The 2008–09 UEFA Champions League group stage matches took place between 16 September and 10 December 2008.

Seeding structure

Seeding was determined by the UEFA coefficients: ^[1] Pot 1 held teams ranked 1–10 (since Milan and Sevilla did not qualify), Pot 2 held teams ranked 11–23, Pot 3 held teams ranked 25–45, while Pot 4 held teams ranked 46–193 and unranked teams.

Clubs from the same association were paired up to split the matchdays between Tuesday and Wednesday. Clubs with the same pairing letter played on different days, ensuring that teams from the same city (e.g. Milan and Internazionale, who also share a stadium) did not play on the same day. ^[2]

Group winners and runners-up advanced to the round of 16

Third-placed teams entered the UEFA Cup at the round of 32

TH = Title holder

Pot 1
Team	Coeff.
Manchester United TH	107.996
Chelsea	124.996
Liverpool	118.996
Barcelona	117.837
Arsenal	110.996
Lyon	99.380
Internazionale	96.934
Real Madrid	93.837

Pot 2
Team	Coeff.
Bayern Munich	92.078
PSV Eindhoven	91.610
Villarreal	90.837
Roma	81.934
Porto	81.176
Werder Bremen	74.078
Sporting CP	70.271
Juventus	66.934

Pot 3
Team	Coeff.
Marseille	63.380
Zenit Saint Petersburg	60.437
Steaua București	59.398
Panathinaikos	52.525
Bordeaux	52.380
Celtic	52.013
Basel	51.993
Fenerbahçe	51.469

Pot 4
Team	Coeff.
Shakhtar Donetsk	49.932
Fiorentina	40.934
Atlético Madrid	36.837
Dynamo Kyiv	34.932
CFR Cluj	13.398
Aalborg BK	12.748
Anorthosis Famagusta	4.327
BATE Borisov	1.760

Of the 16 teams in Pots 1 and 2, 14 eventually qualified for the first knockout round. The exceptions were Werder Bremen (to the UEFA Cup) and PSV (eliminated). Their places went to Panathinaikos (from Pot 3) and Atlético Madrid (from Pot 4). Aalborg BK were the lowest-ranked Pot 4 team to qualify for the UEFA Cup Round of 32.

Tie-breaking criteria

Based on paragraph 6.05 in the UEFA regulations for the current season, if two or more teams were equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria were applied to determine the rankings:

1. higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among the teams in question;
2. superior goal difference from the group matches played among the teams in question;
3. higher number of goals scored away from home in the group matches played among the teams in question;
4. superior goal difference from all group matches played;
5. higher number of goals scored in all group matches played;
6. higher number of coefficient points accumulated by the club in question, as well as its association, over the previous five seasons.

Groups

Times are CET/ CEST, ^{[note 1]} as listed by UEFA (local times are in parentheses).

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Roma	6	4	0	2	12	6	+6	12	Advance to knockout phase
2	Chelsea	6	3	2	1	9	5	+4	11
3	Bordeaux	6	2	1	3	5	11	−6	7	Transfer to UEFA Cup
4	CFR Cluj	6	1	1	4	5	9	−4	4

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Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Panathinaikos	6	3	1	2	8	7	+1	10	Advance to knockout phase
2	Internazionale	6	2	2	2	8	7	+1	8
3	Werder Bremen	6	1	4	1	7	9	−2	7	Transfer to UEFA Cup
4	Anorthosis Famagusta	6	1	3	2	8	8	0	6

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Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Barcelona	6	4	1	1	18	8	+10	13	Advance to knockout phase
2	Sporting CP	6	4	0	2	8	8	0	12
3	Shakhtar Donetsk	6	3	0	3	11	7	+4	9	Transfer to UEFA Cup
4	Basel	6	0	1	5	2	16	−14	1

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Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Liverpool	6	4	2	0	11	5	+6	14	Advance to knockout phase
2	Atlético Madrid	6	3	3	0	9	4	+5	12
3	Marseille	6	1	1	4	5	7	−2	4	Transfer to UEFA Cup
4	PSV	6	1	0	5	5	14	−9	3

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Group E

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Manchester United	6	2	4	0	9	3	+6	10	Advance to knockout phase
2	Villarreal	6	2	3	1	9	7	+2	9
3	Aalborg BK	6	1	3	2	9	14	−5	6	Transfer to UEFA Cup
4	Celtic	6	1	2	3	4	7	−3	5

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Group F

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Bayern Munich	6	4	2	0	12	4	+8	14	Advance to knockout phase
2	Lyon	6	3	2	1	14	10	+4	11
3	Fiorentina	6	1	3	2	5	8	−3	6	Transfer to UEFA Cup
4	Steaua București	6	0	1	5	3	12	−9	1

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Group G

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Porto	6	4	0	2	9	8	+1	12	Advance to knockout phase
2	Arsenal	6	3	2	1	11	5	+6	11
3	Dynamo Kyiv	6	2	2	2	4	4	0	8	Transfer to UEFA Cup
4	Fenerbahçe	6	0	2	4	4	11	−7	2

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Group H

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Juventus	6	3	3	0	7	3	+4	12	Advance to knockout phase
2	Real Madrid	6	4	0	2	9	5	+4	12
3	Zenit Saint Petersburg	6	1	2	3	4	7	−3	5	Transfer to UEFA Cup
4	BATE Borisov	6	0	3	3	3	8	−5	3

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Notes

References