In the 18th minute, Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann became the first player to be sent off in a European Cup final.

From the following season, UEFA reserved a berth in the group stage for the defending champions regardless of their league position.

The schedule of the competition is as follows (all draws are held at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, unless stated otherwise).

Though they finished fifth in the Premier League in 2004–05 (at the time, only four teams from an association were allowed to compete in the Champions League), Liverpool were granted a special exemption by UEFA as the holders, whereby they were placed into the first qualification round,[7][8][9] and were drawn against TNS in that round.

[16] Tiebreakers are applied in the following order:[17] Real Betis, Villarreal, Udinese, Thun and Artmedia Bratislava made their debut appearance in the group stage.