# 2014–15 UEFA Champions League qualifying phase and play-off round

The 2014–15 UEFA Champions League qualifying phase and play-off round were played from 1 July to 27 August 2014. A total of 55 teams competed in the qualifying phase and play-off round to decide 10 of the 32 places in the group stage of the 2014–15 UEFA Champions League.
All times were CEST (UTC+2).

## Round and draw dates

All draws were held at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.
| Round | Draw date and time | First leg | Second leg |
| First qualifying round | 23 June 2014, 12:00 | 1–2 July 2014 | 8–9 July 2014 |
| Second qualifying round | 23 June 2014, 12:00 | 15–16 July 2014 | 22–23 July 2014 |
| Third qualifying round | 18 July 2014, 12:00 | 29–30 July 2014 | 5–6 August 2014 |
| Play-off round | 8 August 2014, 12:00 | 19–20 August 2014 | 26–27 August 2014 |

## Format

In the qualifying phase and play-off round, each tie was played over two legs, with each team playing one leg at home. The team that scored more goals on aggregate over the two legs advanced to the next round. If the aggregate score was level, the away goals rule was applied, i.e. the team that scored more goals away from home over the two legs advanced. If away goals were also equal, then 30 minutes of extra time was played. The away goals rule was again applied after extra time, i.e. if there were goals scored during extra time and the aggregate score was still level, the visiting team advanced by virtue of more away goals scored. If no goals were scored during extra time, the tie was decided by penalty shoot-out.
In the draws for each round, teams were seeded based on their UEFA club coefficients at the beginning of the season, with the teams divided into seeded and unseeded pots. A seeded team was drawn against an unseeded team, with the order of legs in each tie decided randomly. Due to the limited time between matches, the draws for the second and third qualifying rounds took place before the results of the previous round were known. For these draws (or in any cases where the result of a tie in the previous round was not known at the time of the draw), the seeding was carried out under the assumption that the team with the higher coefficient of an undecided tie advanced to this round, which means if the team with the lower coefficient was to advance, it simply took the seeding of its defeated opponent. Prior to the draws, UEFA may form "groups" in accordance with the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee, but they were purely for convenience of the draw and for ensuring that teams from the same association were not drawn against each other, and did not resemble any real groupings in the sense of the competition.

## Teams

There were two routes which the teams were separated into during qualifying:
* Champions Route, which included all domestic champions which did not automatically qualify for the group stage.
* League Route (also called the Non-champions Path or the Best-placed Path), which included all domestic non-champions which did not automatically qualify for the group stage.
A total of 55 teams (40 in Champions Route, 15 in League Route) were involved in the qualifying phase and play-off round. The 10 winners of the play-off round (5 in Champions Route, 5 in League Route) advanced to the group stage to join the 22 automatic qualifiers. The 15 losers of the third qualifying round entered the Europa League play-off round, and the 10 losers of the play-off round entered the Europa League group stage.
Below were the participating teams (with their 2014 UEFA club coefficients), grouped by their starting rounds.
* Key to colours
* Winners of the play-off round advanced to the group stage
* Losers of the play-off round entered the Europa League group stage
* Losers of the third qualifying round entered the Europa League play-off round

### Champions Route

Third qualifying round :
| Third qualifying round Team Coeff Red Bull Salzburg 46.185 APOEL 37.650 AaB 5.260 | Second qualifying round Team Coeff Steaua București 39.451 Celtic 36.813 BATE Borisov 33.725 Sparta Prague 28.870 Dinamo Zagreb 23.925 Ludogorets Razgrad 18.125 Maccabi Tel Aviv 17.875 Sheriff Tiraspol 17.075 Maribor 16.200 Legia Warsaw 15.275 Partizan 14.825 Debrecen 10.325 Slovan Bratislava 8.700 Aktobe 8.150 Ventspils 7.750 Qarabağ 7.575 HJK 7.435 Dinamo Tbilisi 6.975 Malmö FF 6.265 KR 5.350 F91 Dudelange 4.975 Strømsgodset 4.855 The New Saints 4.850 St Patrick's Athletic 4.775 Skënderbeu 4.600 Rabotnicki 4.550 Valletta 4.466 Zrinjski Mostar 4.000 Cliftonville 3.225 Žalgiris 3.050 Sutjeska 2.450 | First qualifying round Team Coeff Levadia Tallinn 4.575 HB 3.175 FC Santa Coloma 2.166 Banants 1.325 La Fiorita 0.699 Lincoln Red Imps 0.000 |

