2022–23 UEFA Futsal Champions League explained

Tourney Name:UEFA Futsal Champions League
Year:2022–23
Size:275
Dates:Qualifying rounds:

Final tournament:
5 – 7 May 2023
Num Teams:Final tournament: 4
Total: 56
Associations:52
Champion Other: Palma Futsal
Count:1
Second Other: Sporting CP
Third Other: Benfica
Fourth Other: Anderlecht
Top Scorer:Season total:
Vinicius Lazzaretti
Final tournament:
Ivan Chishkala
Prevseason:2021–22
Nextseason:2023–24

The 2022–23 UEFA Futsal Champions League was the 37th edition of Europe's premier club futsal tournament, and the 22nd edition organized by UEFA. It was also the fifth edition since the tournament was rebranded from "UEFA Futsal Cup" to UEFA Futsal Champions League. The final tournament took place at the Palma Arena in Palma de Mallorca, Spain on 5–7 May 2023.

Debutants Palma Futsal defeated Sporting CP on penalties in the final to claim their first title in the competition and became the fifth club to win the title in their debut appearance. Benfica took bronze after beating Anderlecht, the first Belgian side to reach the last four since 2007. Barcelona were the defending champions, but were eliminated in the elite round.

Association team allocation

A total of 56 teams from 52 of the 55 UEFA member associations participated in the 2022–23 UEFA Futsal Champions League. The association ranking based on the UEFA futsal national team coefficients was used to determine the number of participating teams for each association:

For this season, the top three-ranked associations are Portugal, Russia, and Spain. As the title holders are from Spain, the 4th ranked association, Kazakhstan, can enter two teams. After UEFA's decision to exclude Russian clubs from the 2022–23 UEFA competitions due to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine,[1] the right to enter a second team passed to the 5th ranked association, Croatia.[2]

Association ranking

The UEFA futsal national team coefficients at the end of April 2022, used to determine the number of teams each association was entitled to enter, was as follows.[3]

Association ranking for 2022–23 UEFA Champions League
RankAssociationCoeff.Teams
1align=right 2693.758align=center 2
2align=right 2547.1590
3align=right 2488.909align=center rowspan=32
4align=right 2367.187
5align=right 2051.042
6align=right 2050.143align=center rowspan=14 1
7align=right 2015.589
8align=right 2009.816
9align=right 1934.516
10align=right 1887.535
11align=right 1871.616
12align=right 1854.372
13align=right 1847.970
14align=right 1841.333
15align=right 1837.207
16align=right 1781.027
17align=right 1738.151
18align=right 1686.516
19align=right 1646.403
RankAssociationCoeff.Teams
20align=right 1637.232align=center rowspan=18 1
21align=right 1615.979
22align=right 1607.692
23align=right 1464.140
24align=right 1449.976
25align=right 1419.922
26align=right 1321.596
27align=right 1299.617
28align=right 1264.428
29align=right 1257.736
30align=right 1255.233
31align=right 1236.240
32align=right 1235.426
33align=right 1217.145
34align=right 1204.183
35align=right 1188.549
36align=right 1155.396
37align=right 1142.105
RankAssociationCoeff.Teams
38align=right 1098.903align=center rowspan=16 1
39align=right 1085.011
40align=right 1063.645
41align=right 1011.432
42align=right 910.904
43align=right 910.044
44align=right 853.043
45align=right 849.940
46align=right 837.308
47align=right 816.083
48align=right 780.661
49align=right 728.018
50align=right 724.015
align=center
align=center
align=center
align=center align=center rowspan=2
align=center
Notes

Distribution

For the 2022–23 UEFA Futsal Champions League, the clubs' entry round was determined by their UEFA futsal club coefficients, which took into account their performance from the previous three seasons.[2]

Access list for 2022–23 UEFA Futsal Champions League
Teams entering in this roundTeams advancing from previous round
Preliminary round
(32 teams)
  • 32 teams ranked 24–55
Main roundPath A
(16 teams)
  • Title holders
  • 15 teams ranked 1–11 and 16–19
Path B
(16 teams)
  • 8 teams ranked 12–15 and 20–23
  • 8 group winners from preliminary round
Elite round
(16 teams)
  • 4 group winners from main round path A
  • 4 group runners-up from main round path A
  • 4 group third-placed team from main round path A
  • 4 group winners from main round path B
Final tournament
(4 teams)
  • 4 group winners from elite round

Teams

Below are the participating teams of the 2022–23 UEFA Futsal Champions League (with their ranking among participating teams), grouped by their starting round and path for the main round.[4]

