UEFA Champions League 2012-13

The 2012–13 UEFA Champions League will be the 58th season of the UEFA Champions League, Europe's premier football tournament, and the 21st season since it was renamed from the "European Cup".

The final will be played at Wembley Stadium in London, England. This is the seventh occasion Wembley Stadium (new and old) has hosted the Champions League final.

Association team allocation
A total of 76 or 77 teams will participate in the 2012–13 Champions League, from 52 UEFA associations (Liechtenstein organizes no domestic league competition). Associations are allocated places according to their 2011 UEFA league coefficients, which takes into account their performance in European competitions from 2006–07 to 2010–11.

Below is the qualification scheme for the 2012–13 UEFA Champions League:
 * 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 16–53 each have one team qualify (excluding Liechtenstein)
 * The winners of the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League, i.e., the title holder, are given an additional entry if they do not qualify for the tournament through their domestic performance; however, because of the restriction that no association can have more than four teams playing in the Champions League, if the title holder is from the top three associations, this additional entry will come at the expense of the fourth-placed team of their association

Distribution
If the title holder also qualifies for the Champions League through domestic performance, the following changes to the default allocation system above will be made. Because of the restriction that no association can have more than four teams playing in the Champions League, if the title holder is from the top three associations (England, Spain, Germany) and finishes outside the top four in their domestic league, the fourth-placed team of their association, which would have entered in the Champions League play-off round, will be moved from the Champions League to the Europa League. In this case, the allocation system for the Champions League will be changed in the same way.
 * If the title holder qualifies for the group stage
 * The champion of association 13 (Belgium) are promoted from the third qualifying round to the group stage.
 * The champion of association 16 (Switzerland) are promoted from the second qualifying round to the third qualifying round.
 * The champions of associations 48 (Malta) and 49 (Northern Ireland) are promoted from the first qualifying round to the second qualifying round.
 * If the title holder qualifies for the play-off round (non-champions)
 * The third-placed team of association 6 (Portugal) and the runners-up of association 7 (Russia) are promoted from the third qualifying round to the play-off round
 * If the title holder qualifies for the third qualifying round (champions)
 * The champion of association 16 (Switzerland) are promoted from the second qualifying round to the third qualifying round.
 * The champions of associations 48 (Malta) and 49 (Northern Ireland) are promoted from the first qualifying round to the second qualifying round.
 * If the title holder qualifies for the third qualifying round (non-champions)
 * The third-placed team of association 6 (Portugal) are promoted from the third qualifying round to the play-off round
 * If the title holder is the third-placed team of association 6, the runners-up of association 7 (Russia) are promoted from the third qualifying round to the play-off round
 * If the title holder qualifies for the second qualifying round
 * The champions of associations 48 (Malta) and 49 (Northern Ireland) are promoted from the first qualifying round to the second qualifying round.

Teams
League positions of the previous season shown in parentheses. (P-1st indicates end-of-season play-off winners)

TH Title Holder

Round and draw dates
Note: Preliminary schedule, to be confirmed by UEFA.

All draws held at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland unless stated otherwise.

First qualifying round
The following six teams are expected to enter in the first qualifying round.


 * 🇲🇹 Champions of 2011–12 Maltese Premier League
 * Champions of 2011–12 IFA Premiership
 * 🇫🇴 B36 Tórshavn


 * 🇱🇺 Champions of 2011–12 Luxembourg National Division
 * 🇦🇩 Champions of 2011–12 Andorran Premier Division
 * 🇸🇲 Champions of 2011–12 Campionato Sammarinese di Calcio

Second qualifying round
34 teams will play in the second qualifying round: the 3 winners from the first qualifying round, and the following 31 teams which are expected to enter in this round.


 * Champions of 2011–12 Swiss Super League
 * 🇮🇱 Champions of 2011–12 Israeli Premier League
 * 🇨🇿 Champions of 2011–12 Czech First Division
 * 🇦🇹 Champions of 2011–12 Austrian Bundesliga
 * 🇨🇾 Champions of 2011–12 Cypriot First Division
 * 🇧🇬 Champions of 2011–12 Bulgarian A PFG
 * Champions of 2011–12 Croatian First League
 * 🇧🇾 BATE Borisov
 * 🇵🇱 Champions of 2011–12 Polish Premier League
 * 🇸🇰 Champions of 2011–12 Slovak First League
 * 🇳🇴 Molde
 * 🇷🇸 Champions of 2011–12 Serbian SuperLiga
 * 🇸🇪 Helsingborg
 * 🇧🇦 Champions of 2011–12 Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina
 * 🇫🇮 HJK Helsinki
 * 🇮🇪 Shamrock Rovers


