2022–23 WSE Champions League

2022–23 WSE Champions League
Tournament details
City	Final eight:; Viana do Castelo, Portugal
Dates	30 September 2022 – 7 May 2023
Teams	Group stage: 16; Total: 32 (from 7 associations)
Final positions
Champions	Porto (3rd title)
Runners-up	Valongo
Tournament statistics
Matches played	103
Goals scored	654 (6.35 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Giulio Cocco (15 goals)
	← 2021–22 2023–24 →

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,^[1] 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 teams
Rank	Association	Coefficient	Teams	Teams per round
Rank	Association	Coefficient	Teams	GS	QR2	QR1
1	Portugal	21.667	7	3	2	2
2	Spain	18.500	7	2	2	3
3	Italy	16.235	7	2	2	3
4	France	8.560	5	1	0	4
5	Switzerland	5.727	4	0	1	3
6	Germany	4.909	2	0	1	1
7	England	3.000	2	0	0	2

Schedule

Schedule for 2022–23 WSE Champions League^[2]
Phase	Round	Draw date	Date
Qualifying rounds	First qualifying round	23 July 2022^[3]	30 September–2 October 2022
Qualifying rounds	Second qualifying round	11 October 2022^[4]	16–18 December 2022
Group Stage	Matchday 1	29 December 2022^[5]	26 January 2023
	Matchday 2		9 February 2023
	Matchday 3		23 February 2023
	Matchday 4		9 March 2023
	Matchday 5		23 March 2023
	Matchday 6		13 April 2023
Final eight	Quarter-finals		4–5 May 2023
	Semi-finals		6 May 2023
	Final		7 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.^[6] 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.^[7]^[8]

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	FOR	BRA	ALC	COU
1	HC Forte dei Marmi	3	2	1	0	12	4	+8	7	advance to 2nd phase	—	1–1	6–2	5–1
2	HC Braga	3	1	2	0	7	6	+1	5	advance to 2nd phase		—	3–2	3–3
3	PAS Alcoy	3	1	0	2	9	10	−1	3	relegated to WSE Cup			—	5–1
4	US Coutras (H)	3	0	1	2	5	13	−8	1	relegated to WSE Cup				—

Source: [1]
(H) Hosts

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	GRO	VEN	LEI	KIN
1	CP Grosseto	3	2	1	18	6	+12	6	advance to 2nd phase	—	1–3	3–1	13–2
2	La Vendéenne (H)	3	2	1	9	6	+3	6	advance to 2nd phase		—	2–4	4–1
3	Lleida	3	2	1	19	7	+12	6	relegated to WSE Cup			—	14–1
4	King's Lynn	3	0	3	4	31	−27	0	relegated to WSE Cup				—

Source: [2]
(H) Hosts

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	CAL	VAL	NOI	GEN
1	CP Calafell	3	2	1	0	9	4	+5	7	advance to 2nd phase	—	4–2	2–2	3–0
2	Hockey Valdagno	3	2	0	1	11	6	+5	6	advance to 2nd phase		—	4–2	5–0
3	Noisy Le Grand	3	1	1	1	10	9	+1	4	relegated to WSE Cup			—	6–3
4	Geneve RHC (H)	3	0	0	3	3	14	−11	0	relegated to WSE Cup				—

Source: [3]
(H) Hosts

Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	CAL	VAL	QUE	BAS
1	CH Caldes	3	1	2	0	7	5	+2	5	advance to 2nd phase	—	1–1	1–1	5–3
2	AD Valongo	3	1	2	0	5	4	+1	5	advance to 2nd phase		—	3–2	1–1
3	HC Quévert (H)	3	1	1	1	9	9	0	4	relegated to WSE Cup			—	6–5
4	Hockey Bassano	3	0	1	2	9	12	−3	1	relegated to WSE Cup				—

Source: [4]
(H) Hosts

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.^[9] The two best placed in each group qualified for the Group Stage, with the rest being relegated to the WSE Cup.^[10]

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	OLI	CAL	GRO	DIE
1	U.D. Oliveirense	3	3	0	15	7	+8	9	advance to Group stage	—	3–2	7–4	5–1
2	CP Calafell	3	2	1	13	7	+6	6	advance to Group stage		—	6–1	5–3
3	CP Grosseto	3	1	2	9	16	−7	3	relegated to WSE Cup			—	4–3
4	RHC Diessbach (H)	3	0	3	7	14	−7	0	relegated to WSE Cup				—

Source: [5]
(H) Hosts

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	REU	OCB	BRA	VAL
1	Reus Deportiu	3	2	1	0	11	8	+3	7	advance to Group stage	—	2–2	3–2	6–4
2	OC Barcelos	3	1	2	0	7	6	+1	5	advance to Group stage		—	3–3	2–1
3	HC Braga	3	1	1	1	6	6	0	4	relegated to WSE Cup			—	1–0
4	HC Valdagno (H)	3	0	0	3	5	9	−4	0	relegated to WSE Cup				—

