| Tourney Name: | UEFA Champions League |
| Year: | 2001–02 |
| Size: | 275px |
| Dates: | Qualifying: 11 July – 8 September 2001 Competition proper: 11 September 2001 – 15 May 2002 |
| Num Teams: | Competition proper: 32 Total: 72 |
| Champion Other: | Real Madrid |
| Count: | 9 |
| Second Other: | Bayer Leverkusen |
| Matches: | 157 |
| Goals: | 393 |
| Attendance: | 5411714 |
| Top Scorer: | Ruud van Nistelrooy (Manchester United) 10 goals |
| Prevseason: | 2000–01 |
| Nextseason: | 2002–03 |
The 2001–02 UEFA Champions League was the 47th season of the UEFA Champions League, UEFA's premier club football tournament, and the 10th since its rebranding from the "European Champion Clubs' Cup" or "European Cup". The tournament was won by Real Madrid, who beat Bayer Leverkusen in the final to claim their ninth European Cup title. The final's winning goal was scored by Zinedine Zidane, with a left-footed volley from the edge of the penalty area into the top left corner.
Bayer Leverkusen eliminated all three English teams on their way to the final: Arsenal in the second group stage, followed by Liverpool in the quarter-finals and Manchester United in the semi-finals.
Manchester United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy was the tournament's top scorer, scoring 10 goals from the first group stage through to the semi-final.
Bayern Munich were the defending champions, but were eliminated by eventual winners Real Madrid in the quarter-finals.
A total of 72 teams participated in the 2001–02 Champions League, from 48 of 51 UEFA associations. Liechtenstein (who don't have their own league) as well as lowest-ranked associations (Andorra and San Marino) were not admitted.
Below is the qualification scheme for the 2001–02 UEFA Champions League:[1]
Countries are allocated places according to their 2000 UEFA league coefficient, which takes into account their performance in European competitions from 1995–96 to 1999–2000.[2]
|
|
|
Since the title holders (Bayern Munich) qualified for the Champions League group stage through their domestic league, the group stage spot reserved for the title holders was vacated. The following changes to the default access list are made:
| Teams entering in this round | Teams advancing from previous round | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First qualifying round (20 teams) |
| |||
| Second qualifying round (28 teams) |
|
| ||
| Third qualifying round (32 teams) |
|
| ||
| Group stage (32 teams) |
|
| ||
| Second group stage (16 teams) |
| |||
| Knockout phase (8 teams) |
| |||
League positions of the previous season shown in parentheses (TH: Champions League title holders).
The schedule of the competition is as follows (all draws are held at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, unless stated otherwise).[3]
| Phase | Round | Draw date | First leg | Second leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qualifying | First qualifying round | 22 June 2001 (Geneva) | 11 July 2001 | 18 July 2001 |
| Second qualifying round | 24–25 July 2001 | 31 July – 1 August 2001 | ||
| Third qualifying round | 20 July 2001 | 7–8 August 2001 | 21–22 August 2001 | |
| First group stage | Matchday 1 | 23 August 2001 (Monaco) | 11 September & 10 October 2001 | |
| Matchday 2 | 18–19 September 2001 | |||
| Matchday 3 | 25–26 September 2001 | |||
| Matchday 4 | 16–17 October 2001 | |||
| Matchday 5 | 23–24 October 2001 | |||
| Matchday 6 | 30–31 October 2001 | |||
| Second group stage | Matchday 1 | 2 November 2001 (Geneva) | 20–21 November 2001 | |
| Matchday 2 | 4–5 December 2001 | |||
| Matchday 3 | 19–20 February 2002 | |||
| Matchday 4 | 26–27 February 2002 | |||
| Matchday 5 | 12–13 March 2002 | |||
| Matchday 6 | 19–20 March 2002 | |||
| Knockout phase | Quarter-finals | 22 March 2002 | 2–3 April 2002 | 9–10 April 2002 |
| Semi-finals | 23–24 April 2002 | 30 April – 1 May 2002 | ||
| Final | 15 May 2002 at Hampden Park, Glasgow | |||
See main article: 2001–02 UEFA Champions League qualifying rounds.
See main article: 2001–02 UEFA Champions League first group stage. 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 advance to the second group stage, and the third placed team in each group advance to the Third Round of the UEFA Cup.
Celtic, Lille, Liverpool, Lokomotiv Moscow, Mallorca, Roma and Schalke 04 made their debut in the group stage.
See main article: 2001–02 UEFA Champions League second group stage. Eight winners and eight runners-up from the first group stage were drawn into four groups of four teams each, each containing two group winners and two runners-up. Teams from the same country or from the same first round group could not be drawn together. The top two teams in each group advanced to the quarter-finals.
See main article: 2001–02 UEFA Champions League knockout stage.
The top scorers from the 2001–02 UEFA Champions League (excluding qualifying rounds) are as follows:
| Rank | Name | Team | Goals | Appearances | Minutes played |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ruud van Nistelrooy | Manchester United | 10 | 14 | 1,207 |
| 2 |  David Trezeguet | Juventus | 8 | 10 | 841 |
| 3 |  Ole Gunnar Solskjær | Manchester United | 7 | 15 | 630 |
| Thierry Henry | Arsenal | 7 | 11 | 981 | |
| 5 |  Giovane Élber | Bayern Munich | 6 | 11 | 730 |
 Diego Tristán | Deportivo La Coruña | 6 | 12 | 797 | |
 Michalis Konstantinou | Panathinaikos | 6 | 14 | 955 | |
| Raúl | Real Madrid | 6 | 12 | 1,080 | |
| Patrick Kluivert | Barcelona | 6 | 15 | 1,300 | |
| Michael Ballack | Bayer Leverkusen | 6 | 15 | 1,346 |