Don’t miss the Champions League experience! Find out when it starts and other key dates, how the competition is structured, and how to watch with FuboTV.
What is the UEFA Champions League?
The UEFA Champions League is an annual competition that pits the top soccer clubs in Europe against each other. The tournament features a round-robin group stage, followed by a double-legged knockout tournament. The UEFA Champions League final is contested as a single leg. The tournament is one of the biggest in the world, often compared to the World Cup, as it pits some of the best clubs in the world against each other.
The tournament has seen its format change over the years, originally debuting under the name European Cup in 1955 and featuring 16 teams in a knockout tournament. The tournament expanded to 32 teams in 1960 and took its current name as the UEFA group stage format in 1992. That year also featured the first round being replaced by the group stage format.
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Real Madrid holds the record for most Champions League titles, winning 14 of them, most recently in 2022. AC Milan is second with seven titles, while Bayern Munich and Liverpool are tied for third with six titles apiece. Other teams with multiple Champions League titles are Barcelona (5), Ajax (4), Manchester United and Inter Milan (3), and Juventus, Benfica, Chelsea and Nottingham Forest (2). Juventus holds the record for most runner-up finishes with seven, while Atletico Madrid has made the most appearances in the final without a win with three.
Real Madrid has been the dominant force in the Champions League in recent seasons. In the last nine tournaments, Real Madrid has emerged as the champions five times. No other team has repeated during this stretch.
The selection of teams for the UEFA Champions League is dependent on the UEFA coefficients of its member associations. This formula determines how many Champions League bids are allocated to each country. From there, the top teams in that nation’s domestic league get spots in the Champions League. For example, the 2022-23 Champions League featured England, Spain, Italy and Germany, each getting four teams in because of their UEFA coefficient.
What To Know About The 2022-23 Champions League
While the primary tournament features 32 teams, 78 teams participated in the 2022-23 Champions League. Preliminary qualifying rounds that took place from June until August determined which 32 teams advanced to the final competition.
The 32-team Champions League group stage took place from September until November, which helped set the stage for the 16-team knockout round. The top two teams in each group advanced to the knockout stage or phase of the tournament, which began in February and will conclude in March.
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The 16 teams to advance to this year’s knockout phase are Red Bull Leipzig, Manchester City, Club Brugge, Benfica, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Milan, Tottenham Hotspur, Eintracht Frankfurt, Napoli, Borussia Dortmund, Chelsea, Inter Milan, Porto, Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich. These teams have already played the first leg of their matchup and will meet again in March. The matchups for the second leg of the Round of 16 begin on March 7 with a pair of contests as Club Brugge takes on Benfica and Borussia Dortmund faces Chelsea.
Of the remaining teams in the UEFA Champions League, Benfica is the only one who entered the tournament before the group stage, as the Portuguese side opened in the third qualifying round, defeating Midtjylland, then knocking out Dynamo Kyiv in the playoff round.
Heading into the second leg of the Round of 16, the current scores are:
- RB Leipzig 1 – 1 Manchester City
- Club Brugge 0 – 2 Benfica
- Liverpool 2 – 5 Real Madrid
- Milan 1 – 0 Tottenham Hotspur
- Eintracht Frankfurt 0 – 2 Napoli
- Borussia Dortmund 1 – 0 Chelsea
- Inter Milan 1 – 0 Porto
- Paris Saint-Germain 0 – 1 Bayern Munich
The draw for the quarterfinals, semifinals and final will be held on March 17, with those games set to be played April 11 and 12 for the first leg and April 18 and 19 for the second leg. The semifinals are set for May 9 and 10, and then May 16 and 17, before the final is played June 10 at Atatürk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul, Turkey.
Champions League 2022-23 Dates to Know
- Round of 16: Mar. 7/8 & 14/15 (Leg 2)
- Quarterfinals: April 11-12 (Leg 1) & April 18-19 (Leg 2)
- Semifinals: May 9-10 (Leg 1), & May 16-17 (Leg 2)
- Final: June 10
When is the 2023-24 UEFA Champions League?
The 2023-24 UEFA Champions League will begin shortly after the 2022-23 Champions League concludes, with qualifying rounds for next season’s contest set to begin on June 27, 2023. That preliminary round will feature teams from Iceland, Montenegro, Andorra and San Marino. Qualifying rounds for the 2023-24 Champions League will end on August 15, 2023. The playoff round will be played in late August, with the 2023-24 group stage kicking off in September.
The 2023-24 Champions League will conclude on June 1, 2024.
How to Watch the Champions League
Watch the UEFA Champions League with fuboTV
The UEFA Champions League games can be watched using fuboTV. Select matches will air in English on CBS and CBS Sports Network, while Spanish language broadcasts appear on Univision’s networks.
fuboTV is the leading sports-first live TV streaming platform, offering 100+ live TV channels and regional sports networks. The service includes a DVR as well as on-demand content and focuses on sports programming. Fubo is the only live TV streaming platform with every Nielsen-rated sports channel. Leveraging Fubo’s proprietary data and technology platform optimized for live TV and sports viewership, subscribers can engage with the content they are watching through interactive product features like FanView, an in-video experience showcasing live game, team and player stats and scores in real-time. Fubo was also the first virtual MVPD to enable simultaneous viewing on up to four screens (Multiview on Apple TV) and the first to stream in 4K HDR. The service was ranked #1 in Customer Satisfaction among Live TV Streaming Providers by J.D. Power (2022).
Watch the UEFA Champions League with fuboTV
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