2017–18 UEFA Champions League group stage facts for kids

The 2017–18 UEFA Champions League group stage was an exciting part of the 2017–18 UEFA Champions League football tournament. It started on September 12, 2017, and finished on December 6, 2017. During this stage, 32 different teams competed. Their goal was to earn one of the 16 spots in the next part of the tournament, called the knockout phase.

Teams in the Competition

Here are the teams that played in the group stage. They were sorted into different groups based on their strength. Some teams automatically joined this stage (22 of them). Others (10 teams) had to win special play-off matches to get in.

Pot 1 (Strongest Teams) Team Coeff. Real Madrid 176.999 Bayern Munich 154.899 Chelsea 106.192 Juventus 140.666 Benfica 111.866 Monaco 62.333 Spartak Moscow 18.606 Shakhtar Donetsk 87.526

Pot 2 Team Coeff. Barcelona 151.999 Atlético Madrid 142.999 Paris Saint-Germain 126.333 Borussia Dortmund 124.899 Sevilla 112.999 Manchester City 100.192 Porto 98.866 Manchester United 95.192

Pot 3 Team Coeff. Napoli 88.666 Tottenham Hotspur 77.192 Basel 74.415 Olympiacos 64.580 Anderlecht 58.480 Liverpool 56.192 Roma 53.666 Beşiktaş 45.840

Pot 4 Team Coeff. Celtic 42.785 CSKA Moscow 39.606 Sporting CP 36.866 APOEL 26.210 Feyenoord 23.212 Maribor 21.125 Qarabağ 18.050 RB Leipzig 15.899

Notes

How the Group Stage Worked

In each group, every team played against every other team twice. They played one game at home and one game away. This is called a round-robin format.

The teams that finished first and second in their group moved on to the Round of 16. The teams that finished third in their group didn't leave the competition entirely; instead, they got a chance to play in the Europa League Round of 32.

Breaking Ties in Group Standings

Teams earned points for their games: 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, and 0 points for a loss. If two or more teams had the same number of points, special rules were used to decide who ranked higher. Here's how they decided:

• First, they looked at the points from games played only between the tied teams.
• If still tied, they checked the goal difference in those head-to-head matches.
• Then, they looked at the number of goals scored in those head-to-head matches.
• After that, they considered away goals scored in head-to-head matches.
• If teams were still tied, they looked at the overall goal difference in all group matches.
• Next, they checked the total goals scored in all group matches.
• Finally, if still tied, they used things like away goals in all group matches, total wins, away wins, and a fair play score (disciplinary points).

Group Matches and Dates

The group stage matches took place on specific dates: September 12–13, September 26–27, October 17–18, October 31 – November 1, November 21–22, and December 5–6, 2017. Most games started at 8:45 PM Central European Time (CET/CEST).

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Manchester United	6	5	0	1	12	3	+9	15	Advance to knockout phase
2	Basel	6	4	0	2	11	5	+6	12
3	CSKA Moscow	6	3	0	3	8	10	−2	9	Transfer to Europa League
4	Benfica	6	0	0	6	1	14	−13	0

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Paris Saint-Germain	6	5	0	1	25	4	+21	15	Advance to knockout phase
2	Bayern Munich	6	5	0	1	13	6	+7	15
3	Celtic	6	1	0	5	5	18	−13	3	Transfer to Europa League
4	Anderlecht	6	1	0	5	2	17	−15	3

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Roma	6	3	2	1	9	6	+3	11	Advance to knockout phase
2	Chelsea	6	3	2	1	16	8	+8	11
3	Atlético Madrid	6	1	4	1	5	4	+1	7	Transfer to Europa League
4	Qarabağ	6	0	2	4	2	14	−12	2

Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Barcelona	6	4	2	0	9	1	+8	14	Advance to knockout phase
2	Juventus	6	3	2	1	7	5	+2	11
3	Sporting CP	6	2	1	3	8	9	−1	7	Transfer to Europa League
4	Olympiacos	6	0	1	5	4	13	−9	1

Group E

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Liverpool	6	3	3	0	23	6	+17	12	Advance to knockout phase
2	Sevilla	6	2	3	1	12	12	0	9
3	Spartak Moscow	6	1	3	2	9	13	−4	6	Transfer to Europa League
4	Maribor	6	0	3	3	3	16	−13	3

Group F

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Manchester City	6	5	0	1	14	5	+9	15	Advance to knockout phase
2	Shakhtar Donetsk	6	4	0	2	9	9	0	12
3	Napoli	6	2	0	4	11	11	0	6	Transfer to Europa League
4	Feyenoord	6	1	0	5	5	14	−9	3

Group G

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Beşiktaş	6	4	2	0	11	5	+6	14	Advance to knockout phase
2	Porto	6	3	1	2	15	10	+5	10
3	RB Leipzig	6	2	1	3	10	11	−1	7	Transfer to Europa League
4	Monaco	6	0	2	4	6	16	−10	2

Group H

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Tottenham Hotspur	6	5	1	0	15	4	+11	16	Advance to knockout phase
2	Real Madrid	6	4	1	1	17	7	+10	13
3	Borussia Dortmund	6	0	2	4	7	13	−6	2	Transfer to Europa League
4	APOEL	6	0	2	4	2	17	−15	2