2021–22 UEFA Champions League
The 2021–22 UEFA Champions League was the 67th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 30th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League.
The Stade de France in Saint-Denis hosted the final | |
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | Qualifying: 22 June – 25 August 2021 Competition proper: 14 September 2021 – 28 May 2022 |
| Teams | Competition proper: 32 Total: 80 (from 54 associations) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | Real Madrid (14th title) |
| Runners-up | Liverpool |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 125 |
| Goals scored | 380 (3.04 per match) |
| Attendance | 4,402,255 (35,218 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) | Karim Benzema (Real Madrid) 15 goals |
| Best player(s) | Karim Benzema (Real Madrid) |
| Best young player | Vinícius Júnior (Real Madrid) |
Real Madrid defeated Liverpool 1–0 in the final, which was played at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, France, for a record-extending 14th European Cup title, and their fifth in nine years. It was originally scheduled to be played at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany. However, due to the postponement and relocation of the 2020 final, the hosts were shifted back a year, with Saint Petersburg scheduled to host the 2022 final. Due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine which commenced in February 2022, the final was eventually moved to Saint-Denis. As the winners, Real Madrid automatically qualified for the 2022–23 UEFA Champions League group stage, as well as earning the right to play against the winners of the 2021–22 UEFA Europa League, Eintracht Frankfurt, in the 2022 UEFA Super Cup and participate in the 2022 FIFA Club World Cup, both of which they went on to win.
Chelsea were the defending champions, but they were eliminated in the quarter-finals by eventual winners Real Madrid.
This season was the first since 1999–2000 (the first season after the dissolution of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup) where three major European club competitions (UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, and the newly created UEFA Europa Conference League) are organised by UEFA. No changes were made to the format of the Champions League, but teams that were eliminated from the preliminary round and first qualifying round of the Champions League were now transferred to the Europa Conference League instead of the Europa League.
On 24 June 2021, UEFA approved the proposal to abolish the away goals rule in all UEFA club competitions, which had been used since 1965. Accordingly, if in a two-legged tie two teams scored the same number of aggregate goals, the winner of the tie would not be decided by the number of away goals scored by each team but always by 30 minutes of extra time, and if the two teams scored the same number of goals in extra time, the winner would be decided by a penalty shoot-out.