It’s time for the best of the best in European soccer to face off on the pitch as UEFA Champions League play opens up for the 2022-23 season. Fans can watch Champions League soccer for free by signing up for a trial of Paramount+.
Group stage play will kick off Tuesday as some of the biggest names in soccer face off with eyes on the knockout stages. Real Madrid enters as the reigning champs as contenders like FC Barcelona, Juventus, Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Man. City, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea try to knock them off. This year, the Champions League will look a little different as a number of big names have changed clubs. Star striker Robert Lewandowski has jumped from Bayern to Barcelona as he looks to lead the La Liga giants back to the top. Meanwhile, Cristiano Ronaldo and Manchester United are absent from this year’s group play action as they fell to the Europa League this season.
How to watch UEFA Champions League 2022-23 season
What TV channels will Champions League matches air on? – Select Champions League matches will air in English on CBS Sports Network. Others will air in Spanish via TUDN and Univision — as well as TUDNxtra channels. Fans can also watch every match this season via Paramount+ on smart TVs and streaming devices.
Matches that air on CBSSN or TUDN will also be available to stream with services like fuboTV and DirecTV on smart TVs and streaming devices.
How to watch Champions League matches online, live streaming – DirecTV | Paramount+ | fuboTV – Every Champions League match this season is available to stream via Paramount+. Additionally, matches that air on CBSSN or TUDN can also be streamed via DirecTV and fuboTV.
How to watch Champions League matches for free – Fans can sign up for a free trial of Paramount+ to watch any Champions League match this season. DirecTV and fuboTV also have free trials and will carry matches that air on CBSSN and TUDN/Univision.
Champions League Group Stage Schedule 2022-23
Tuesday, Sept.
Dinamo Zagreb vs Chelsea | 12:45 p.m.
Dortmund vs Copenhagen | 12:45 p.m.
Salzburg vs AC Milan | 3:00 p.m.
Celtic vs Real Madrid | 3:00 p.m.
Leipzig vs Shakhtar | 3:00 p.m.
Sevilla vs Man City | 3:00 p.m.
PSG vs Juventus | 3:00 p.m.
Benfica vs Maccabi Haifa | 3:00 p.m.
Wednesday, Sept. 7
Ajax vs Rangers | 12:45 p.m.
Frankfurt vs Sporting CP | 12:45 p.m.
Napoli vs Liverpool | 3:00 p.m.
Atletico vs Porto | 3:00 p.m.
Club Brugge vs Leverkusen | 3:00 p.m.
Barcelona vs Plzen | 3:00 p.m.
Inter vs Bayern | 3:00 p.m.
Tottenham vs Marseille | 3:00 p.m.
Tuesday, Sept. 13
Plzen vs Inter | 12:45 p.m.
Sporting CP vs Tottenham | 12:45 p.m.
Liverpool vs Ajax | 3:00 p.m.
Rangers vs Napoli | 3:00 p.m.
Porto vs Club Brugge | 3:00 p.m.
Leverkusen vs Atletico | 3:00 p.m.
Bayern vs Barcelona | 3:00 p.m.
Marseille vs Frankfurt | 3:00 p.m.
Wednesday, Sept. 14
AC Milan vs Dinamo Zagreb | 12:45 p.m.
Shakhtar vs Celtic | 12:45 p.m.
Chelsea vs Salzburg | 3:00 p.m.
Real Madrid vs Leipzig | 3:00 p.m.
Man City vs Dortmund | 3:00 p.m.
Copenhagen vs Sevilla | 3:00 p.m.
Juventus vs Benfica | 3:00 p.m.
Maccabi Haifa vs PSG | 3:00 p.m.
Tuesday, Oct. 4
Bayern vs Plzen | 12:45 p.m.
Marseille vs Sporting CP | 12:45 p.m.
Liverpool vs Rangers | 3:00 p.m.
Ajax vs Napoli | 3:00 p.m.
Porto vs Leverkusen | 3:00 p.m.
Club Brugge vs Atletico | 3:00 p.m.
Inter vs Barcelona | 3:00 p.m.
Frankfurt vs Tottenham | 3:00 p.m.
Wednesday, Oct. 5
Salzburg vs Dinamo Zagreb | 12:45 p.m.
Leipzig vs Celtic | 12:45 p.m.
Chelsea vs AC Milan | 3:00 p.m.
Real Madrid vs Shakhtar | 3:00 p.m.
Man City vs Copenhagen | 3:00 p.m.
Sevilla vs Dortmund | 3:00 p.m.
Juventus vs Maccabi Haifa | 3:00 p.m.
Benfica vs PSG | 3:00 p.m.
Tuesday, Oct. 11
Copenhagen vs Man City | 12:45 p.m.
Maccabi Haifa vs Juventus | 12:45 p.m.
Dinamo Zagreb vs Salzburg | 3:00 p.m.
AC Milan vs Chelsea | 3:00 p.m.
Shakhtar vs Real Madrid | 3:00 p.m.
Celtic vs Leipzig | 3:00 p.m.
Dortmund vs Sevilla | 3:00 p.m.
PSG vs Benfica | 3:00 p.m.
