The 2003–04 UEFA Champions League was the 12th season of UEFA's premier European club football tournament, the UEFA Champions League, since its rebranding from the European Cup in 1992, and the 49th tournament overall. This was the first UEFA Champions League edition to feature a new format with a 16-team knockout round instead of a second group stage.
The competition was won by Portugal's Porto, who defeated Monaco of France 3–0 at the Arena AufSchalke in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. This was Portugal's first win since 1987, and Porto's second European trophy in two years, following their UEFA Cup success from the previous season. This was the second consecutive victory in a European cup for Porto coach José Mourinho, who beat Monaco coached by Didier Deschamps, a two-time winner of the competition as a player. As winners of the competition, Porto went on to represent UEFA in the 2004 Intercontinental Cup.
Milan were the defending champions, but were eliminated by Deportivo La Coruña in the quarter-finals.
Association team allocation A total of 72 teams from 48 UEFA member associations participated in the 2003–04 UEFA Champions League. Liechtenstein (who does not have their own domestic league) as well as Andorra and San Marino did not participate. Also not admitted was Azerbaijan, which was suspended by UEFA. Each association enters a certain number of clubs to the Champions League based on its league coefficient; associations with a higher league coefficient may enter more clubs than associations with a lower league coefficient, but no association may enter more than four teams.
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 16–52 (except Azerbaijan, Liechtenstein, Andorra and San Marino) each have one team qualify.
Association ranking For the 2003–04 UEFA Champions League, the associations are allocated places according to their 2002 UEFA country coefficients, which takes into account their performance in European competitions from 1997–98 to 2001–02.
RankAssociationCoeff.Teams168.4674258.668355.459452.9903542.352636.116734.1652828.725928.2491027.2911126.6251226.1251325.9581425.5251523.2501622.62511721.4751821.332RankAssociationCoeff.Teams1921.04112017.5002117.3752217.2412316.3312415.6652515.1652613.9162713.7492811.832299.332308.041317.165326.999335.165344.832354.083RankAssociationCoeff.Teams363.8311373.331382.997392.498401.832411.665421.333431.332441.331451.165461.165471.1650481.000490.8321500.0000510.000520.0001
Distribution Since the title holders (Milan) also qualified for the Champions League Third qualifying round through their domestic league, one Third qualifying round spot was vacated. Due to this, as well as due to the suspension of Azerbaijan, the following changes to the default access list are made: The champions of association 16 (Switzerland) are promoted from the second qualifying round to the third qualifying round. The champions of associations 26, 27 and 28 (Romania, Hungary and Slovenia) are promoted from the first qualifying round to the second qualifying round.
Teams entering in this roundTeams advancing from previous roundFirst qualifying round(20 teams)20 champions from associations 29–52(except Azerbaijan, Liechtenstein, Andorra and San Marino)Second qualifying round(28 teams)12 champions from associations 17–28 6 runners-up from associations 10–1510 winners from the first qualifying roundThird qualifying round(32 teams)7 champions from associations 10–16 3 runners-up from associations 7–9 5 third-place finishers from associations 1–6 (except Italy) 3 fourth-place finishers from associations 1–314 winners from the second qualifying roundGroup stage(32 teams)1 current Champions League title holder (Milan) 9 champions from associations 1–9 6 runners-up from associations 1–616 winners from the third qualifying roundKnockout 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).
Group stage Real Madrid Milan TH VfB Stuttgart Panathinaikos Real Sociedad Manchester United Lyon PSV Eindhoven Juventus Arsenal Monaco Beşiktaş Internazionale Bayern Munich Olympiacos Porto Third qualifying round Deportivo La Coruña Borussia Dortmund Benfica Dynamo Kyiv Celta Vigo Marseille Lokomotiv Moscow Club Brugge Lazio AEK Athens Sparta Prague Austria Wien Newcastle United Ajax Rangers Grasshopper Chelsea Galatasaray Second qualifying round CSKA Moscow GAK Copenhagen CSKA Sofia Slavia Prague Rosenborg Djurgårdens IF Rapid București Celtic Maccabi Tel Aviv Partizan MTK Hungária Shakhtar Donetsk Dinamo Zagreb Žilina Maribor Anderlecht Wisła Kraków First qualifying round Omonia KR Sliema Wanderers Glentoran HJK BATE Borisov Barry Town Tirana Skonto Kaunas Flora HB Dinamo Tbilisi Bohemians Leotar Grevenmacher Sheriff Tiraspol Vardar Pyunik Irtysh Notes
Round and draw dates The schedule of the competition was as follows (all draws were held at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, unless stated otherwise).
