1994–95 UEFA Champions League

The 1994–95 UEFA Champions League was the 40th edition of UEFA's premier European club football tournament, and the third since its rebranding as the UEFA Champions League. The tournament was won by Ajax of the Netherlands with a late goal in the final against defending champions Milan of Italy. Ajax won the competition without losing a game, either in the group or the knock-out stage, clinching the title for the first time since 1973.

1994–95 UEFA Champions League
Tournament details
DatesQualifying:
10–24 August 1994
Competition proper:
14 September 1994 – 24 May 1995
TeamsCompetition proper: 16
Total: 24
Final positions
ChampionsNetherlands Ajax (4th title)
Runners-upItaly Milan
Tournament statistics
Matches played61
Goals scored140 (2.3 per match)
Attendance2,328,515 (38,172 per match)
Top scorer(s)George Weah (Paris Saint-Germain)
7 goals

Compared to the previous edition of the European Cup, radical changes were made to the format of the tournament, due to a recently expired contract that bound UEFA to the EBU for the transmission of the final. This gave occasion for a general review of the format, which attracted the interest of new and financially well-off private television companies. This edition included four groups of four teams each in the group stage, up from two groups of four teams each in 1993–94. It was also the first year in which eight teams advanced to the knock-out stage and the first of three years in which the champions of smaller nations entered the UEFA Cup instead of the Champions League. It was also the first time that this competition was known as the UEFA Champions League from the first to the last match of the competition: in two previous seasons, the UEFA Champions League involved the matches played between the second round and the European Cup final.

Federal Republic of Yugoslavia's entrants were unable to participate for the third season in a row due to the UN economic sanctions. Milan were the defending champions, but were defeated by Ajax in the final.

Teams

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24 teams entered the competition: the UEFA Champions League holders, Milan, who also won their domestic league, as well as the 23 best-ranked national champions according to UEFA club ranking. The title holders and the other 7 best-ranked national champions received a bye to the group stage, while the national champions ranked 9–24 entered in the qualifying round. The remaining national champions were only allowed to participate in UEFA Cup.[1]

Group stage
  Milan (1st)TH   Bayern Munich (1st)   Anderlecht (1st)   Barcelona (1st)
  Benfica (1st)   Spartak Moscow (1st)   Manchester United (1st)   Ajax (1st)
Qualifying round
  Paris Saint-Germain (1st)   Casino Salzburg (1st)   AEK Athens (1st)   Galatasaray (1st)
  Rangers (1st)   Servette (1st)   Silkeborg (1st)   Steaua București (1st)
  Göteborg (1st)   Legia Warsaw (1st)   Maccabi Haifa (1st)   Vác (1st)
  Dynamo Kyiv (1st)   Hajduk Split (1st)   Avenir Beggen (1st)   Sparta Prague (1st)

Round and draw dates

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The schedule of the competition is as follows. The draw was held in Geneva, Switzerland on 20 July 1994, where qualifying round pairs as well as group formations were drawn. The knockout phase pairs were made automatically by a predetermined bracket.

Phase Round Draw date First leg Second leg
Qualifying round 20 July 1994 10 August 1994 24 August 1994
Group stage Matchday 1 14 September 1994
Matchday 2 28 September 1994
Matchday 3 19 October 1994
Matchday 4 2 November 1994
Matchday 5 23 November 1994
Matchday 6 7 December 1994
Knockout phase Quarter-finals 1 March 1995 15 March 1995
Semi-finals 5 April 1995 19 April 1995
Final 24 May 1995 at Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna

Qualifying round

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Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Group A
Avenir Beggen   1–9   Galatasaray 1–5 0–4
Sparta Prague   1–2   IFK Göteborg 1–0 0–2
Group B
Silkeborg   1–3   Dynamo Kyiv 0–0 1–3
Paris Saint-Germain   5–1   Vác FC Samsung 3–0 2–1
Group C
Legia Warsaw   0–5   Hajduk Split 0–1 0–4
Steaua București   5–2   Servette 4–1 1–1
Group D
AEK Athens   3–0   Rangers 2–0 1–0
Maccabi Haifa   2–5   Casino Salzburg 1–2 1–3

Group stage

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Location of teams of the 1994–95 UEFA Champions League group stage.
  Brown: Group A;   Red: Group B;   Orange: Group C;   Yellow: Group D.

