File photo. Reuters
Doha: The draw of the group stage for the new edition of the 2022-2023 UEFA Champions League will be held in Turkey on Thursday.
The new version, whose final will be held at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul on June 10, 2023, will witness a change in the schedule of matches due to the World Cup in Qatar with the qualifiers for the second round to be determined in early November, a month earlier than usual.
The first set of matches in the group stage will be played on September 6 and 7, and the second a week later on September 13 and 14, while the the third and fourth set will be on October 4 and 5, and October 11 and 12 respectively.
The last two matches in the group stage will be on October 25 and 26, and November 1 and 2.
The draw for the Round of 16 matches will be held on November 7.
Istanbul has finally regained its position as the venue for the final of the most prestigious European club championship, which it had previously failed to host twice due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The first time was in 2020, when the headquarters was moved to Lisbon, which hosted the last two editions of the tournament. It was also moved in 2021 to Porto due to the restrictions imposed by the epidemic.
This will be the second time that Istanbul is hosting the final of the tournament after 2005, when Rafael Benitez 's Liverpool surprisingly came back from a 3-0 deficit to secure a penalty shootout victory over AC Milan led by Carlo Ancelotti .
The FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 will begin on November 20 with the opening match between hosts Qatar and Ecuador at the Al Bayt Stadium. The final match will be played at the Lusail Stadium on December 18.
