Uefa Champions League Statistics Handbook - Facts & Figures (2010-11)

Introduction There could be a record number of faces in the celebration photo but they are all happy ones, as FC Internazionale Milano end a 45-year wait by taking the trophy after their 2-0 win against FC Bayern München in the competition’s first Saturday final. PHOTO: PEDRO ARMESTRE / AFP / GETTY IMAGES Season 2010/2011 Contents Results: 2010/11 First & Second Qualifying Rounds 4 Results: 2010/11 Third Qualifying Round 7 Results: 2010/11 Play-off Matches 10 Match Schedule – Group Stage 12 Records in Europe – Club by Club 16 Regulations – Season 2010/11 24 Club Media Accreditation Managers 26 Footnote: for brevity, the UEFA Champions League is referred to in its abbreviated form of UCL; the UEFA Europa League is, where space is at a premium, referred to as UEL; the World Cup as WC; the Premier League as PL; the Bundesliga as BL etc. If fewer than 25 player profiles appear in the club sections, it is usually because the club in question has been unable to fulfil quotas of clubtrained and association-trained players to register a full squad; and all statistics relating to player appearances and goals are as of 15 July 2010 unless otherwise stated. 2 Foreword UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 2010/11 The eighteenth edition of the UEFA Champions League illustrates how the re-design of the qualifying and play-off rounds successfully offers opportunities to a broad spectrum of clubs. Even after so many years, the starting grid featured six debutants, including newcomers from top European leagues such as England, the Netherlands or Portugal. Only a dozen of the 2010/11 participants had taken part in the previous campaign. Slovak side MSK Zilina and Serbia’s FK Partizan played their way through from the second qualifying round, meaning that they disputed as many games on their way to the group stage as they were going to during it. The Belgrade club was one of several who were returning to the competition after lengthy absences, having previously taken the stage during the 2003/04 campaign. FC København, by eliminating one of the UEFA Champions League ‘classics’, Norway’s Rosenborg BK, in the play-offs, returned to the group stage for the first time since the 2006/07 season. In the meantime, AFC Ajax were back for the first time in five years and AJ Auxerre were competing for the first time since 2002/03. The fact that the Dutch and the French emerged from draw in the same group evoked memories of the 1996/97 season when the two clubs crossed paths with Louis van Gaal and Guy Roux on the benches with, as it happens, Walter Smith of Rangers FC and Christian Gross of Grasshopper-Club as their other two group rivals. For the second time, the play-offs at the end of August formed part of the centrallymarketed package – and, in terms of offering sheer drama and excitement to a global public, the move could be regarded as a complete success. Looking back on the other major innovation of the 2009/10 campaign, the decision to switch the final from midweek to a Saturday evening was also hailed as an unqualified success which, as a bonus, opened the door to a complete week of activities – ranging from grassroots levels to the big finals in, for the first time, both the women’s and the men’s UEFA Champions Leagues. The objective is to build on these successes in the 2010/11 season which will reach its climax in London and, more particularly, the new Wembley Stadium where two of the 32 contestants will take the field for club f