2022–23 UEFA Champions League explained

Tourney Name:UEFA Champions League
Year:2022–23
Size:300
Dates:Qualifying:
21 June – 24 August 2022
Competition proper:
6 September 2022 – 10 June 2023
Num Teams:Competition proper: 32
Total: 78
Associations:53
Champion Other: Manchester City
Count:1
Second Other: Inter Milan
Matches:125
Goals:372
Top Scorer:
12 goals
Player:
Young Player:
Prevseason:2021–22
Nextseason:2023–24

The 2022–23 UEFA Champions League was the 68th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 31st season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League.

The final was played at the Atatürk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul, Turkey, on 10 June 2023.[1] The stadium was originally appointed to host the 2020 UEFA Champions League final, but both this and the 2021 editions, which had been subsequently re-allocated to the Atatürk, were moved due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2023 final was contested by English club Manchester City and Italian club Inter Milan, with the former winning 1–0 via a second-half goal by Rodri, who was named man of the match by UEFA. For Manchester City, this was their first-ever European Cup, and first European trophy since 1970. Having earlier won the Premier league and FA Cup titles, they achieved a unique continental treble.[2] [3] As winners, Manchester City earned the right to play against Sevilla, the winners of the 2022–23 UEFA Europa League, in the 2023 UEFA Super Cup, as well as qualifying for both the 2023 and 2025 FIFA Club World Cups in Saudi Arabia and the United States, respectively.

Real Madrid were the defending champions, having won a record-extending fourteenth European Cup title in the previous edition, but they were eliminated by eventual champions Manchester City in the semi-finals.

Association team allocation

A total of 78 teams from 53 of the 55 UEFA member associations participated in the 2022–23 UEFA Champions League (the exceptions being Russia, who were banned from participating due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and Liechtenstein, which did not organise a domestic league). The association ranking based on the UEFA association coefficients was used to determine the number of participating teams for each association:[4]

Association ranking

For the 2022–23 UEFA Champions League, the associations were allocated places according to their 2021 UEFA association coefficients, which took into account their performance in European competitions from 2016–17 to 2020–21.[5]

Apart from the allocation based on the association coefficients, associations could have additional teams participating in the Champions League, as noted below:

Association ranking for 2022–23 UEFA Champions League
RankAssociationCoeff.TeamsNotes
1100.569align=center rowspan=44
297.855
375.438
473.570
556.081align=center rowspan=23
648.549
739.2002
838.3820
936.500align=center rowspan=72
1035.825
1133.375
1233.100
1330.100
1427.875
1527.750
1626.750align=center rowspan=41
1726.600
1826.275
1926.225
RankAssociationCoeff.TeamsNotes
2026.000align=center rowspan=131
2124.375
2221.000
2320.500
2420.375
2518.200
2616.875
2715.625
2815.500
2915.250
3015.125
3114.250
3213.625
339.0000
348.750align=center rowspan=51
358.250
368.000
377.875
387.625
RankAssociationCoeff.TeamsNotes
397.375align=center rowspan=171
407.375
417.250
426.958
436.875
446.875
456.875
466.375
476.125
485.833
495.666
505.000
515.000
524.875
534.750
543.331
551.166

Distribution

The following is the access list for this season.[6]

Access list for 2022–23 UEFA Champions League
Teams entering in this roundTeams advancing from previous round
Preliminary round
(4 teams)
  • 4 champions from associations 52–55
First qualifying round
(30 teams)
  • 29 champions from associations 22–51 (except Liechtenstein)
  • 1 winner from the preliminary round
Second qualifying round
(24 teams)
Champions Path
(20 teams)
  • 5 champions from associations 17–21
  • 15 winners from the first qualifying round
League Path
(4 teams)
  • 4 runners-up from associations 12–15
Third qualifying round
(20 teams)
Champions Path
(12 teams)
  • 2 champions from associations 15–16
  • 10 winners from the second qualifying round (Champions Path)
League Path
(8 teams)
  • 4 runners-up from associations 7–11 (except Russia)
  • 2 third-placed teams from associations 5–6
  • 2 winners from the second qualifying round (League Path)
Play-off round
(12 teams)
Champions Path
(8 teams)
  • 2 champions from associations 13–14
  • 6 winners from the third qualifying round (Champions Path)
League Path
(4 teams)
  • 4 winners from the third qualifying round (League Path)
Group stage
(32 teams)
  • Europa League title holder
  • 11 champions from associations 1–12 (except Russia)
  • 6 runners-up from associations 1–6
  • 4 third-placed teams from associations 1–4
  • 4 fourth-placed teams from associations 1–4
  • 4 winners from the play-off round (Champions Path)
  • 2 winners from the play-off round (League Path)
Knockout phase
(16 teams)
  • 8 group winners from the group stage
  • 8 group runners-up from the group stage

Due to the suspension of Russia for the 2022–23 European season, the following changes to the access list were made:[7]

Since the Champions League title holders (Real Madrid) qualified via their domestic league, the following changes to the access list were made:[7]

Teams

The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round:

The second qualifying round, third qualifying round and play-off round were divided into Champions Path (CH) and League Path (LP).

CC: 2022 UEFA club coefficients.[8]

Notes

Schedule

The schedule of the competition was as follows. All matches were played on Tuesdays and Wednesdays apart from the preliminary round final and the final. Scheduled kick-off times starting from the play-off round were 18:45 and 21:00 CEST/CET.[9]

As the 2022 FIFA World Cup took place in Qatar between 20 November and 18 December 2022, the group stage commenced in the first week of September 2022 and concluded in the first week of November 2022 to make way for the World Cup.

