2020–21 UEFA Champions League

Did You Know?

• The 2020–21 season was the last season of UEFA European club competitions to feature the away goals rule.
• The UEFA technical study group selected a 23-player squad of the tournament, and player-of-the-season votes were cast by group-stage coaches and 55 journalists from the European Sports Media group.

Association team allocation

A total of 79 teams from 54 of the 55 UEFA member associations took part, with Liechtenstein the only association not organising a domestic league. The number of participating teams per association was determined by the 2019 UEFA country coefficients, which reflected performance in European competitions from 2014–15 to 2018–19. Associations ranked 1–4 each received four qualifying spots, associations 5–6 each received three, associations 7–15 each received two, and associations 16–55 (except Liechtenstein) each received one.

The winners of the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League and 2019–20 UEFA Europa League were each entitled to an additional entry if they had not qualified through their domestic leagues, but both title holders—Bayern Munich and Sevilla—had already qualified domestically, so no extra berths were used. Because the 2020–21 season began before the 2019–20 European season concluded due to pandemic-related delays, UEFA applied an adaptive re-balancing system to adjust the access list once the title-holder berths were confirmed, ensuring that rounds already drawn or played were not affected.

Round and draw dates

The competition schedule was delayed from June 2020 to August due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the new timetable announced by the UEFA Executive Committee on 17 June 2020. All qualifying matches except the play-off round were played as single-leg fixtures, with the host team decided by draw; the preliminary round was held at a neutral venue. The group stage draw was originally planned for the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center in Athens but was moved first to Nyon and then to Geneva, where it took place on 1 October 2020 at the RTS Studios.

Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic

Special rules were introduced for the competition because of the pandemic. If travel restrictions prevented the away team from entering the home team's country or returning home, the match could be played in a neutral country or in the away team's country. A team that refused to play or was deemed responsible for a match not taking place forfeited the match; if both teams were at fault, both were disqualified. If a team had players or officials test positive for SARS-2 coronavirus and could not play before UEFA's deadline, they forfeited.

From the group stage onward, five substitutions were permitted per team, with a sixth allowed in extra time, but each team had only three substitution opportunities during regular time and a fourth in extra time, excluding half-time and extra-time intervals; up to twelve substitutes could be listed. All qualifying matches were played behind closed doors, and from the group stage onward matches could be played at 30% capacity if local authorities allowed.

The final, originally scheduled for the Krestovsky Stadium in Saint Petersburg, was shifted to Istanbul and then relocated to Porto on 13 May 2021 to permit fan attendance.