# 2022–23 EHF Champions League

The 2022–23 EHF Champions League was the 63rd edition of Europe's premier club handball tournament and the 30th edition under the current EHF Champions League format. It ran from 14 September 2022 to 18 June 2023.
SC Magdeburg defeated Barlinek Industria Kielce 30–29 in the final to capture their fourth title.

## Format

The tournament used the same format as the previous two seasons. The competition began with a group stage featuring sixteen teams divided into two groups. Matches were played in a double round-robin system with home-and-away fixtures, fourteen in total for each team. In Groups A and B, the top two teams automatically qualified for the quarter-finals, with teams ranked 3rd to 6th entered the playoff round.
The knockout stage included four rounds: the playoffs, quarter-finals, and a final-four tournament comprising two semifinals and the final. In the playoffs, eight teams were paired against each other in two-legged home-and-away matches (third-placed in group A plays sixth-placed group B; fourth-placed group A plays fifth-placed group B, etc.). The four aggregate winners of the playoffs advanced to the quarterfinals, joining the top-two teams of Groups A and B. The eight quarterfinalist teams were paired against each other in two-legged home-and-away matches, with the four aggregate winners qualifying to the final-four tournament.
In the final four tournament, the semifinals and the final were played as single matches at a pre-selected host venue. For this tournament, it was the Lanxess Arena.

## Teams

There were ten guaranteed places, with the six additional spots being awarded as wildcards by the EHF. The league winners of Germany, France, Spain, Hungary, Denmark, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal and Romania qualified for the group stage automatically. 22 teams applied for a place. Teams which have qualified for the 2022–23 EHF European League will have the opportunity to apply for an upgrade to the EHF Champions League. The final list was announced in June 2022.
Participating teams :
| SC Magdeburg (1st) | Barça (1st) | Paris Saint-Germain (1st) | OTP Bank - Pick Szeged (1st) |
| GOG Håndbold (1st) | Barlinek Industria Kielce (1st) | FC Porto (1st) | Dinamo București (1st) |
| THW Kiel (2nd) | HBC Nantes (WC) | Telekom Veszprém (WC) | Aalborg Håndbold (WC) |
| Orlen Wisła Płock (WC) | PPD Zagreb (WC) | Celje Pivovarna Laško (WC) | Elverum Håndball (WC) |
* RK Vardar, who were originally to qualify as winners of the 2021–22 Macedonian Handball Super League, were removed from EHF competitions for this season due to financial issues.
Wildcard rejection :
| BM Granollers | Sporting CP | CS Minaur Baia Mare | Kadetten Schaffhausen |
| Ystads IF | HC Motor Zaporizhzhia |

## Group stage

The draw for the group stage was held on 1 July 2022. The 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four. From each pot, two teams were drawn into Group A and the other two in Group B. Teams from the same national association will not drawn into the same group.
A total of 11 national associations were represented in the group stage.

### Group A

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | PAR | MAG | VES | GOG | BUC | PLO | ZAG | POR |
| 1 | Paris Saint-Germain | 14 | 12 | 0 | 2 | 492 | 439 | +53 | 24 | Quarterfinals | — | 33–37 | 37–35 | 41–36 | 33–26 | 37–33 | 40–31 | 32–30 |
| 2 | SC Magdeburg | 14 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 453 | 419 | +34 | 20 | Quarterfinals | 22–29 | — | 32–25 | 36–34 | 34–33 | 33–27 | 35–25 | 41–36 |
| 3 | Telekom Veszprém | 14 | 8 | 2 | 4 | 449 | 429 | +20 | 18 | Playoffs | 36–35 | 35–35 | — | 36–37 | 33–30 | 32–22 | 32–28 | 32–30 |
| 4 | GOG Håndbold | 14 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 459 | 454 | +5 | 15 | Playoffs | 30–35 | 33–32 | 30–31 | — | 38–38 | 31–24 | 33–29 | 34–33 |
| 5 | Dinamo București | 14 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 416 | 429 | −13 | 13 | Playoffs | 29–36 | 28–30 | 31–31 | 30–27 | — | 32–27 | 27–27 | 32–27 |
| 6 | Orlen Wisła Płock | 14 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 374 | 412 | −38 | 9 | Playoffs | 26–32 | 25–24 | 26–30 | 31–27 | 26–28 | — | 26–30 | 27–23 |
| 7 | PPD Zagreb | 14 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 390 | 420 | −30 | 8 | | 30–33 | 25–31 | 29–26 | 27–31 | 28–29 | 26–26 | — | 29–23 |
| 8 | FC Porto | 14 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 407 | 438 | −31 | 5 | | 33–35 | 31–31 | 28–35 | 26–33 | 32–23 | 27–28 | 28–26 | — |