Wednesday, Oct. 12
Napoli vs Ajax | 12:45 p.m.
Atletico vs Club Brugge | 12:45 p.m.
Rangers vs Liverpool | 3:00 p.m.
Leverkusen vs Porto | 3:00 p.m.
Barcelona vs Inter | 3:00 p.m.
Plzen vs Bayern | 3:00 p.m.
Tottenham vs Frankfurt | 3:00 p.m.
Sporting CP vs Marseille | 3:00 p.m.
Tuesday, Oct. 25
Salzburg vs Chelsea | 12:45 p.m.
Sevilla vs Copenhagen | 12:45 p.m.
Dinamo Zagreb vs AC Milan | 3:00 p.m.
Celtic vs Shakhtar | 3:00 p.m.
Leipzig vs Real Madrid | 3:00 p.m.
Dortmund vs Man City | 3:00 p.m.
Paris vs Maccabi Haifa | 3:00 p.m.
Benfica vs Juventus | 3:00 p.m.
Wednesday, Oct. 26
Club Brugge vs Porto | 12:45 p.m.
Inter vs Plzen | 12:45 p.m.
Napoli vs Rangers | 3:00 p.m.
Ajax vs Liverpool | 3:00 p.m.
Atletico vs Leverkusen | 3:00 p.m.
Barcelona vs Bayern | 3:00 p.m.
Tottenham vs Sporting CP | 3:00 p.m.
Frankfurt vs Marseille | 3:00 p.m.
Tuesday, Nov. 1
Porto vs Atletico
Leverkusen vs Club Brugge
Liverpool vs Napoli
Rangers vs Ajax
Bayern vs Inter
Plzen vs Barcelona
Sporting CP vs Frankfurt
Marseille vs Tottenham
Wednesday, Nov. 2
Real Madrid vs Celtic | 12:45 p.m.
Shakhtar vs Leipzig | 12:45 p.m.
Chelsea vs Dinamo Zagreb | 3:00 p.m.
AC Milan vs Salzburg | 3:00 p.m.
Man City vs Sevilla | 3:00 p.m.
Copenhagen vs Dortmund | 3:00 p.m.
Juventus vs Paris | 3:00 p.m.
Maccabi Haifa vs Benfica | 3:00 p.m.
More coverage via the Associated Press
GENEVA (AP) — In this unusual season for European soccer, the World Cup in Qatar has split the Champions League into a sprint and a marathon.
The group stage kicks off Tuesday and squeezes six rounds of games into eight full weeks, with the last group matches on Nov. 2.
The congestion is caused by the shutdown of top-tier European soccer during a World Cup being played from Nov. 20-Dec. 18 in Qatar’s cooler months.
In a normal season, teams never play Champions League games in consecutive weeks and the group stage would run into mid-December.
This time, Champions League games come thick and fast in three separate sets of back-to-back midweeks to get the groups done before many players are called to national-team duty.
For teams off to a poor start in domestic leagues, the Champions League offers no respite with two games by Sept. 14 to set the tone in each of the eight groups.
“You can only enjoy the Champions League when things are going well in the (domestic) league,” said Leipzig coach Domenico Tedesco on Saturday after his team lost 4-0 at Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga. Leipzig hosts Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday in Group F and goes to defending champion Real Madrid next week.
Leipzig, Bayer Leverkusen — which has lost four of its five Bundesliga games – and Sevilla, winless and 16th in the Spanish league, all start Champions League play from the bottom half of their domestic standings. Sevilla has it toughest, hosting Manchester City in Group G on Tuesday. Leverkusen goes to Club Brugge in Group B on Wednesday.
The schedule offers little time to put things right but plenty of time to reflect later during a midseason pause for the competition that will last more than three months. On Feb. 14, the Champions League resumes with a knockout phase lasting almost four months.
The final on June 10 is the latest ever scheduled — excluding the COVID-19 pandemic-delayed 2020 season — since the inaugural European Cup title was decided on June 13, 1956.
It all adds up to a 59-day group stage and then a 220-day wait for the trophy to be awarded in Istanbul.
How a team can sustain form between the two phases is among the special challenges of this unprecedented schedule.
Man City currently looks a juggernaut, fueled by new signing Erling Haaland’s 10 goals in his first six Premier League games, and is favored by many for a first Champions League title.
Still, an unknown is an impact on the Norway forward of an enforced six-week break from competitive games while most of Haaland’s club teammates play at a physically and emotionally taxing World Cup.
Even in a regular season, when the Champions League round-of-16 pairings would be made in mid-December, club executives at the draw at UEFA headquarters would refuse to crow about being paired with an opponent then under-achieving domestically. The accepted wisdom is that the version of the opponent you see in December might not be the one you get when the two-leg series is played in February and March.
That is even more true this time when the last-16 draw will be made on Nov. 7 at UEFA’s lakeside headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.
The World Cup is a huge midseason commitment for many key players, and the January transfer window when teams can reload their rosters is set to be more volatile. The first trading period after a World Cup often is fueled by demand for less-heralded players who stand out on the global stage.
Whichever stories the Champions League tells in this group stage from Tuesday, seeing the bigger picture feels a long way off.
source by: https://www.masslive.com/sports