### League Route

Play-off round :
| Play-off round Team Coeff Arsenal 112.949 Porto 105.459 Bayer Leverkusen 70.328 Napoli 61.387 Athletic Bilbao 54.542 | Third qualifying round Team Coeff Zenit Saint Petersburg 73.899 Lille 45.300 Copenhagen 45.260 Standard Liège 38.260 Beşiktaş 32.840 Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk 32.193 Panathinaikos 30.220 Feyenoord 13.362 Grasshopper 9.645 AEL Limassol 7.650 |

## First qualifying round
### Seeding

A total of six teams played in the first qualifying round. The draw was held on 23 June 2014.
| Seeded | Unseeded |
| Levadia Tallinn HB FC Santa Coloma | Banants La Fiorita Lincoln Red Imps |

### Summary

The first legs were played on 1 and 2 July, and the second legs were played on 8 July 2014.
| Team 1 | Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| FC Santa Coloma | 3–3 (a) | Banants | 1–0 | 2–3 |
| Lincoln Red Imps | 3–6 | HB | 1–1 | 2–5 |
| La Fiorita | 0–8 | Levadia Tallinn | 0–1 | 0–7 |

### Matches

3–3 on aggregate; FC Santa Coloma won on away goals.
HB won 6–3 on aggregate.
Levadia Tallinn won 8–0 on aggregate.

## Second qualifying round
### Seeding

A total of 34 teams played in the second qualifying round: 31 teams which entered in this round, and the three winners of the first qualifying round. The draw was held on 23 June 2014.
| Group 1 | Group 1 | Group 2 | Group 2 | Group 3 | Group 3 |
| Seeded | Unseeded | Seeded | Unseeded | Seeded | Unseeded |
| BATE Borisov Maccabi Tel Aviv Sheriff Tiraspol Maribor Aktobe | Dinamo Tbilisi Skënderbeu Zrinjski Mostar Sutjeska FC Santa Coloma | Celtic Sparta Prague Partizan Debrecen Slovan Bratislava Ventspils | Malmö FF KR The New Saints Levadia Tallinn Cliftonville HB | Steaua București Dinamo Zagreb Ludogorets Razgrad Legia Warsaw Qarabağ HJK | F91 Dudelange Strømsgodset St Patrick's Athletic Rabotnicki Valletta Žalgiris |

#### Notes

* $^†$ Winners of the first qualifying round, whose identity was not known at the time of the draw.

### Summary

The first legs were played on 15 and 16 July, and the second legs were played on 22 and 23 July 2014.
| Team 1 | Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| BATE Borisov | 1–1 (a) | Skënderbeu | 0–0 | 1–1 |
| FC Santa Coloma | 0–3 | Maccabi Tel Aviv | 0–1 | 0–2 |
| Dinamo Tbilisi | 0–4 | Aktobe | 0–1 | 0–3 |
| Zrinjski Mostar | 0–2 | Maribor | 0–0 | 0–2 |
| Sheriff Tiraspol | 5–0 | Sutjeska | 2–0 | 3–0 |
| Sparta Prague | 8–1 | Levadia Tallinn | 7–0 | 1–1 |
| Malmö FF | 1–0 | Ventspils | 0–0 | 1–0 |
| Slovan Bratislava | 3–0 | The New Saints | 1–0 | 2–0 |
| KR | 0–5 | Celtic | 0–1 | 0–4 |
| Cliftonville | 0–2 | Debrecen | 0–0 | 0–2 |
| Partizan | 6–1 | HB | 3–0 | 3–1 |
| Legia Warsaw | 6–1 | St Patrick's Athletic | 1–1 | 5–0 |
| Rabotnicki | 1–2 | HJK | 0–0 | 1–2 |
| Dinamo Zagreb | 4–0 | Žalgiris | 2–0 | 2–0 |
| Ludogorets Razgrad | 5–1 | F91 Dudelange | 4–0 | 1–1 |
| Valletta | 0–5 | Qarabağ | 0–1 | 0–4 |
| Strømsgodset | 0–3 | Steaua București | 0–1 | 0–2 |
* ↑ Order of legs reversed after original draw, due to the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict.
* ↑ Order of legs reversed after original draw.

### Matches

1–1 on aggregate; BATE Borisov won on away goals.
Maccabi Tel Aviv won 3–0 on aggregate.
Aktobe won 4–0 on aggregate.
Maribor won 2–0 on aggregate.
Sheriff Tiraspol won 5–0 on aggregate.
Sparta Prague won 8–1 on aggregate.
Malmö FF won 1–0 on aggregate.
Slovan Bratislava won 3–0 on aggregate.
Celtic won 5–0 on aggregate.
Debrecen won 2–0 on aggregate.
Partizan won 6–1 on aggregate.
Legia Warsaw won 6–1 on aggregate.
HJK won 2–1 on aggregate.
Dinamo Zagreb won 4–0 on aggregate.
Ludogorets Razgrad won 5–1 on aggregate.
Qarabağ won 5–0 on aggregate.
Steaua București won 3–0 on aggregate.

