| Tourney Name: | UEFA Champions League |
| Year: | 1994β95 |
| Size: | 250px |
| Dates: | Qualifying: 10β24 August 1994 Competition proper: 14 September 1994 β 24 May 1995 |
| Num Teams: | Competition proper: 16 Total: 24 |
| Champion Other: | Ajax |
| Count: | 4 |
| Second Other: | AC Milan |
| Matches: | 61 |
| Goals: | 140 |
| Attendance: | 2328515 |
| Top Scorer: | George Weah (Paris Saint-Germain) 7 goals |
| Prevseason: | 1993β94 |
| Nextseason: | 1995β96 |
The 1994β95 UEFA Champions League was the 40th edition of UEFA's premier European club football tournament, and the third since its rebranding as the UEFA Champions League. The tournament was won by Ajax of the Netherlands with a late goal in the final against defending champions Milan of Italy. Ajax won the competition without losing a game, either in the group or the knock-out stage, clinching the title for the first time since 1973.
Compared to the previous edition of the European Cup, radical changes were made to the format of the tournament, due to a recently expired contract that bound UEFA to the EBU for the transmission of the final. This gave occasion for a general review of the format, which attracted the interest of new and financially well-off private television companies. This edition included four groups of four teams each in the group stage, up from two groups of four teams each in 1993β94. It was also the first year in which eight teams advanced to the knock-out stage and the first of three years in which the champions of smaller nations entered the UEFA Cup instead of the Champions League. It was also the first time that this competition was known as the UEFA Champions League from the first to the last match of the competition: in two previous seasons, the UEFA Champions League involved the matches played between the second round and the European Cup final.
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia's entrants were unable to participate for the third season in a row due to the UN economic sanctions. Milan were the defending champions, but were defeated by Ajax in the final.
24 teams entered the competition: the UEFA Champions League holders, Milan, who also won their domestic league, as well as the 23 best-ranked national champions according to the 1994 UEFA club seeding coefficients. The title holders and the other 7 best-ranked national champions received a bye to the group stage, while the national champions ranked 9β24 entered in the qualifying round. The remaining national champions were only allowed to participate in the 1994β95 UEFA Cup.
| Round | Teams entering in this round | Teams advancing from the previous round | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qualifying round (16 teams) |
| ||
| Group stage (16 teams) |
|
| |
| Knockout stage (8 teams) |
|
Since the title holders (Milan) qualified via their domestic league and club seeding coefficient, the title holder spot was vacated and the following changes to the default access list were made:
The teams were ranked according to their 1995 UEFA seeding coefficients, which took into account performances in European competitions from 1989β90 to 1993β94. Each club and national association had a seeding coefficient calculated (total points divided by total matches), with clubs taking the higher of these values as their final coefficient. This ranking then determined the competition (Champions League or UEFA Cup) and round (group stage or qualifying round) the teams would enter.[1] [2] [3] Therefore, which associations had a participating team in the 1994β95 Champions League was partially dependant upon which club won the national championship.
| Teams ranked 1 to 24 qualified | |
| Teams ranked 25 and below did not qualify |
| Association | Team | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Group stage | |||
| 1 | Milan TH | 1.861 | |
| 2 | 1.642 | ||
| 3 | 1.631 | ||
| 4 | 1.625 | ||
| 5 | 1.575 | ||
| 6 | 1.567 | ||
| 7 | 1.470 | ||
| 8 | 1.441 | ||
| Qualifying round | |||
| 9 | 1.426 | ||
| 10 | 1.400 | ||
| 1.400 | |||
| 12 | 1.214 | ||
| 13 | 1.187 | ||
| 14 | 1.178 | ||
| 15 | 1.125 | ||
| 1.125 | |||
| 17 | 1.115 | ||
| 18 | 1.000 | ||
| 1.000 | |||
| 1.000 | |||
| 21 | 0.906 | ||
| 22 | 0.875 | ||
| 23 | 0.803 | ||
| 24 | 0.750 | ||
| Entered UEFA Cup preliminary round | |||
| 25 | 0.700 | ||
| 0.700 | |||
| 27 | 0.652 | ||
| 28 | 0.500 | ||
| 0.500 | |||
| 0.500 | |||
| 0.500 | |||
| 32 | 0.475 | ||
| 33 | 0.400 | ||
| 0.400 | |||
| 35 | 0.250 | ||
| 36 | 0.208 | ||
| 37 | 0.166 | ||
| 38 | 0.000 | ||
| 0.000 | |||
| 0.000 | |||
| 0.000 | |||
| 0.000 | |||
| 0.000 | |||
| 0.000 | |||
| 0.000 | |||
| 0.000 | |||
The schedule of the competition is as follows. The draw was held in Geneva, Switzerland on 20 July 1994, where qualifying round pairs as well as group formations were drawn. The knockout phase pairs were made automatically by a predetermined bracket.
| Phase | Round | Draw date | First leg | Second leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qualifying round | 20 July 1994 | 10 August 1994 | 24 August 1994 | |
| Group stage | Matchday 1 | 14 September 1994 | ||
| Matchday 2 | 28 September 1994 | |||
| Matchday 3 | 19 October 1994 | |||
| Matchday 4 | 2 November 1994 | |||
| Matchday 5 | 23 November 1994 | |||
| Matchday 6 | 7 December 1994 | |||
| Knockout phase | Quarter-finals | 1 March 1995 | 15 March 1995 | |
| Semi-finals | 5 April 1995 | 19 April 1995 | ||
| Final | 24 May 1995 at Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna | |||
See main article: 1994β95 UEFA Champions League qualifying round.
See main article: 1994β95 UEFA Champions League group stage.
Ten of the sixteen participating teams made their UEFA Champions League group stage debut: AEK Athens, Ajax, Bayern Munich, Benfica, Casino Salzburg, Dynamo Kyiv, Hajduk Split, Manchester United, Paris Saint-Germain and Steaua BucureΘti. Two of these teams, Benfica and Dynamo Kyiv, had previously contested the 1991β92 European Cup group stage. Casino Salzburg, Hajduk Split, Manchester United and Steaua BucureΘti were the first teams to qualify for group stage from Austria, Croatia, England and Romania respectively.
It was also the last edition of the Champions League that saw teams in the group stage awarded two points for each win, with one point awarded for each draw.
See main article: 1994β95 UEFA Champions League knockout stage.
