2003–04 UEFA Champions League
|
|
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 11 July 2003 – 26 May 2004 |
| Teams | 32 (group stage) 72 (total) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |
 Porto (2nd title)
|
| Runners-up |
 Monaco
|
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 125 |
| Goals scored | 309 (2.47 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) |
 Fernando Morientes(9 goals) |
The 2003–04 UEFA Champions League was the 12th season of UEFA's premier European club football tournament, the UEFA Champions League, since its rebranding from the European Cup in 1992, and the 49th tournament overall. The competition was won by Portugal's Porto, who defeated Monaco of the French Ligue 1 3–0 at the Arena AufSchalke in Gelsenkirchen, Germany for Portugal's first win since 1987. This was Porto's second European trophy in two years, following their UEFA Cup success from the previous season. This was the first UEFA Champions League competition to feature a 16-team knockout round instead of a second group stage.
After eliminating (in order) Manchester United, Olympique Lyonnais and Deportivo La Coruña, Porto met AS Monaco in the final. Monaco had previously knocked out Lokomotiv Moscow, Real Madrid and Chelsea.
Milan were the defending champions, but were eliminated by Deportivo La Coruña in the quarter-finals.
16 winners from the third qualifying round, 10 champions from countries ranked 1–10, and six second-placed teams from countries ranked 1–6 were drawn into eight groups of four teams each. The top two teams in each group advanced to the Champions League play-offs, while the third-placed teams advanced to the Third Round of the UEFA Cup.
Tiebreakers, if necessary, were applied in the following order:
Real Sociedad, Celta, Stuttgart and Partizan made their debut appearance in the group stage.
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