 * 🇭🇺 Champions of 2011–12 Hungarian National Championship I
 * 🇲🇩 Champions of 2011–12 Moldovan National Division
 * 🇱🇹 Ekranas
 * 🇱🇻 Ventspils
 * Champions of 2011–12 Georgian Top League
 * 🇦🇿 Champions of 2011–12 Azerbaijan Premier League
 * 🇸🇮 Champions of 2011–12 Slovenian First League
 * 🇲🇰 Champions of 2011–12 Macedonian First League
 * 🇮🇸 KR
 * 🇰🇿 Shakhter Karagandy
 * 🇲🇪 Champions of 2011–12 Montenegrin First League
 * 🇦🇱 Champions of 2011–12 Albanian Superliga
 * 🇪🇪 Flora Tallinn
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Champions of 2011–12 Welsh Premier League
 * 🇦🇲 Ulisses

Third qualifying round
The third qualifying round will be split into two separate sections: one for champions and one for non-champions. The losing teams in both sections will enter the play-off round of the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League.

20 teams will play in the third qualifying round for champions: the 17 winners from the second qualifying round, and the following 3 teams which are expected to enter in this round.
 * Champions
 * 🇧🇪 Champions of 2011–12 Belgian Pro League
 * 🇷🇴 Champions of 2011–12 Romanian Liga I
 * Champions of 2011–12 Scottish Premier League

The following 10 teams are expected to enter in the third qualifying round for non-champions.
 * Non-champions


 * Third placed team of 2011–12 Portuguese Primeira Liga
 * 🇷🇺 Runners-up of 2011–12 Russian Premier League
 * 🇺🇦 Runners-up of 2011–12 Ukrainian Premier League
 * Runners-up of 2011–12 Dutch Eredivisie
 * 🇹🇷 Runners-up of 2011–12 Turkish Super League


 * Winners of European competition play-offs of 2011–12 Superleague Greece
 * Runners-up of 2011–12 Danish Superliga
 * 🇧🇪 Runners-up of 2011–12 Belgian Pro League
 * 🇷🇴 Runners-up of 2011–12 Romanian Liga I
 * Runners-up of 2011–12 Scottish Premier League

Play-off round
The play-off round will be split into two separate sections: one for champions and one for non-champions. The losing teams in both sections will enter the group stage of the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League.

The 10 winners from the third qualifying round for champions will play in the play-off round for champions.
 * Champions

10 teams will play in the play-off round for non-champions: the 5 winners from the third qualifying round for non-champions, and the following 5 teams which are expected to enter in this round.
 * Non-champions


 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Fourth placed team of 2011–12 Premier League
 * 🇪🇸 Fourth placed team of 2011–12 La Liga
 * 🇩🇪 Fourth placed team of 2011–12 Fußball-Bundesliga


 * 🇮🇹 Third placed team of 2011–12 Serie A
 * 🇫🇷 Third placed team of 2011–12 Ligue 1

Group stage
32 teams will play in the group stage: the 10 winners from the play-off round (5 champions and 5 non-champions), and the following 22 teams which are expected to enter in this stage.


 * Defending champions
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Champions of 2011–12 Premier League
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Runners-up of 2011–12 Premier League
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Third placed team of 2011–12 Premier League
 * 🇪🇸 Champions of 2011–12 La Liga
 * 🇪🇸 Runners-up of 2011–12 La Liga
 * 🇪🇸 Third placed team of 2011–12 La Liga
 * 🇩🇪 Champions of 2011–12 Fußball-Bundesliga
 * 🇩🇪 Runners-up of 2011–12 Fußball-Bundesliga
 * 🇩🇪 Third placed team of 2011–12 Fußball-Bundesliga
 * 🇮🇹 Champions of 2011–12 Serie A


 * 🇮🇹 Runners-up of 2011–12 Serie A
 * 🇫🇷 Champions of 2011–12 Ligue 1
 * 🇫🇷 Runners-up of 2011–12 Ligue 1
 * Champions of 2011–12 Portuguese Primeira Liga
 * Runners-up of 2011–12 Portuguese Primeira Liga
 * 🇷🇺 Champions of 2011–12 Russian Premier League
 * 🇺🇦 Champions of 2011–12 Ukrainian Premier League
 * Champions of 2011–12 Dutch Eredivisie
 * 🇹🇷 Champions of 2011–12 Turkish Super League
 * Champions of 2011–12 Superleague Greece
 * Champions of 2011–12 Danish Superliga

The 32 teams will be drawn into eight groups of four. The group winners and runners-up will advance to the round of 16, while the third-placed teams will enter the round of 32 of the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League.