PhaseRoundDraw dateFirst legSecond legQualifyingFirst qualifying round20 June 200316 July 200323 July 2003Second qualifying round30 July 20036 August 2003Third qualifying round25 July 200312–13 August 200326–27 August 2003Group stageMatchday 128 August 2003(Monaco)16–17 September 2003Matchday 230 September – 1 October 2003Matchday 321–22 October 2003Matchday 44–5 November 2003Matchday 525–26 November 2003Matchday 69–10 December 2003Knockout phaseRound of 1612 December 200324–25 February 20049–10 March 2004Quarter-finals12 March 200423–24 March 20046–7 April 2004Semi-finals20–21 April 20044–5 May 2004Final26 May 2004 at Arena AufSchalke, Gelsenkirchen
Qualifying rounds
First qualifying round
Second qualifying round
Third qualifying round
Group stage
Title holders, 16 winners from the third qualifying round, 9 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 advanced to the Champions League play-offs, while the third-placed teams advanced to the Third Round of the UEFA Cup.
Tiebreakers, if necessary, were 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. Cumulative goal difference in all group matches. Total goals scored in all group matches. Higher UEFA coefficient going into the competition.
Celta Vigo, Partizan, Real Sociedad and VfB Stuttgart made their debut appearances in the group stage. This season became the first in the history of the Champions League in which three Greek clubs played in the group stage
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Group E
Group F
Group G
Group H
Knockout phase
Bracket
Round of 16
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
Statistics Statistics exclude qualifying rounds.
Top goalscorers RankPlayerTeamGoalsMinutes played1 Fernando Morientes Monaco910262 Dado Pršo Monaco75123 Roy Makaay Bayern Munich6720 Walter Pandiani Deportivo La Coruña67735 Didier Drogba Marseille5515 Hakan Şükür Galatasaray5539 Juninho Lyon5799 Thierry Henry Arsenal58889 David Trezeguet Juventus4359 Wesley Sonck Ajax4401 Ruud van Nistelrooy Manchester United4596 Albert Luque Deportivo La Coruña4640 Benni McCarthy Porto4643 Ronaldo Real Madrid4729 Andriy Shevchenko Milan4765 Kaká Milan4780 Ludovic Giuly Monaco4783 Robert Pires Arsenal4852 Frank Lampard Chelsea41035 Squad of the season UEFA's Technical Study Group selected the following 20 players for the 2003–04 UEFA Champions League Team of the Tournament.
PlayerTeam Gianluigi Buffon Juventus Vítor Baía Porto Sol Campbell Arsenal Roberto Carlos Real Madrid John Terry Chelsea Patrice Evra Monaco Jorge Andrade Deportivo La Coruña Ricardo Carvalho Porto Kaká AC Milan Patrick Vieira Arsenal Zinedine Zidane Real Madrid Juan Carlos Valerón Deportivo La Coruña Deco Porto Frank Lampard Chelsea Fernando Morientes Monaco Andriy Shevchenko AC Milan Walter Pandiani Deportivo La Coruña Thierry Henry Arsenal Roy Makaay Bayern Munich Ruud van Nistelrooy Manchester United
See also 2003–04 UEFA Cup 2003 UEFA Intertoto Cup 2003–04 UEFA Women's Cup
References
External links
2003–04 All matches – season at UEFA website 2003–04 season at UEFA website European Club Results at RSSSF All scorers 2003–04 UEFA Champions League (excluding qualifying round) according to protocols UEFA + all scorers qualifying round – results and line-ups (archive) 2003/04 List of participants