Arsenal in Europe 2003-2004

Knockout Stage

Last 16

24/02/04  A    vs Arsenal
10/02/04  H   Arsenal vs

See newsreel for full draw and Celta facts, Celta Vigo page for more links and info as and when we get them.

Group Stage

Final positions

                    Pld W  D  L  F  A  Pts
[an error occurred while processing this directive] 6  3  1  2  9  6  10 
[an error occurred while processing this directive] 6  2  2  2  7  7   8
[an error occurred while processing this directive] 6  2  2  2  8 11   8 
[an error occurred while processing this directive] 6  2  1  3  8  8   7

(See this Newsreel item for the qualification permutations for all possible outcomes of the last matches)

schedule of matches

Date Arsenal's match Other match

Weds 17th Sept Arsenal 0-3 Inter Dynamo 2-0 Lokomotiv

Tues 30th Sept Lokomotiv 0-0 Arsenal Inter 2-1 Dynamo

Tues 21st Oct Dynamo 2-1 Arsenal Lokomotiv 3-0 Inter

Weds 5th Nov Arsenal 1-0 Dynamo Inter 1-1 Lokomotiv

Tues 25th Nov Inter 1-5 Arsenal Lokomotiv 3-2 Dynamo

Weds 10th Dec Arsenal 2-0 Lokomotiv Dynamo 1-1 Inter

New format

The competition has changed significantly this year, in that there will only be one group stage.
The winners and runners-up from the initial 8 groups of 4 will go into the hat for the knockout stage.
Presumably, winners will be drawn against runners-up at that stage
The 8 third-placed teams will go into the third round of the UEFA cup.
Clubs from the same country will be kept apart in the first knockout round (last 16), as will teams that were in the same group. Group runners-up will be at home in the first leg.
Following that last 16 round, there will be a draw for all subsequent rounds (ie quarter-finalists will know which other quarter-final their potential semi-final opponents will come from).
From the last 8 onwards, the draw is random (ie no not-same-country or not-same-group stipulations)
The full regulations are available as a pdf download from the UEFA site (Adobe Acrobat reader required)

Player eligibility

Clubs can register a maximum of 25 players in their "A list".
In addition they can have any number of "B list" registered players, who must must have been born after 1981 and must have been eligible to play for the club for a continuous period of at least 2 years, at some point since their 15th birthday.
To take part in the group stage (and beyond), players have to be registered with UEFA by 1st September (noon CET).
Clubs can register 3 new players for the knockout stage, with a deadline of 2nd February 2004, so long as the total number of players on the A List does not exceed 25 (players can be dropped from that list to make room for the new signings).
A new goalkeeper can be registered at any time, if the club cannot count on having 2 keepers because of long-term injury or illness
No player can play for more than 1 team during the season, in any UEFA competitions.

Determining the placings in group stage

If any number of teams are level on points, their order is decided first by examining the "mini-league" formed by considering only the results between those teams.
There is a common misconception that this method could result in "loops" if there are more than 2 teams involved but this is not the case because the results are put into a table rather than considered pair-wise.
If teams are still level in the mini-league, according to points, goal difference and then away goals scored (note that goals scored is, unusually, skipped), then it goes to overall goal difference and overall goals scored.
It's weird that they skip goals scored in the mini-league, particularly as when it returns to overall stats goals scored comes after goal diffrence, and away goals aren't mentioned at all!

If it's still level the teams are ranked according to their UEFA cofficients at the start of the season

See this newsreel piece for more including transcription of the actual UEFA rules.