Middlesbrough sealed their place in the final on the back of two dramatic comebacks.

In the quarter-finals they beat FC Basel of Switzerland 4–3 on aggregate (after losing the first leg 2–0 and being 1–0 down in the second leg, they scored 4 goals), this put them into the semi-final to face Steaua București.

CSKA Moscow were the defending champions, but were eliminated in the group stage.

The following amendments were made to the 2005–06 qualification scheme: The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round:[1] The schedule of the competition was as follows (all draws were held at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, unless stated otherwise).

[5] Based on paragraph 4.06 in the UEFA regulations for the current season, tiebreakers, if necessary, are applied in the following order:[6]