The draws for the qualifying round started at 12:00 CEST/CET and were held at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.[10] The group stage draw took place in Istanbul, Turkey.[11]

Schedule for 2022–23 UEFA Champions League[12] [13]
PhaseRoundDraw dateFirst legSecond leg
QualifyingPreliminary round7 June 202221 June 2022 (semi-finals)24 June 2022 (final)
First qualifying round14 June 20225–6 July 202212–13 July 2022
Second qualifying round15 June 202219–20 July 202226–27 July 2022
Third qualifying round18 July 20222–3 August 20229 August 2022
Play-offsPlay-off round2 August 202216–17 August 202223–24 August 2022
Group stageMatchday 125 August 20226–7 September 2022
Matchday 213–14 September 2022
Matchday 34–5 October 2022
Matchday 411–12 October 2022
Matchday 525–26 October 2022
Matchday 61–2 November 2022
Knockout phaseRound of 167 November 202214–15 & 21–22 February 20237–8 & 14–15 March 2023
Quarter-finals17 March 202311–12 April 202318–19 April 2023
Semi-finals9–10 May 202316–17 May 2023
Final10 June 2023 at Atatürk Olympic Stadium, Istanbul

Qualifying rounds

Third qualifying round

Group stage

See main article: 2022–23 UEFA Champions League group stage.

The draw for the group stage was held on 25 August 2022. The 32 teams were drawn into eight groups of four. For the draw, the teams were seeded into four pots, each of eight teams, based on the following principles:

Teams from the same association could not be drawn into the same group.

Eintracht Frankfurt made their debut appearance in the group stage (and first appearance in the European Cup since their loss in the 1960 final) after winning the 2021–22 UEFA Europa League and, as a result, this was the first time that five German clubs played in the group stage.

A total of 15 national associations were represented in the group stage. This season was the first since the 1995–96 edition in which a Turkish side failed to qualify for the group stage. It was also the first time since the 2007–08 season that two Scottish sides qualified for the group stage.

Group H

Knockout phase

See main article: 2022–23 UEFA Champions League knockout phase.

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

Final

Statistics

Statistics exclude qualifying rounds and play-off round.

Top goalscorers

Rank[15] PlayerTeamGoalsMinutes played
1 Erling Haaland Manchester City12845
2 Mohamed Salah Liverpool8624
3 Kylian Mbappé Paris Saint-Germain7651
Vinícius Júnior Real Madrid975
5 João Mário Benfica6865
6 Victor Osimhen Napoli5424
Robert Lewandowski Barcelona442
Mehdi Taremi Porto613
Rodrygo Real Madrid824
Rafa Silva Benfica826
Olivier Giroud Milan939

Team of the season

The UEFA technical study group selected the following players as the team of the tournament.[16]

PlayerTeam
Thibaut Courtois Real Madrid
Kyle Walker Manchester City
Rúben Dias Manchester City
Alessandro Bastoni Inter Milan
Federico Dimarco Inter Milan
John Stones Manchester City
Kevin De Bruyne Manchester City
Rodri Manchester City
Bernardo Silva Manchester City
Erling Haaland Manchester City
Vinícius Júnior Real Madrid

Player of the Season

Young Player of the Season

See also

Notes and References

  1. International match calendar and access list for 2022/23 . UEFA Circular Letter . Union of European Football Associations . 51/2021 . 19 July 2021 . 5 November 2021.
  2. Web site: Man City win Champions League: Rodri goal secures victory against Inter and completes treble . UEFA . 10 June 2023 . 10 June 2023 . 11 June 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230611095758/https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/65845807 . live .
  3. Web site: Man City 1–0 Inter Milan in Champions League final to claim Treble . . 10 June 2023 . 10 June 2023.
  4. Web site: 2022 . Regulations of the UEFA Champions League, 2022/23 Season . 30 April 2021 . . Nyon.
  5. Web site: Association coefficients 2020/21 . UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations . 20 August 2021 . 29 November 2021 . 2 November 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20211102093931/https://www.uefa.com/memberassociations/uefarankings/country/#/yr/2021 . live .
  6. Web site: Access list 2021–24 . UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations . 16 February 2020 . 4 December 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20181204074949/https://www.uefa.com/MultimediaFiles/Download/uefaorg/General/02/58/61/42/2586142_DOWNLOAD.pdf . live .
  7. UEFA decisions for upcoming competitions relating to the ongoing suspension of Russian national teams and clubs . UEFA. Nyon. 2 May 2022 . 2 May 2022.
  8. Web site: Club coefficients 2021/22 . UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations .
  9. Web site: Format change for 2020/21 UEFA Nations League . UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations . 24 September 2019 . 17 February 2020 . 26 September 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190926223650/https://www.uefa.com/insideuefa/about-uefa/news/newsid=2625412.html . live .
  10. News: 2022 European football calendar: Match and draw dates for all UEFA competitions . UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations. 1 January 2022 . 6 January 2022.
  11. News: Venues appointed for club competition finals . UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations . 16 July 2021 . 16 July 2021.
  12. International match calendar and access list for 2022/23 . UEFA Circular Letter . Union of European Football Associations . 51/2021 . 19 July 2021 . 5 November 2021.
  13. Web site: Champions league fixtures. Lootrs. 12 Jan 2023. Mahesh. Patel. 12 Jan 2023.
  14. Web site: UEFA 5-year Club Ranking 2022. kassiesa.net. Union of European Football Associations. 5 August 2022.
  15. Web site: UEFA Champions League – Top Scorers. UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 10 June 2023.
  16. News: 2022/23 UEFA Champions League Team of the Season. UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations . 11 June 2023. 11 June 2023.
  17. News: 11 June 2023. Rodri named 2022/23 UEFA Champions League Player of the Season. 11 June 2023. UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations.
  18. News: 11 June 2023. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia named 2022/23 UEFA Champions League Young Player of the Season. 11 June 2023. UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations.