The 2018–19 UEFA Champions League group stage is set to begin on 18 September and end on 12 December 2018.[1] A total of 32 teams will compete in the group stage to decide the 16 places in the knockout stage of the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League.[2]
Teams
Below are the teams (with their 2018 UEFA club coefficients),[3] grouped by their seeding pot. They include:
TH Champions League title holders, automatically placed into Pot 1 as top seed.
EL Europa League title holders, automatically placed into Pot 1 as second top seed.
CP Winners of play-off round (Champions Path).
LP Winners of play-off round (League Path).
Format
In each group, teams play against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The group winners and runners-up go to the round of 16, while the third-placed teams enter the Europa League round of 32.
Tiebreakers
Teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Articles 17.01):[2]
Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
Away goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
Goal difference in all group matches;
Goals scored in all group matches;
Away goals scored in all group matches;
Wins in all group matches;
Away wins in all group matches;
Disciplinary points (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points);
The group stage matches will be played from 18–19 September, 2–3 October, 23–24 October, 6–7 November, 27–28 November, up to 11–12 December 2018.[1] The scheduled kickoff times are 21:00 CEST/CET, with two matches on each Tuesday and Wednesday scheduled for 18:55 CEST/CET.
↑The Manchester United v Valencia match, originally scheduled for 21:00 CEST, was delayed to 21:05 CEST due to late team arrival caused by heavy traffic.[12]