This season was the first where clubs must comply with UEFA Financial Fair Play Regulations in order to participate.

[6] 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.

[7] Another ruling centred in regional instability was also made where Israeli teams were prohibited from hosting any UEFA competitions due to the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict.

[8] The rules regarding suspension due to yellow card accumulation were also changed such that all bookings expired on completion of the quarter-finals and were not carried forward to the semi-finals.

[12][13] Since the title holders Real Madrid qualified for the Champions League group stage through their domestic league (as the third-placed team of the 2013–14 La Liga), the group stage spot reserved for the title holders is vacated, and the following changes to the default allocation system are made:[14][15][16] League positions of the previous season shown in parentheses (TH: Title holders).

[17][18] Notes The schedule of the competition is as follows (all draws held at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, unless stated otherwise).

The losing teams in both sections entered the 2014–15 UEFA Europa League group stage.

Teams that qualified for the group stage also participated in the 2014–15 UEFA Youth League, a competition available to players aged 19 or under.

In the knockout phase, teams played against each other over two legs on a home-and-away basis, except for the one-match final.

The draw for the semi-finals and final (to determine the "home" team for administrative purposes) was held on 24 April 2015.