UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FORMAT

, teams from which have reached the group stage of the UEFA Champions League UEFA member country that has been represented in the group stage UEFA member country that has not been represented in the group stage Not a UEFA member
As of 2009, the UEFA Champions League commences with a round-robin group stage of 32 teams, which is preceded by two qualification 'streams' for teams which do not receive direct entry to the tournament proper. The two streams are divided between teams which have qualified by virtue of being league champions, and those which have qualified by virtue of finishing 2nd-4th in their national championship.
The number of teams that each association enters into the UEFA Champions League is based upon the UEFA coefficients of the member associations. These coefficients are generated by the results of clubs representing each association during the previous five Champions League and UEFA Cup seasons. The higher an association's coefficient, the more teams which represent the association in the Champions League and the fewer qualification rounds that the association's teams must compete in.
The number of places in the competition is currently allocated as so:
• associations ranked 1 to 3 have four positions,
• associations ranked 4 to 6 have three positions,
• associations ranked 7 to 15 have two positions,
• associations ranked 16 or lower have one position.
Of these, 22 teams receive automatic qualification for the group stage, as follows:
• 1st-3rd ranked teams of associations ranked 1 to 3
• 1st-2nd ranked teams of associations ranked 4 to 6
• 1st ranked team of associations ranked 7 to 12
• Champions League holders or 1st ranked team of association ranked 13
The situation with holders of the Champions League has not always been clearly defined. There was controversy when Liverpool won the competition in 2004–05 but finished outside the top four in the FA Premier League. The Football Association ruled that Everton, who finished fourth in the Premier League, should get the final English place in the 2005–06 European Cup. UEFA came to an agreement that both Merseyside rivals would be allowed to enter the competition with Liverpool starting from the first qualifying round and Everton starting from the third qualifying round. This confusion resulted in the current ruling, whereby if the European Cup winners fail to finish in one of its national league's qualifying positions, it will take the place of the lowest placed team in its association. The superseded team will go to the UEFA Europa League.
5 of the remaining ten qualifying places are granted to the winners of a four round qualifying tournament between the remaining 39 or 38 national champions, within which those champions from associations with higher coefficients receive byes to later rounds. The other 5 are granted to the winners of a two round qualifying tournament between the 15 clubs from the associations ranked 1-15 which have qualified based upon finishing 2nd-4th in their national league.
In addition to sporting criteria, any club must be licensed by its national association to participate in the Champions league. To obtain a license, club must meet certain stadium, infrastructure and finance requirements.
In 2005-06, Liverpool and Artmedia Bratislava of Slovakia became the first teams to reach the Champions League group phase after playing in all three qualifying rounds. In 2008-09, both BATE and Anorthosis Famagusta achieved the same feat. Barcelona, Manchester United, and Porto are the teams that have appeared most often in the group stage: fourteen times each. FC Porto have only won the tournament once since the establishment of the group stage (2004), Manchester United (1999 and 2008) and Barcelona (2006 and 2009) have both won it twice.
Between 2003 and 2008, no differentiation was made between champions and non-champions in qualification. The sixteen top ranked teams spread across the biggest domestic leagues qualified directly for the tournament group stage. Prior to this, three preliminary knockout qualifying rounds whittled down the remaining teams, with different teams starting in different rounds.
[edit] Tournament
The tournament proper begins with a group stage of 32 teams, divided into 8 groups. Seeding is used whilst making the draw for this stage, whilst teams from the same country may not be drawn into groups together. Each team meets the others in its group home and away in a round-robin format. The top two teams from each group progress to the round of 16, which commences the knock-out tournament. For this stage, group winners play against group runners-up. From the quarter-finals onwards, the draw is entirely random.
The group stage is played through the autumn, whilst the knock-out stage starts after a winter break. The knock-out ties are played in a two-legged format, with the exception of the final. This is typically held in the final two weeks of May.