The 2022–23 WSE Champions League was the 58th season of Europe's premier club roller hockey tournament organised by World Skate Europe – Rink Hockey, and the first season under the WSE Champions League branding. This season expanded the maximum number of participating teams from 16 to 32, introducing two preliminary rounds prior to the group stage. The knockout stage was contested as a final-eight tournament played at the Pavilhão Municipal José Natário in Viana do Castelo, Portugal from 4 to 7 May 2023.
The final was contested between Porto and Valongo, the fifth to feature two Portuguese sides. Porto won 5–1 to secure the club's third title in the competition, ending a 33-year drought since their last win and a run of 11 consecutive final losses. Italian side Trissino were the defending champions, as a result of their win over Valongo in the 2022 final, but were unable to retain their title after elimination in the quarter-finals by Portuguese side Oliveirense.
Team allocation Association ranking
For the 2022–23 WSE Champions League, the associations were allocated places according to their coefficient, which takes into account the performance of each association's representative teams in European competitions between the 2017–18 and the 2021–22 seasons (except for the 2019–20 season, which was discarded due to being interrupted). The coefficient is calculated by dividing the total of points accumulated by the number of participating teams.
The D'Hondt method was applied to the coefficient of each association to determine the number of teams entering in each round:
+Association ranking and number of participating teamsRankAssociationCoefficientTeamsTeams per round1 Portugal21.66773222 Spain18.50072233 Italy16.23572234 France8.56051045 Switzerland5.72740136 Germany4.90920117 England3.0002002
Schedule +Schedule for 2022–23 WSE Champions LeaguePhaseRoundDraw dateDateQualifying roundsFirst qualifying round23 July 202230 September–2 October 2022Second qualifying round11 October 202216–18 December 2022Group StageMatchday 129 December 202226 January 2023Matchday 29 February 2023Matchday 323 February 2023Matchday 49 March 2023Matchday 523 March 2023Matchday 613 April 2023Final eightQuarter-finals4–5 May 2023Semi-finals6 May 2023Final7 May 2023
First Qualifying Round A total of 16 teams participated, divided into 4 groups of 4 teams by means of a conditional draw so that teams from the same country would not face each other. The teams played in an all-against-all format in a single round, with the team with the lowest ranking in each group hosting the games played between September 30th and October 2nd, 2022. The two best ranked teams from each group advanced to next phase, while the remaining were relegated to the WSE Cup. Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Second Qualifying Round A total of 16 teams participated: 8 teams that entered this phase and the 8 teams qualified from the previous phase, distributed across 4 groups of 4 teams. The teams played in an all-against-all format in a single round, with the lowest ranked team in each group hosting the games played between December 16th and 18th, 2022. The two best placed in each group qualified for the Group Stage, with the rest being relegated to the WSE Cup. Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Group stage A total of 16 teams participate: 8 teams that entered this phase and the 8 teams qualified from the previous phase, distributed across 4 groups of 4 teams. The teams play in a two-round, all-against-all format, between January 26th and April 13th, 2023. The two best classified teams from each group qualify for the Final-Eight. Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Final eight The knockout phase of the competition consists of a final-eight tournament held at the Pavilhão Municipal José Natário in Viana do Castelo, Portugal, from 4 to 7 May 2023. In the quarter-finals, the group stage winners play against a group stage runner-up other than the one from their own group.
All times are local, WEST (UTC+1).
Bracket
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
References
External links Official website Results webpage