When does the next Champions League start? Key dates for 2022/23 competition
The dust has barely settled on the Paris final as Madrid ran out victorious with a 1-0 win over Liverpool but the next instalment of the competition is just around the corner.
Vinicius Jr. and Thibaut Courtois were the heroes for Real Madrid last Saturday in Paris as Real Madrid won a remarkable 14th European Cup/Champions League title with a 1-0 win over Liverpool.
No sooner has the curtain come down on the Stade de France final, but next Tuesday (7 June), the journey to the Istanbul 2023 final begins with the draw for the preliminary round of the 2022/23 UEFA Champions League.
It’s highly unlikely that Estonia’s FCI Levadia, Andorra’s Inter Club, Iceland’s Vikingur or San Marino’s La Florita will advance far in the competition, but they are the four sides who will get the tournament underway on 21 June.
UCL 2022/23 key dates
At present, we know the names of 26 of the 32 sides that will participate in the group stage but all summer long, champions from across Europe will be involved in a series of qualifying rounds looking to secure one of the half-dozen lucrative group stage spaces available.
26 teams that have already qualified for the 22/23 group stage:
- Spain: Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atlético Madrid and Sevilla
- Germany: Eintracht Frankfurt, Bayern, Dortmund and Leverkusen
- England: Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham
- Italy: Milan, Inter, Napoli and Juventus
- France: PSG and Marseille
- Portugal: Porto and Sporting de Portugal
- Netherlands: Ajax
- Belgium: Brugge
- Austria: RB Salzburg
- Scotland: Celtic
- Ukraine: Shakhtar Donetsk
In later rounds, European heavyweights suchs as Benfica, PSV, Monaco, Fenerbahce and Rangers enter the fray with the final round of qualifiers concluding on 23-24 August.
The draw for the group stage of the 2022/23 competition is scheduled for 25 August and will be staged in Istanbul.
2022/23 UCL Group stage dates:
There will be six matchdays during the group stage which runs from September through to November this season ahead of the traditional December finish due to the Qatar 2022 World Cup which starts on 20 November.
- Matchday 1: 6-7 September
- Matchday 2: 13-14 September
- Matchday 3: 4-5 October
- Matchday 4: 11-12 October
- Matchday 5: 25-26 October
- Matchday 6: 1-2 November
Round of 16 draw date:
The draw for the round of 16 will take place in Nyon (Switzerland) on 7 November with these games taking place 14-15 & 20-21 of February with return legs taking place on 7-8 & 14-15 of March.
Knockout phase:
The draw for the final stages of the competition will be staged on 17 March when the path to the final will be known with the draw for quarter and semi-final stages. The quarters will be played on 11-12 April with the return legs a week later. The semi-finalists will battle it out looking for a place in the Istanbul on 9-10 May with the second leg games a week later.
2023 final
Istanbul’s Olympic Stadium was originally scheduled to stage its second Champions League final between Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich on 30 May 2020, but following the Covid-19 pandemic in Europe the match was postponed and later rescheduled to August at the Estádio da Luz in Lisbon (Portugal) and played behind closed doors.
A year later the stadium was then set to hold the 2021 final between Manchester City and Chelsea instead, but the match was once again moved to Portugal, this time at the Estádio do Dragão in Porto. The UCL final will be staged at the Istanbul ground on 10 June (2023).