The new WSE Champions League is ready to open its doors to the ruropean public who can finally rediscover the great spectacle of rink hockey. Three difficult years after the Covid-19 pandemic, which interrupted the activity at the end of February 2020 to reappear only today with the usual game formula, the group phase, with 16 teams divided in 4 groups. Two years ago the formula with 9 clubs, and last season with 8, but this year the return of the “normal” formula then will be followed by the Final Eight as the final act, as happened last time in Lodi in 2012 (it will be the fourth Final eight after 2009, 2011 and 2012). It returns to the old denomination of the top European competition, after the change in 2007 (11 editions) which took its name from the Euroleague (14 editions). Two qualifying rounds in October and December skimmed the eight participants to which were added the best eight clubs, deriving from the results of the 2021-22 national championships, thanks to a ranking and the quotas imposed by the WSE. There will be four rounds of absolute spectacle that will be played, for the first time in history, on a midweek day, on Thursday and all will be broadcast live on the World Skate Europe WEBTV (http://europe.worldskate.tv). It’s hard to say which group will be more balanced, in any case, the first matchday will already be highly important for all the clubs. Stand out for the history of this sport, Sporting-Barcelos, Porto-Trissino, Oliveirense-Deportivo Liceo. All eyes are on the last two winners of the competition, namely Sporting and Trissino, but the balance shown in the various national championships, especially the Portuguese one, implies that any possible prediction is not as easy to establish as it happened in the past. Barcelona also start under the odds, in the home round against the Italian Forte dei Marmi, but their will is to return to the final, which happened last time 5 years ago. On this first day there is a Portuguese derby, two Spain-Italy matches, two Portugal-Italy and one Portugal-Spain and Spain-France. All game times can be found, as always, at the bottom of the page.
The first two of each group will advance to the Final Eight, with one match every two weeks except for the last day, April 13, when the last day is postponed by a week for the concomitant Under 23 European Championship which will be played in Holy Week.
All the information and livescoring on http://wse.sidgad.com
All the matches will be LIVE STREAMING on http://europe.worldskate.tv
Reinaldo Garcia (FC Porto) and Ferran Font (Sporting CP) in the 2020-21 Euroleague Final – Credit Photo: Antonio Lopes
WSE Champions League Men (WSECL-M) – Live Streaming
Press media kits: https://europe.worldskate.org/rink-hockey/media-kits-wseclm-202223/
Group A
1st matchday – 26/1/2023
21:00 (GMT) – 22:00 (CET) – U.D. Oliveirense Simoldes (Portugal) x Deportivo Liceo (Spain) – Referees: Massimiliano Carmazzi (Italy) and Franco Ferrari (Italy) – Live streaming: http://europe.worldskate.tv/live/?liveId=A217BCEBB2594BDF8FE2E65131DBF663021867
21:00 (GMT) – 22:00 (CET) – S.L. Benfica (Portugal) x Parlem C.P. Calafell (Spain) – Referees: Filippo Fronte (Italy) and Loic Le Menn (France) – Live streaming: http://europe.worldskate.tv/live/?liveId=A217BCEBB2594BDF8FE2E65131DBF663021865
Group B
1st matchday – 26/1/2023
20:00 (GMT) – 21:00 (CET) – F.C. Porto Fidelidade (Portugal) x G.S. Hockey Trissino (Italy) – Referees: Miguel Diaz (Spain) and Jonathan Sanchez (Spain) – Live streaming: http://europe.worldskate.tv/live/?liveId=A217BCEBB2594BDF8FE2E65131DBF663021866
21:00 (CET) – 20:00 (GMT) – Gamma Innovation H.Sarzana (Italy) x C.E. Noia Freixenet (Spain) – Referees: Joaquim Pinto (Portugal) and Porfirio Fernandes (Portugal) – Live streaming http://europe.worldskate.tv/live/?liveId=A217BCEBB2594BDF8FE2E65131DBF663021871
Group C
1st matchday – 26/1/2023
19:30 (CET) – 18:30 (GMT) – Barça (Spain) x H.C. Forte dei Marmi (Italy) – Referees: Pedro Figueiredo (Portugal) and Pedro Silva (Portugal) – Live streaming http://europe.worldskate.tv/live/?liveId=A217BCEBB2594BDF8FE2E65131DBF663021870
21:00 (CET) – 20:00 (GMT) – Amatori Wasken Lodi (Italy) x A.D. Valongo Colquimica (Portugal) – Referees: Ivan Gonzalez (Spain) and Oriol Perez (Spain) – Live streaming http://europe.worldskate.tv/live/?liveId=A217BCEBB2594BDF8FE2E65131DBF663021868
Group D
1st matchday – 26/1/2023
19:30 (GMT) – 20:30 (CET) – Sporting C.P. (Portugal) x O.C. Barcelos (Portugal) – Referees: Ruben Fernandez (Spain) and Daniel Villar (Spain) – Live streaming http://europe.worldskate.tv/live/?liveId=A217BCEBB2594BDF8FE2E65131DBF663021872
21:00 (CET) – 20:00 (GMT) – Reus Deportiu Virginias (Spain) x S:C.R.A. Saint-Omer (France) – Referees: Joao Duarte (Portugal) and Rui Torres (Portugal) – Live streaming http://europe.worldskate.tv/live/?liveId=A217BCEBB2594BDF8FE2E65131DBF663021869
