The 2004–05 UEFA Champions League was the 50th season of UEFA's premier European club football tournament, and the 13th since it was rebranded as the UEFA Champions League in 1992. The competition was won by Liverpool, who beat Milan on penalties in the final, having come back from 3–0 down at half-time. Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard was named as UEFA's Footballer of the Year for his key role in the final and throughout the Champions League season. The final, played at the Atatürk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul, Turkey, is often regarded as one of the best in the history of the tournament.[1][2][3]
Porto were the defending champions, but were eliminated by Milan's cross-city rival Internazionale in the first knockout round.
Association team allocation
A total of 72 teams from 48 of the 52 UEFA member associations participated in the 2004–05 UEFA Champions League (the exception being Liechtenstein, which does not organise a domestic league, Andorra and San Marino). Kazakhstan also did not participate this year as none of their clubs were able to obtain UEFA license. 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 16–49 (except Liechtenstein) each have one team qualify.
Association ranking
For the 2004–05 UEFA Champions League, the associations are allocated places according to their 2003 UEFA country coefficients, which takes into account their performance in European competitions from 1998–1999 to 2002–03.[7]
Apart from the allocation based on the country coefficients, associations may have additional teams participating in the Champions League, as noted below:
Since the title holders (Porto) qualified for the Champions League group stage through their domestic league, and the group stage spot reserved for the title holders is vacated, while no team from Kazakhstan was admitted, the following changes to the default access list are made:[8]
The champions of association 10 (Turkey) are promoted from the third qualifying round to the group stage.
The champions of association 16 (Austria) are promoted from the second qualifying round to the third qualifying round.
The champions of associations 26, 27 and 28 (Romania, Hungary and Cyprus) are promoted from the first qualifying round to the second qualifying round.
Teams entering in this round
Teams advancing from previous round
First qualifying round (20 teams)
20 champions from associations 29–49 (except Liechtenstein)
Second qualifying round (28 teams)
12 champions from associations 17–28
6 runners-up from associations 10–15
10 winners from the first qualifying round
Third qualifying round (32 teams)
6 champions from associations 11–16
3 runners-up from associations 7–9
6 third-place finishers from associations 1–6
3 fourth-place finishers from associations 1–3
14 winners from the second qualifying round
Group stage (32 teams)
10 champions from associations 1–10 (including title holders Porto)
6 runners-up from associations 1–6
16 winners from the third qualifying round
Knockout phase (16 teams)
8 group winners from the group stage
8 group runners-up from the group stage
Teams
League positions of the previous season shown in parentheses (TH: Champions League title holders).
Location of teams of the 2004–05 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.
16 winners from the third qualifying round, 10 champions from countries ranked 1–10, and six second-placed teams from countries ranked 1–6 were drawn into eight groups of four teams each. The top two teams in each group will advance to the Champions League play-offs, while the third-placed teams will advance to the third round of the UEFA Cup.
Tiebreakers, if necessary, are applied in the following order:
Points earned in head-to-head matches between the tied teams.
Total goals scored in head-to-head matches between the tied teams.
Away goals scored in head-to-head matches between the tied teams.
^With Dynamo Kyiv leading 1–0, the match was abandoned at half-time after referee Anders Frisk was hit by an object thrown from the crowd. UEFA awarded Dynamo Kyiv a 3–0 win and ordered Roma to play their next two European games behind closed doors.[13]
Match was abandoned after 72 minutes as Milan led 1–0 due to flares thrown onto the pitch by Internazionale fans, one of which struck Milan goalkeeper Dida.[21]UEFA awarded Milan a 3–0 win (5–0 aggregate) and ordered Internazionale to play their next four European games behind closed doors.[22]
^"2. Finals"(PDF). UEFA Champions League Statistics Handbook 2022/23. Nyon: Union of European Football Associations. 4 June 2023. p. 2. Archived(PDF) from the original on 21 August 2023. Retrieved 17 June 2024.