Source: [6]
(H) Hosts

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	NOI	FOR	FOL	CAL
1	CE Noia	3	2	1	0	11	7	+4	7	advance to Group stage	—	3–1	5–3	3–3
2	HC Forte dei Marmi (H)	3	2	0	1	7	4	+3	6	advance to Group stage		—	4–0	2–1
3	Follonica Hockey	3	1	0	2	8	13	−5	3	relegated to WSE Cup			—	5–4
4	CH Caldes	3	0	1	2	8	10	−2	1	relegated to WSE Cup				—

Source: [7]
(H) Hosts

Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	VAL	LOD	VEN	GER
1	AD Valongo	3	3	0	0	17	6	+11	9	advance to Group stage	—	3–3		4–2
2	Amatori Wasken Lodi	3	1	1	1	8	7	+1	4	advance to Group stage		—		5–2
3	La Vendéenne RH	3	1	1	1	10	11	−1	4	relegated to WSE Cup	2–1	6–2	—	9–3
4	SK Germania Herringen (H)	3	0	0	3	7	18	−11	0	relegated to WSE Cup				—

Source: [8]
(H) Hosts

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.^[11]^[12]

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	BEN	OLI	LIC	CAL
1	Benfica	6	3	3	0	21	14	+7	12	Advance to Final eight	—	4–2	2–2	5–3
2	Oliveirense	6	3	1	2	17	13	+4	10	Advance to Final eight	2–5	—	5–1	4–0
3	Liceo	6	1	3	2	16	20	−4	6		3–3	2–3	—	4–4
4	Calafell	6	0	3	3	13	20	−7	3		2–2	1–1	3–4	—

Source: World Skate Europe

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	TRI	POR	NOI	SAR
1	Trissino	6	4	2	0	33	19	+14	14	Advance to Final eight	—	6–2	9–5	7–3
2	Porto	6	3	2	1	22	13	+9	11	Advance to Final eight	3–3	—	5–1	5–0
3	Noia	6	2	2	2	18	23	−5	8		4–4	0–0	—	4–2
4	Sarzana	6	0	0	6	13	31	−18	0		2–4	3–4	3–4	—

Source: World Skate Europe

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	BAR	VAL	FOR	LOD
1	Barça	6	4	1	1	26	15	+11	13	Advance to Final eight	—	3–4	6–2	5–0
2	Valongo	6	3	2	1	19	16	+3	11	Advance to Final eight	3–5	—	4–4	2–1
3	Forte dei Marmi	6	2	3	1	19	21	−2	9		4–4	3–3	—	3–2
4	Amatori Lodi	6	0	0	6	7	19	−12	0		2–3	0–3	2–3	—

Source: World Skate Europe

Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	SCP	OCB	REU	STO
1	Sporting CP	6	3	2	1	25	16	+9	11	Advance to Final eight	—	3–1	5–7	6–1
2	Barcelos	6	3	1	2	18	15	+3	10	Advance to Final eight	2–2	—	3–1	4–5
3	Reus	6	3	1	2	22	20	+2	10		2–2	1–4	—	4–2
4	SCRA Saint-Omer	6	1	0	5	18	32	−14	3		3–7	3–4	4–7	—

Source: World Skate Europe

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.^[13] 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

4 May

Benfica	2
		6 May
Porto	4
		Porto	4
4 May
		Barça	3
Barça (a.e.t.)	5
				7 May
Barcelos	3
				Porto	5
5 May
				Valongo	1
Trissino	5 (1)
		6 May
Oliveirense (p)	5 (3)
		Oliveirense	4
5 May
		Valongo (a.e.t.)	6
Sporting CP	2

Valongo	3

Quarter-finals

4 May 2023

18:00

Benfica	2–4	Porto
Pablo Álvarez 9' Nil Roca 47'	Report	Gonçalo Alves 3' (pen.), 46' Carlo di Benedetto 44' Rafa 49'

Pavilhão Municipal José Natário, Viana do Castelo

Referee: Miguel Díaz, Jonathan Sanchez (Spain)

4 May 2023

21:00

Barça	5–3 (a.e.t.)	Barcelos
Pau Bargalló 30' João Rodrigues 34', 56', 59' Hélder Nunes 59'	Report	Alvarinho 30' Vieirinha 47' Danilo Rampulla 57'

Pavilhão Municipal José Natário, Viana do Castelo

Referee: Claudio Ferraro, Marco Rondina (Italy)

5 May 2023

18:00

Trissino	5–5 (a.e.t.)	Oliveirense
João Pinto 7' Giulio Cocco 23', 42' Joan Galbas 32' Andrea Malagoli 58'	Report	Alexandre Marques 16', 36' Marc Torra 27' Xavier Cardoso 47' Lucas Martínez 57'
Penalties
Giulio Cocco Andrea Malagoli Joan Galbas Jordi Mendez	1–3	Xavier Cardoso Tomás Pereira Marc Torra Lucas Martínez Nuno Araújo