1993–94 UEFA Champions League
The 1993–94 UEFA Champions League was the 39th season of the UEFA Champions League, UEFA's premier club football tournament, and the second season with the UEFA Champions League logo (it was adopted in the group stage and semi-finals, the rest of the tournament continued to be called "European Champion Clubs' Cup" or "European Cup"). The competition was won by AC Milan, their fifth title, beating Barcelona 4–0 in the final. Marseille were the defending champions, but were not allowed to enter the competition due their involvement in a match-fixing scandal in Division 1 the season prior. This saw them stripped of their league title and demoted to Division 2 at the end of 1993–94. This was the first and only time which the defending champions did not participate in the following season of the competition. Third-placed Monaco took the vacated French berth (second-placed Paris Saint-Germain, who refused the defaulted French title, competed in the Cup Winners' Cup instead as Coupe de France winners).
The Olympic Stadium in Athens hosted the final. | |
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | Qualifying: 18 August – 1 September 1993 Competition proper: 15 September 1993 – 18 May 1994 |
| Teams | Competition proper: 32 Total: 42 |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | AC Milan (5th title) |
| Runners-up | Barcelona |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 75 |
| Goals scored | 217 (2.89 per match) |
| Attendance | 2,082,730 (27,770 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) | Ronald Koeman (Barcelona) Wynton Rufer (Werder Bremen) 8 goals each |
There were changes made to the UEFA Champions League's format from the previous year. After two seasons, with the groups, it introduced one legged semi-finals taking place after the group stage, meaning the two sides qualified from each group as group winners playing the semi-finals at home.
This edition was marked by the absence of Yugoslav participants because Yugoslavia was under UN economic sanctions. Yugoslav participants were frequently present in advanced stages of the competition with Red Star Belgrade having won the European Cup in 1991 and finished second in the group the following season. FK Partizan were to represent Yugoslavia in this edition, but were not allowed to participate. Meanwhile, Croatia, Belarus, Moldova, Georgia and Wales entered their champions for the first time in this edition.