Ten of the sixteen participating teams made their UEFA Champions League group stage debut: AEK Athens, Ajax, Bayern Munich, Benfica, Casino Salzburg, Dynamo Kyiv, Hajduk Split, Manchester United, Paris Saint-Germain and Steaua București. Two of these teams, Benfica and Dynamo Kyiv, had previously contested the 1991–92 European Cup group stage. Casino Salzburg, Hajduk Split, Manchester United and Steaua București were the first teams to qualify for group stage from Austria, Croatia, England and Romania respectively.

It was also the last edition of the Champions League that saw teams in the group stage awarded two points for each win, with one point awarded for each draw.

Group A

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification GOT BAR MUN GAL
1   IFK Göteborg 6 4 1 1 10 7 3 9 Advance to knockout stage 2–1 3–1 1–0
2   Barcelona 6 2 2 2 11 8 3 6 1–1 4–0 2–1
3   Manchester United 6 2 2 2 11 11 0 6 4–2 2–2 4–0
4   Galatasaray 6 1 1 4 3 9 −6 3 0–1 2–1 0–0
Source: UEFA

Group B

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification PAR BAY SPM DKV
1   Paris Saint-Germain 6 6 0 0 12 3 9 12 Advance to knockout stage 2–0 4–1 1–0
2   Bayern Munich 6 2 2 2 8 7 1 6 0–1 2–2 1–0
3   Spartak Moscow 6 1 2 3 8 12 −4 4 1–2 1–1 1–0
4   Dynamo Kyiv 6 1 0 5 5 11 −6 2 1–2 1–4 3–2
Source: UEFA

Group C

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification BEN HAJ STE AND
1   Benfica 6 3 3 0 9 5 4 9 Advance to knockout stage 2–1 2–1 3–1
2   Hajduk Split 6 2 2 2 5 7 −2 6 0–0 1–4 2–1
3   Steaua București 6 1 3 2 7 6 1 5 1–1 0–1 1–1
4   Anderlecht 6 0 4 2 4 7 −3 4 1–1 0–0 0–0
Source: UEFA

Group D

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification AJX MIL SAL AEK
1   Ajax 6 4 2 0 9 2 7 10 Advance to knockout stage 2–0 1–1 2–0
2   Milan 6 3 1 2 6 5 1 5[a] 0–2 3–0 2–1
3   Casino Salzburg 6 1 3 2 4 6 −2 5 0–0 0–1 0–0
4   AEK Athens 6 0 2 4 3 9 −6 2 1–2 0–0 1–3
Source: UEFA
Notes:
  1. ^ Milan were docked two points for crowd trouble against Casino Salzburg on Matchday 2.

Knockout stage

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Bracket

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Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final
          
  Bayern Munich (a) 0 2 2
  IFK Göteborg 0 2 2
  Bayern Munich 0 2 2
  Ajax 0 5 5
  Hajduk Split 0 0 0
  Ajax 0 3 3
  Ajax 1
  Milan 0
  Barcelona 1 1 2
  Paris-Saint Germain 1 2 3
  Paris Saint-Germain 0 0 0
  Milan 1 2 3
  Milan 2 0 2
  Benfica 0 0 0

Quarter-finals

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Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Bayern Munich   2–2 (a)   IFK Göteborg 0–0 2–2
Hajduk Split   0–3   Ajax 0–0 0–3
Barcelona   2–3   Paris Saint-Germain 1–1 1–2
Milan   2–0   Benfica 2–0 0–0

Semi-finals

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Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Bayern Munich   2–5   Ajax 0–0 2–5
Paris Saint-Germain   0–3   Milan 0–1 0–2

Final

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The final was played on 24 May 1995 at the Ernst Happel Stadion in Vienna, Austria.

Ajax  1–0  Milan
Kluivert   85' Report

Top goalscorers

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Rank Name Team Goals
1   George Weah   Paris Saint-Germain 7
2   Jari Litmanen   Ajax 6
3   Magnus Erlingmark   IFK Göteborg 4
  Marco Simone   Milan 4
5   José Mari Bakero   Barcelona 3
  Romário   Barcelona 3
  Hristo Stoichkov   Barcelona 3
  Claudio Caniggia   Benfica 3
  Christian Nerlinger   Bayern Munich 3
  Mehmet Scholl   Bayern Munich 3
  Viktor Leonenko   Dynamo Kyiv 3

See also

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References

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  1. ^ 1994–95 European Cups FAQ
  2. ^ "2. Finals" (PDF). UEFA Champions League Statistics Handbook 2016/17. Nyon, Switzerland: Union of European Football Associations. 2017. p. 1. Retrieved 22 April 2017.
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