The 2022/23 Champions League

With just over a week to go until the 2021/22 Champions League final between Real Madrid and Liverpool, the 2022/23 edition already has most of its participants.

Between the league champions and those who have qualified via league places, only seven slots remain to be filled in order to complete the 77 teams participating in the next edition of the Champions League, whose final will be held at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul.

Let's take a look at all the teams that have qualified so far for Europe's top club competition and how each preliminary round works all the way through to the group stage.

Preliminary round

The four league champions from the four leagues with the lowest UEFA coefficient, i.e. Estonia, Iceland, Andorra and San Marino, enter this preliminary round.

From this initial final-four stage, one winning team will advance to the next round, with the remaining three teams dropping into the second qualifying round of the Conference League.

Teams participating in this round:

Levadia (League Champion Estonia)

Vikingur (League Champion in Iceland)

Andorran Champion

Champion of San Marino

First qualifying round

In this First Qualifying Round, 29 teams enter directly, plus the champion of the Final Four of the Preliminary Round, to make a total of 30 qualifiers.

All teams entering this First Round are champions of their respective leagues in the last edition.

Winners move on, losers drop to the Second Qualifying Round of the Conference League.

Qarabag (Azerbaijan)

Malmo (Sweden)

Ludogorets (Bulgaria)

Sheriff (Moldova)

Cluj (Romania)

Bodo (Norway)

Ferencvaros (Hungary)

Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia)

HJK (Finland)

TNS [The New Saints] (Wales)

Zalgiris (Lithuania)

Lincoln Red Imps (Gibraltar)

Shamrock Rovers (Ireland)

Zrinjski (Bosnia)

Sutjeska Niksic (Montenegro)

Shakhtyor Soligorsk (Belarus)

KI (Faroe Islands)

Lech Poznan (Poland)

Hibernians (Malta)

Tobol (Kazakhstan)

Shkupi (North Macedonia)

RFS (Latvia)

Dinamo Batumi (Georgia)

Tirana (Albania)

Ballkani (Kosovo)

Linfield (Northern Ireland)

Slovenian Champions

Champion of Luxembourg

Champions of Armenia

Winner of the Champions League Preliminary Final Four

Second qualifying round

For the Second Qualifying Round of the Champions League, we have the 15 winners of the First Qualifying Round and in addition, nine teams enter this stage directly.

Here the qualification phase is divided into two routes that will continue until the final playoff: on the one hand, the teams that have been league champions and, on the other hand, the teams that have qualified by league position.

The winners of the 12 playoffs move on, the losers drop into the Europa League qualifiers.

Teams participating in the Champions route:

15 First Round play-off winners

Dinamo Zagreb (Croatian Champion)

Olympiacos (Greek Champions)

Viktoria Plzen (Slovakian Champions)

Zurich (Swiss Champions)

Israel League Champions

Teams participating in the qualifiers via League route:

Dynamo Kiev (2nd in Ukraine)

Danish League runner-up

Second in the Turkish League

Second in the Cyprus League

Third qualifying round

A total of 20 teams participate in 10 play-offs: 6 play-offs (12 teams) from the Champions League qualification phase and 4 play-offs (8 teams) from the league qualifiers.

The winners advance to the final Champions League qualifying round while the losers have two fates: if they come from the League Champions qualifying zone, they go directly to the Europa League Group Stage. If they come from the League qualification zone, they go to the final qualifying round of the Europa League.

Teams participating in the Champions Route

10 winners of the Second Round Champions route

Serbian League Champions

Apollon Limassol (Cyprus Champion)

Teams participating in the Qualifiers via League route

Two winners of the Second Round League route

Benfica (2nd in Portugal)

Rangers (2nd in Scotland) *If they win the Europa League they advance to the Group Stage

PSV (2nd in Netherlands)

Sturm Graz (2nd in Austria)

Union Saint-Gilloise (2nd in Belgium)

3rd in France

Playoff round

This is the final qualifying round prior to the 2022/23 Champions League Group Stage.

It retains the two qualification routes: league champions and qualifiers by league position.

The winners advance to the Champions League group stage and the losers to the Europa League group stage.

Teams participating in the route of Champions

6 winners of the Champions route in third qualifying round

Danish Champions

Trabzonspor (Turkish Champion)

Participating teams from the League Qualifiers route

4 winners of the third qualifying round League route

Champions League group stage 2022/23

Of the 32 participants in the classic eight groups of four teams, the identities of 22 teams are already known.

A total of six teams will qualify from the preliminary qualifying rounds. The teams that have already qualified for the group stage of the Champions League 2022/23 are as follows:

Manchester City

Liverpool

Real Madrid

Barcelona

Atletico Madrid

Sevilla

Milan

Inter

Napoli

Juventus

Bayern

Dortmund

Bayer Leverkusen

RB Leipzig

PSG

Porto

Sporting CP

Ajax

Brugge

RB Salzburg

Celtic

Shakhtar

Teams yet to qualify

3rd in England

4th in England

2nd in France

Europa League winner

6 qualifiers from the preliminary rounds