### Group B

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | BAR | KIE | NAN | THW | AAL | SZE | CEL | ELV |
| 1 | Barça | 14 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 484 | 404 | +80 | 27 | Quarterfinals | — | 32–28 | 34–29 | 26–24 | 32–26 | 35–25 | 38–30 | 40–30 |
| 2 | Barlinek Industria Kielce | 14 | 11 | 0 | 3 | 465 | 427 | +38 | 22 | Quarterfinals | 31–32 | — | 40–33 | 40–37 | 33–28 | 37–30 | 36–28 | 37–33 |
| 3 | HBC Nantes | 14 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 478 | 451 | +27 | 15 | Playoffs | 33–37 | 30–33 | — | 38–30 | 35–28 | 35–30 | 31–32 | 41–30 |
| 4 | THW Kiel | 14 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 460 | 440 | +20 | 15 | Playoffs | 30–30 | 32–29 | 37–33 | — | 36–36 | 34–29 | 39–27 | 36–26 |
| 5 | Aalborg Håndbold | 14 | 6 | 1 | 7 | 445 | 438 | +7 | 13 | Playoffs | 33–39 | 28–30 | 33–34 | 26–30 | — | 33–27 | 36–32 | 31–24 |
| 6 | OTP Bank - Pick Szeged | 14 | 5 | 1 | 8 | 426 | 452 | −26 | 11 | Playoffs | 28–35 | 28–31 | 28–28 | 36–33 | 29–41 | — | 36–27 | 30–23 |
| 7 | Celje Pivovarna Laško | 14 | 3 | 0 | 11 | 412 | 475 | −63 | 6 | | 27–28 | 30–33 | 24–35 | 38–36 | 31–34 | 28–36 | — | 29–26 |
| 8 | Elverum Håndball | 14 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 398 | 481 | −83 | 3 | | 30–46 | 26–27 | 36–42 | 26–26 | 25–33 | 32–34 | 31–29 | — |
* 1 2 Nantes 71–67 Kiel

## Knockout stage
### Playoffs

| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| OTP Bank - Pick Szeged | 56–74 | Telekom Veszprém | 23–36 | 33–38 |
| Orlen Wisła Płock | 57–57 5–4 (p) | HBC Nantes | 32–32 | 25–25 |
| Aalborg Håndbold | 54–60 | GOG Håndbold | 30–28 | 24–32 |
| Dinamo București | 60–72 | THW Kiel | 28–41 | 32–31 |

### Quarterfinals

| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| THW Kiel | 56–63 | Paris Saint-Germain | 27–31 | 29–32 |
| GOG Håndbold | 61–73 | Barça | 30–37 | 31–36 |
| Orlen Wisła Płock | 50–52 | SC Magdeburg | 22–22 | 28–30 |
| Telekom Veszprém | 56–60 | Barlinek Industria Kielce | 29–29 | 27–31 |

### Final four

The final four will be held at the Lanxess Arena in Cologne, Germany on 17 and 18 June 2023.

#### Bracket

| Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final |
| 17 June | 17 June |
| SC Magdeburg (pen.) | 38 (2) |
| SC Magdeburg (pen.) | 38 (2) | 18 June | 18 June |
| Barça | 38 (1) | 18 June | 18 June |
| Barça | 38 (1) | SC Magdeburg (ET) | 30 |
| 17 June | 17 June | | SC Magdeburg (ET) | 30 |
| 17 June | 17 June | Barlinek Industria Kielce | 29 |
| Paris Saint-Germain | 24 | Barlinek Industria Kielce | 29 |
| Barlinek Industria Kielce | 25 | | |
| Barlinek Industria Kielce | 25 | Third place | Third place |
| | | 18 June | 18 June |
| | | Barça | 37 |
| | | Paris Saint-Germain | 31 |

#### Final

| 18 June 2023 18:00 | SC Magdeburg | 30–29 (ET) | Barlinek Industria Kielce | Lanxess Arena, Cologne Attendance: 19,750 Referees: Lah, Sok (SLO) |
| 18 June 2023 18:00 | Smits 8 | (13–15) | A. Dujshebaev 8 | Lanxess Arena, Cologne Attendance: 19,750 Referees: Lah, Sok (SLO) |
| 18 June 2023 18:00 | 2× 5× 1× | Report | 1× 4× | Lanxess Arena, Cologne Attendance: 19,750 Referees: Lah, Sok (SLO) |
| Lanxess Arena, Cologne Attendance: 19,750 Referees: Lah, Sok (SLO) |||

## Top goalscorers

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Emil Wernsdorf Madsen | GOG Håndbold | 107 |
| 2 | Kamil Syprzak | Paris Saint-Germain | 103 |
| 3 | Arkadiusz Moryto | Barlinek Industria Kielce | 100 |
| 4 | Kay Smits | SC Magdeburg | 98 |
| 5 | Simon Pytlick | GOG Håndbold | 94 |
| 6 | Aleks Vlah | Celje Pivovarna Laško | 88 |
| 7 | Gísli Þorgeir Kristjánsson | SC Magdeburg | 87 |
| 7 | Dika Mem | Barça | 87 |
| 9 | Elohim Prandi | Paris Saint-Germain | 86 |
| 10 | Lukas Jørgensen | GOG Håndbold | 84 |
| 10 | Dainis Krištopāns | Paris Saint-Germain | 84 |
| 10 | Rasmus Lauge | Telekom Veszprém | 84 |