phase		—	6–1	2–1	3–0
2	Roma	6	1	3	2	11	16	−5	6			1–1	—	3–2	0–0
3	Bayer Leverkusen	6	1	3	2	13	12	+1	6	Transfer to Europa League		1–1	4–4	—	4–1
4	BATE Borisov	6	1	2	3	5	12	−7	5			0–2	3–2	1–1	—

Group F[edit]

Pos	Team [ v t e ]	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		BAY	ARS	OLY	DZG
1	Bayern Munich	6	5	0	1	19	3	+16	15	Advance to knockout phase		—	5–1	4–0	5–0
2	Arsenal	6	3	0	3	12	10	+2	9			2–0	—	2–3	3–0
3	Olympiacos	6	3	0	3	6	13	−7	9	Transfer to Europa League		0–3	0–3	—	2–1
4	Dinamo Zagreb	6	1	0	5	3	14	−11	3			0–2	2–1	0–1	—

Group G[edit]

Pos	Team [ v t e ]	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		CHL	DKV	POR	MTA
1	Chelsea	6	4	1	1	13	3	+10	13	Advance to knockout phase		—	2–1	2–0	4–0
2	Dynamo Kyiv	6	3	2	1	8	4	+4	11			0–0	—	2–2	1–0
3	Porto	6	3	1	2	9	8	+1	10	Transfer to Europa League		2–1	0–2	—	2–0
4	Maccabi Tel Aviv	6	0	0	6	1	16	−15	0			0–4	0–2	1–3	—

Group H[edit]

Pos	Team [ v t e ]	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		ZEN	GNT	VAL	LYO
1	Zenit Saint Petersburg	6	5	0	1	13	6	+7	15	Advance to knockout phase		—	2–1	2–0	3–1
2	Gent	6	3	1	2	8	7	+1	10			2–1	—	1–0	1–1
3	Valencia	6	2	0	4	5	9	−4	6	Transfer to Europa League		2–3	2–1	—	0–2
4	Lyon	6	1	1	4	5	9	−4	4			0–2	1–2	0–1	—

Knockout phase[edit]

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[edit]

	Round of 16						Quarter-finals						Semi-finals						Final
	Paris Saint-Germain	2	2	4
	Chelsea	1	1	2
							Paris Saint-Germain	2	0	2
							Manchester City	2	1	3
	Dynamo Kyiv	1	0	1
	Manchester City	3	0	3
													Manchester City	0	0	0
												Real Madrid	0	1	1
	Gent	2	0	2
	Wolfsburg	3	1	4
							Wolfsburg	2	0	2
							Real Madrid	0	3	3
	Roma	0	0	0
	Real Madrid	2	2	4
																		Real Madrid (pen.)	1 (5)
																			Atlético Madrid	1 (3)
	Arsenal	0	1	1
	Barcelona	2	3	5
							Barcelona	2	0	2
							Atlético Madrid	1	2	3
	PSV Eindhoven	0	0	0 (7)
	Atlético Madrid (pen.)	0	0	0 (8)
													Atlético Madrid (a)	1	1	2
												Bayern Munich	0	2	2
	Juventus	2	2	4
	Bayern Munich (aet)	2	4	6
							Bayern Munich	1	2	3
							Benfica	0	2	2
	Benfica	1	2	3
	Zenit Saint Petersburg	0	1	1

Round of 16[edit]

The draw for the round of 16 was held on 14 December 2015.^[34][35] 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.

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Gent	2–4	Wolfsburg	2–3	0–1
Roma	0–4	Real Madrid	0–2	0–2
Paris Saint-Germain	4–2	Chelsea	2–1	2–1
Arsenal	1–5	Barcelona	0–2	1–3
Juventus	4–6	Bayern Munich	2–2	2–4 (a.e.t.)
PSV Eindhoven	0–0 (7–8 p)	Atlético Madrid	0–0	0–0 (a.e.t.)
Benfica	3–1	Zenit Saint Petersburg	1–0	2–1
Dynamo Kyiv	1–3	Manchester City	1–3	0–0

Quarter-finals[edit]

The draw for the quarter-finals was held on 18 March 2016.^[36][37] The first legs were played on 5 and 6 April, and the second legs were played on 12 and 13 April 2016.

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Wolfsburg	2–3	Real Madrid	2–0	0–3
Bayern Munich	3–2	Benfica	1–0	2–2
Barcelona	2–3	Atlético Madrid	2–1	0–2
Paris Saint-Germain	2–3	Manchester City	2–2	0–1

Semi-finals[edit]

The draw for the semi-finals was held on 15 April 2016.^[38][39] The first legs were played on 26 and 27 April, and the second legs were played on 3 and 4 May 2016.

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Manchester City	0–1	Real Madrid	0–0	0–1
Atlético Madrid	2–2 (a)	Bayern Munich	1–0	1–2