Champions League

With the 2022-23 UEFA Champions League draw finishing on Thursday, we now know what groups all the Americans are in. How many Americans play in the Champions League 2022-23 edition, you might ask? Here’s a list of the 11 Americans who could get minutes in Europe’s top competition this summer.

Ray Hudson is back! After a year away from national TV, the inimitable soccer commentator returns to our TV and streaming sets for U.S. coverage of the Champions League in 2022-23. He’s one of many Champions League announcers you’ll be hearing this season. 

Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema was named UEFA Player of the Year and Carlo Ancelotti took the coaching honors after they led the club to a record-extending 14th Champions League title last season.

Benzema was in red-hot form, scoring 15 times in the competition and lifting the trophy for a fifth time in his career after the Spanish side beat Liverpool in the final.

Ancelotti became the first coach to win Europe's most prestigious club trophy four times. He first won the title with AC Milan in 2003 and 2007 before claiming it with Real in 2014.

We experienced our penultimate UEFA Champions League draw Thursday before the 2024-25 competition throws the 'Swiss model' at us, so we've got to enjoy the concept of a Champions League group of death while we still can.

The draw has gifted us some tantalizing matchups like PSG vs. Juventus, Milan vs. Chelsea, Bayern Munich vs. Barcelona, Liverpool vs. Ajax and Real Madrid vs. Celtic, and don't forget the tournament starts earlier this year (Matchday 1 is Sep. 6-7) because of the World Cup. Let's get down to business.

The Champions League draw 2022-23 date is set for Thursday, Aug. 25, and we now know the 32 qualified teams that'll be drawn into eight groups of four. The group stage draw takes place in Istanbul, Turkey (also the location of the final) at 12 p.m. ET with English-language coverage provided by CBS Sports on Paramount+ and Spanish on Univision and TUDN. 

It's worth mentioning that the group stage will be contracted over an eight-week period this fall because of the start of the 2022 World Cup on Nov. 21.

The Champions League is growing, and so too is UEFA’s U.S. TV rights deal. Paramount Global, which owns Paramount+ and CBS, will retain the English-language U.S. Champions League TV rights for the next six years thanks to a massive new deal with UEFA.

With nine successive Serie A titles followed by two campaigns where Champions League qualification seemed a shallow silver lining, Juventus’ fall from grace has been clear to see in recent years. This summer has seen several big names depart Turin, and the Bianconeri will be hard-pressed to find adequate replacements in order to once again fight for the Scudetto.