Main round Path A
width=200Teamwidth=50
FC BarcelonaTH
Sporting CP1
Benfica2
Palma Futsal3
Kairat4
Dobovec5
Prodexim Kherson6
Ayat7
Novo Vrijeme8
Anderlecht9
Hovocubo10
Haladás11
United Galați16
Luxol St Andrews17
Futsal Pula18
Sporting Paris19
Main round Path B
width=200Teamwidth=50
FK Chrudim12
Kauno Žalgiris13
Stalitsa Minsk14
Mostar SG15
Liqeni20
Shkupi21
Araz Naxçivan22
23
Preliminary round
width=200Teamwidth=50
Kampuksen Dynamo24
Georgians Tbilisi25
Futsal Minerva26
Futsal Gentofte27
MIMEL Lučenec28
Piast Gliwice29
Differdange 0330
Yerevan FC31
Doukas32
Stuttgarter FC33
London Helvécia34
KMF Loznica-Grad35
Fortuna Wiener Neustadt36
KMF Titograd37
Blue Magic Dublin38
APOEL Futsal39
Örebro SK40
Cosmos Tallinn41
Nistru Chișinău42
Petrow43
FK Tirana44
PYF Saltires45
FC Encamp46
Vesterålen Futsal47
Istanbul Şişli48
FC Cardiff49
ASA Technion Haifa50
Amigo Northwest51
Europa FC52
Folgore53
Belfast United54
Ísbjörninn55

Format

The tournament has a mini-tournament format consisting of three qualifying rounds and the final tournament. The qualifying rounds consisted of the following stages:[2] [5]

In each group, teams played against each other in a single round-robin format hosted by one of the participating teams.

The final tournament is played at a centralized location and consisted of single-legged semi-finals, a third-place play-off, and final. If scores were level at the end of normal time, extra time was played, followed by a penalty shoot-out if the scores remained tied.

Tiebreakers

Teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If two or more teams were tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (see Article 14 Equality of points – mini-tournaments, Regulations of the UEFA Futsal Champions League):[5]

  1. Points in head-to-head matches among the tied teams;
  2. Goal difference in head-to-head matches among the tied teams;
  3. Goals scored in head-to-head matches among the tied teams;
  4. If more than two teams were tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above were reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
  5. Goal difference in all group matches;
  6. Goals scored in all group matches;
  7. Disciplinary points (direct red card = 3 points; double yellow card = 3 points; single yellow card = 1 point);
  8. UEFA futsal club coefficients.

If two teams that have the same number of points and have scored and conceded the same number of goals play their last mini-tournament match against each other and are still equal at the end of that match, their final rankings are determined by a penalty shoot-out provided that no other teams within the group have the same number of points on completion of the mini-tournament. This procedure is only necessary if a ranking of the teams is required to determine the team which qualifies for the next stage.

Schedule

The schedule of the competition was as follows.[2]

PhaseRoundDrawDates
Qualifying stagePreliminary round7 July 202224–28 August 2022
Main round25–30 October 2022
Elite round3 November 202222–26 November 2022
Final tournamentSemi-finals5 April 20235 May 2023
Third-place play-off & final7 May 2023

Preliminary round

The draw for the preliminary round was held on 7 July 2022, 14:30 CEST.[6] The preliminary round was played from 24 to 28 August 2022. The winners of each group advanced to the main round Path B.

Times are CEST, as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).

Seeding

A total of 32 teams played in the preliminary round. Seeding of teams was based on their 2022 UEFA futsal club coefficients. Eight teams were pre-selected as hosts and were first drawn from a separate pot to their corresponding seeding position. The remaining teams were then drawn from their respective pots to their corresponding seeding position.

width=25%Seeding position 1width=25%Seeding position 2width=25%Seeding position 3width=25%Seeding position 4
valign=topvalign=topvalign=topvalign=top
Notes

Group A

--------

Group B

--------

Group C

--------

Group D

--------

Group E

--------

Group F

--------

Group G

--------

Group H

--------

Main round

The draw for the main round was held on 7 July 2022, 14:30 CEST.[6] The main round was played from 25 to 30 October 2022.

Times are CEST, as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).

Seeding

A total of 32 teams played in the main round. They were divided in two paths:

Seeding of teams was based on their 2022 UEFA futsal club coefficients. On Path B, the seeding position 3 and 4 were drawn from the same pot, comprising all teams advancing from the preliminary round. Eight teams (four in each path) were pre-selected as hosts and were first drawn from a separate pot to their corresponding seeding position. The remaining teams were then drawn from their respective pots to their corresponding seeding position. Teams from Kosovo and Serbia, Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina or Armenia and Azerbaijan could not be drawn into the same group.

Path A
width=25%Seeding position 1width=25%Seeding position 2width=25%Seeding position 3width=25%Seeding position 4
valign=topvalign=topvalign=topvalign=top
Path B
width=25%Seeding position 1width=25%Seeding position 2Seeding position 3 and 4
valign=topvalign=topvalign=top width=25%valign=top width=25%
Notes

Path A

The top three teams of each group in Path A advanced to the elite round.

Group 1

--------

Group 2

--------

Group 3

--------

Group 4

--------

Path B

The winners of each group in Path B advanced to the elite round.

Group 5

--------

Group 6

--------

Group 7

--------

Group 8

--------

Elite round

The draw for the elite round was held on 3 November 2022, 14:15 CET.[7] The elite round was played from 22 to 26 November 2022.

