Hostilities resume. Five months after Lyonnaises’ eighth European title, the Champions League is making a comeback on Wednesday October 19 for Olympique Lyonnais and Thursday October 20 for Paris-Saint-Germain. If title hopes are still allowed for the French teams, the competition promises to be tougher than ever during this 2022-2023 edition of the C1. Here’s everything you need to know about the competition.
An unchanged formula and diffusers
Never change a winning team. After a first test last season, UEFA decided to renew the same format for the competition with four pools of four teams, and direct qualification in the quarter-finals for the first two of each group. If OL, Wolfsburg, Chelsea and Barcelona were automatically qualified for the group stage, the other twelve teams had to go through one or two qualifying rounds to climb up to here. This is the case of PSG, which had to get rid of BK Häcken (Sweden), at the end of September.
Ballon d’Or winners, FIFA cover stars, invincible teams – the UWCL has it all.
THIS. IS. ELITE.
Welcome to the news @UWCL season pic.twitter.com/cOIRn7s1ER
— DAZN Football (@DAZNFootball) October 18, 2022
The final will take place on the weekend of June 3 and 4, 2023, at Philips Stadium in Eindhoven (Netherlands). It is perhaps in this stadium with a capacity of 35,000 seats that the Lyonnaises will win their ninth C1, or that the Parisiennes will finally succeed in going all the way, after two finals in 2015 and 2017. The 61 matches of the Champions League, from the group stage, will be broadcast on the DAZN streaming platform, and for free on the DAZN YouTube channel.
OL and PSG already in the heart of the matter
Respectively winner and semi-finalist last season, Lyon and Paris will once again try to honor French women’s football in this new edition of the Champions League. But with the emergence of new teams in Europe, the meetings are likely to be tight from the group stage.
Placed in Group C alongside Arsenal, Juventus Turin and Zurich, OL begin their campaign on Wednesday (9 p.m.), with the reception of the Gunners, who include English European champion Beth Mead in their ranks. Already in the heart of the matter, the Fenottes will continue, on October 27, with a trip to the Turinoises, who had given them a hard time in the quarter-finals of the last C1. To negotiate these shocks, Sonia Bompastor will be able to count on her many executives like Wendie Renard, Ada Hegerberg or Selma Bacha, all classified with the Golden Ball.
teams will compete in the Women’s Champions League group stage, including four past winners and one European debutant
Find out more about the contenders ahead of matchday 1 on Wednesday & Thursday! #UWCL
— UEFA Women’s Champions League (@UWCL) October 16, 2022
The task promises to be even more difficult for PSG, which aspires to calm after a 2021-2022 season disrupted by the Hamraoui-Diallo affair. The Parisiennes will have to take care of their entry on Thursday, against Chelsea, reigning English champions. The Blues have in particular in their workforce the Australian Sam Kerr and the English Millie Bright, respectively third and fifteenth of the last Ballon d’Or.
Real Madrid, which continues to progress over the seasons, and Vllazania Skhöder, champion of Albania, are also on the menu for Gérard Prêcheur and his troops. In the absence of Marie-Antoinette Katoto, still injured, the keys to the Parisian attack will be entrusted to Kadidiatou Diani and Dutch rookie Lieke Martens.
Barcelona and Wolfsburg in ambush
Badly beaten by OL in 2019 and 2022, FC Barcelona has the ambition to win its second Champions League after that of 2021. If the double Ballon d’Or Alexia Putellas has not yet recovered from his injury to the knee contracted during the last Euro, the Blaugranas have other stars available such as Aitana Bonmati, Lucy Bronze, Asisat Oshoala or even Fridolina Rolfo. Barça is therefore the big favorite of group D, made up of Bayern Munich, Benfica Lisbon and Rosengård (Sweden).
Finally, the last favorite of this C1 seems to be Wolfsburg, which is in group C with Slavia Prague, AS Roma and St. Pölten (Austria). Led by German striker Alexandra Popp, executioner of the France team this summer, the German champions dream of regaining the C1, which they won in 2013 and 2014. What promise a good fight until Eindhoven .