## Third qualifying round
### Seeding

A total of 30 teams played in the third qualifying round:
* Champions Route: three teams which entered in this round, and the 17 winners of the second qualifying round.
* League Route: ten teams which entered in this round.
The draw was held on 18 July 2014.
| Champions Route | Champions Route | Champions Route | Champions Route | League Route | League Route |
| Group 1 | Group 1 | Group 2 | Group 2 | | League Route | League Route |
| Seeded | Unseeded | Seeded | Unseeded | Seeded | Unseeded |
| Red Bull Salzburg Celtic BATE Borisov Dinamo Zagreb Sheriff Tiraspol | Legia Warsaw Debrecen Slovan Bratislava Qarabağ AaB | Steaua București APOEL Sparta Prague Ludogorets Razgrad Maccabi Tel Aviv | Maribor Partizan Aktobe Malmö FF HJK | Zenit Saint Petersburg Lille Copenhagen Standard Liège Beşiktaş | Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk Panathinaikos Feyenoord Grasshopper AEL Limassol |

#### Notes

* $^†$ Winners of the second qualifying round, whose identity was not known at the time of the draw. Teams in italics defeated a team with a higher coefficient in the second qualifying round, thus effectively taking the coefficient of their defeated opponent in the draw for the third qualifying round.
* $^‡$ On 17 July 2014, the UEFA emergency panel ruled that Ukrainian and Russian clubs would not be drawn against each other "until further notice" due to the political unrest between the countries. Therefore, Russian club Zenit Saint Petersburg and Ukrainian club Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk could not be drawn into the same tie.

### Summary

The first legs were played on 29 and 30 July, and the second legs were played on 5 and 6 August 2014.
| Team 1 | Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Champions Route |||||
| Qarabağ | 2–3 | Red Bull Salzburg | 2–1 | 0–2 |
| Debrecen | 2–3 | BATE Borisov | 1–0 | 1–3 |
| Slovan Bratislava | 2–1 | Sheriff Tiraspol | 2–1 | 0–0 |
| AaB | 2–1 | Dinamo Zagreb | 0–1 | 2–0 |
| Legia Warsaw | 4–4 (a) | Celtic | 4–1 | 0–3 |
| Aktobe | 3–4 | Steaua București | 2–2 | 1–2 |
| Maribor | 3–2 | Maccabi Tel Aviv | 1–0 | 2–2 |
| HJK | 2–4 | APOEL | 2–2 | 0–2 |
| Sparta Prague | 4–4 (a) | Malmö FF | 4–2 | 0–2 |
| Ludogorets Razgrad | 2–2 (a) | Partizan | 0–0 | 2–2 |
| League Route |||||
| AEL Limassol | 1–3 | Zenit Saint Petersburg | 1–0 | 0–3 |
| Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk | 0–2 | Copenhagen | 0–0 | 0–2 |
| Feyenoord | 2–5 | Beşiktaş | 1–2 | 1–3 |
| Grasshopper | 1–3 | Lille | 0–2 | 1–1 |
| Standard Liège | 2–1 | Panathinaikos | 0–0 | 2–1 |
* ↑ Because of a clerical error by Legia Warsaw involving Bartosz Bereszyński, who was suspended for three matches as a result of a red card on matchday 6 of the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League group stage, UEFA awarded Celtic a 3–0 win. The error involved Legia Warsaw not registering the suspended player for the St. Patrick's Athletic tie the previous round, which meant those two matches did not count towards his suspension. The original match had ended in a 2–0 win for Legia Warsaw.

### Matches

Red Bull Salzburg won 3–2 on aggregate.
BATE Borisov won 3–2 on aggregate.
Slovan Bratislava won 2–1 on aggregate.
AaB won 2–1 on aggregate.
4–4 on aggregate; Celtic won on away goals.
Steaua București won 4–3 on aggregate.
Maribor won 3–2 on aggregate.
APOEL won 4–2 on aggregate.
4–4 on aggregate; Malmö FF won on away goals.
2–2 on aggregate; Ludogorets Razgrad won on away goals.
Zenit Saint Petersburg won 3–1 on aggregate.
Copenhagen won 2–0 on aggregate.
Beşiktaş won 5–2 on aggregate.
Lille won 3–1 on aggregate.
Standard Liège won 2–1 on aggregate.