Times are CET, as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).

Seeding

A total of 16 teams played in the elite round. Seeding of teams was based on their results in the previous round:

Six teams were pre-selected as hosts and were first drawn from a separate pot to their corresponding seeding position. Winners and runners-up from the same main round path A group could not be drawn into the same group.

width=25%Seeding position 1width=25%Seeding position 2Seeding positions 3 and 4
valign=topvalign=topvalign=top width=25%
  • Kairat (H)
  • Futsal Pula (H)
  • United Galați
valign=top width=25%
Notes

Group A

--------

Group B

----

----

Group C

--------

Group D

--------

Final tournament

The four group winners from the Elite round played in the final tournament, which consisted of semifinals, a third-place play-off and a final. Palma Futsal were chosen as hosts at the UEFA Executive Committee meeting in Nyon, Switzerland on 13 February 2023, with the final tournament taking place at the Velòdrom Illes Balears in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, on 5 and 7 May 2023.[8]

Qualified teams

In the following table, finals or final tournaments until 2018 were in the Futsal Cup era, since 2019 were in the UEFA Futsal Champions League era. All appearances in two-legged finals (2003–2006) or final tournaments (2007–2020 and 2022: four-team finals, 2002 and 2021: eight-team finals) are counted.[9]

Groupwidth=200WinnersPrevious final tournament appearances (bold indicates winners)
A Sporting CP9 (2002, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022)
B Palma Futsal (hosts)0 (Debut)
C Benfica6 (2004, 2010, 2011, 2016, 2021, 2022)
D0 (Debut)

Final draw

The draw for the final tournament was held on 5 April 2023, 12:00 CET, by Lionel Scaloni at the Aubamar Hotel[10] in Palma. The four teams were drawn into two semi-finals without any restrictions.[11]

Semi-finals

----

Third place match

----

Final

----

UEFA Futsal Champions League
2022–23 Winners
Palma Futsal
1st Title

Statistics

Top goalscorers

Rank[13] PlayerTeamGoals
1 Vinicius Lazzaretti Piast Gliwice11
2 Mladen Kocić KMF Loznica-Grad9
Jere Intala Kampuksen Dynamo
4 Hossein Tayyebi Palma Futsal7
Hugo Neves Sporting CP
Vinícius Rocha Benfica
Dudu KMF Loznica-Grad
Miguel Ângelo Piast Gliwice
Artjoms Kozlovskis Petrow
Richard Rejala Differdange 03
Italo Bob Kampuksen Dynamo
Newton Jr
Denerson Moreira London Helvécia

Top assists

RankPlayerTeamAssists
1 Alex Merlim Sporting CP9
2 Gréllo Anderlecht7
Lassi Lintula Kampuksen Dynamo
Jukka Kytölä
5 Mario Rivillos Palma Futsal6
Moslem Oladghobad
Arthur Benfica
Pito FC Barcelona
Luizinho Feldi Eboli

Notes and References

  1. News: UEFA decisions for upcoming competitions relating to the ongoing suspension of Russian national teams and clubs . uefa.com . . 2 May 2022 . 3 September 2022.
  2. News: 2022/23 UEFA Futsal Champions League dates, format . uefa.com . . 4 May 2022 . 3 September 2022.
  3. Web site: Men's Futsal National Team Coefficients UEFA Coefficients. 3 September 2022. uefa.com. UEFA. en. 5 June 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220605171300/https://www.uefa.com/nationalassociations/uefarankings/futsal/. bot: unknown.
  4. Web site: Microsoft Word – Draw Procedure UFCL 07JUL_FV UEFA Coefficients. 3 September 2022. uefa.com. UEFA. en.
  5. Web site: Regulations of the UEFA Futsal Champions League, 2022/23. uefa.com . UEFA. 4 September 2022.
  6. Web site: 7 July 2022. UEFA Futsal Champions League preliminary and main round draws made. 4 September 2022. uefa.com. UEFA. en.
  7. Web site: 3 November 2022. UEFA Futsal Champions League elite round draw. 24 November 2022. UEFA.com. UEFA. en.
  8. Web site: Palma de Mallorca to stage 2023 UEFA Futsal Champions League finals. UEFA. 13 February 2023.
  9. Web site: 2023 UEFA Futsal Champions League finals. UEFA. 5 May 2023.
  10. News: El Benfica será el rival del Palma Futsal en las semifinales de la Champions. ultimahora.es . Ultima Hora . 5 April 2023. 6 May 2023. es.
  11. Web site: UEFA Futsal Champions League finals draw: Sporting-Anderlecht, Palma-Benfica. UEFA. 5 April 2023.
  12. Web site: UEFA Futsal Champions League – Qualifying stats. uefa.com. UEFA. 12 September 2022.
  13. Web site: UEFA Futsal Champions League – Player stats. uefa.com. UEFA. 12 September 2022.