The 2014–15 UEFA Champions League group stage was played from 16 September to 10 December 2014.
A total of 32 teams competed in the group stage to decide the 16 places in the knockout phase of the 2014–15 UEFA Champions League.
There were other restrictions: for example, teams from the same city (e.g., Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid, Chelsea and Arsenal, Benfica and Sporting CP) in general did not play at home on the same matchday (UEFA tried to avoid teams from the same city playing at home on the same day or on consecutive days), and Russian teams did not play at home on the last matchday due to cold weather.
On 17 July 2014, the UEFA Emergency Panel ruled that Ukrainian and Russian clubs would not be drawn against each other "until further notice" due to the political unrest between the countries.
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] The matchdays were 16–17 September, 30 September – 1 October, 21–22 October, 4–5 November, 25–26 November, and 9–10 December 2014.