## Play-off round
### Seeding

A total of 20 teams played in the play-off round:
* Champions Route: the ten Champions Route winners of the third qualifying round.
* League Route: five teams which entered in this round, and the five League Route winners of the third qualifying round.
The draw was held on 8 August 2014.
| Champions Route | Champions Route | League Route | League Route |
| Seeded | Unseeded | Seeded | Unseeded |
| Red Bull Salzburg Steaua București APOEL Celtic BATE Borisov | Ludogorets Razgrad Maribor Slovan Bratislava Malmö FF AaB | Arsenal Porto Zenit Saint Petersburg Bayer Leverkusen Napoli | Athletic Bilbao Lille Copenhagen Standard Liège Beşiktaş |

### Summary

The first legs were played on 19 and 20 August, and the second legs were played on 26 and 27 August 2014.
| Team 1 | Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Champions Route |||||
| Maribor | 2–1 | Celtic | 1–1 | 1–0 |
| Red Bull Salzburg | 2–4 | Malmö FF | 2–1 | 0–3 |
| AaB | 1–5 | APOEL | 1–1 | 0–4 |
| Steaua București | 1–1 (5–6 p) | Ludogorets Razgrad | 1–0 | 0–1 (a.e.t.) |
| Slovan Bratislava | 1–4 | BATE Borisov | 1–1 | 0–3 |
| League Route |||||
| Beşiktaş | 0–1 | Arsenal | 0–0 | 0–1 |
| Standard Liège | 0–4 | Zenit Saint Petersburg | 0–1 | 0–3 |
| Copenhagen | 2–7 | Bayer Leverkusen | 2–3 | 0–4 |
| Lille | 0–3 | Porto | 0–1 | 0–2 |
| Napoli | 2–4 | Athletic Bilbao | 1–1 | 1–3 |

### Matches

Maribor won 2–1 on aggregate.
Malmö FF won 4–2 on aggregate.
APOEL won 5–1 on aggregate.
1–1 on aggregate; Ludogorets Razgrad won 6–5 on penalties.
BATE Borisov won 4–1 on aggregate.
Arsenal won 1–0 on aggregate.
Zenit Saint Petersburg won 4–0 on aggregate.
Bayer Leverkusen won 7–2 on aggregate.
Porto won 3–0 on aggregate.
Athletic Bilbao won 4–2 on aggregate.

## Statistics

There were 212 goals in 90 matches in the qualifying phase and play-off round, for an average of 2.36 goals per match.

### Top goalscorers

| Rank | Player | Team | Goals | Minutes played |
| 1 | David Lafata | Sparta Prague | 8 | 262 |
| 2 | Miroslav Radović | Legia Warsaw | 5 | 358 |
| 3 | Markus Rosenberg | Malmö FF | 4 | 540 |
| 4 | Stefan Kießling | Bayer Leverkusen | 3 | 163 |
| 4 | Levi Hanssen | HB | 3 | 270 |
| 4 | Demba Ba | Beşiktaş | 3 | 298 |
| 4 | Danko Lazović | Partizan | 3 | 305 |
| 4 | Cillian Sheridan | APOEL | 3 | 329 |
| 4 | Tomás De Vincenti | APOEL | 3 | 330 |
| 4 | Petar Škuletić | Partizan | 3 | 343 |
| 4 | Ibrahima Sidibe | Debrecen | 3 | 353 |
| 4 | Michał Żyro | Legia Warsaw | 3 | 354 |
| 4 | Agim Ibraimi | Maribor | 3 | 519 |
| 4 | Callum McGregor | Celtic | 3 | 540 |
Source: UEFA.com

### Top assists

| Rank | Player | Team | Assists | Minutes played |
| 1 | Michał Kucharczyk | Legia Warsaw | 3 | 234 |
| 1 | Josef Hušbauer | Sparta Prague | 3 | 249 |
| 1 | Marat Khairullin | Aktobe | 3 | 296 |
| 1 | Domagoj Antolić | Dinamo Zagreb | 3 | 311 |
| 1 | Tomás De Vincenti | APOEL | 3 | 330 |
| 1 | Darko Brašanac | Partizan | 3 | 353 |
| 1 | Michał Żyro | Legia Warsaw | 3 | 354 |
| 1 | Anderson Mineiro | Aktobe | 3 | 360 |
| 1 | Alexandru Chipciu | Steaua București | 3 | 445 |
| 1 | Adrian Popa | Steaua București | 3 | 448 |
Source: UEFA.com