As of September 6, the Champions League teams will face a very tight schedule that will consume a large portion of their resources, putting European national leagues on the verge of a disaster!
Football has never seen what we are going to witness with the World Cup forcing the European leagues to shut down for at least six weeks to allow for the FIFA World Cup to unfold.
Before that, the six Champions League group games – starting on September 6 – will be compressed into just 57 days.
This means matches will be played during six midweeks out of nine. A hell of a tough period for the major clubs in the Champions League.
Reports say two of the other midweek slots are taken up by the international break before the World Cup.
When does the Champions League group stage start?
Matchday 1: 6/7 September 2022
Matchday 2: 13/14 September 2022
Matchday 3: 4/5 October 2022
Matchday 4: 11/12 October 2022
Matchday 5: 25/26 October 2022
Matchday 6: 1/2 November 2022
When do the knockout stages of the Champions League start?
Round of 16: 14/15/21/22 February & 7/8/14/15 March 2023
Quarter-finals: 11/12 & 18/19 April 2023
Semi-finals: 9/10 & 16/17 May 2023
Final: 10 June 2023
Where is the Champions League final in 2023?
Atatürk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul, Turkey.
The 2020 final was originally scheduled for Istanbul, but it was moved to Lisbon due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, the 2021 showpiece was scheduled to take place in Istanbul, only to be relocated – to Porto – to allow fans from both teams to attend.
Group stage draws will take place today while the draw for the next round is on Nov 7.
Group stage: 25 August 2022
Round of 16: 7 November 2022
Quarter-finals & semi-finals: 17 March 2023