The FIFA World Cup and UEFA Champions Leagues competitions are actually fairly similar, with the Champions League being equivalent to the World Cup for the club teams in Europe.

It began with the Coupe des Clubs Champions Européens in 1955, as a culmination of all the best teams in Europe’s best leagues. In its early stages it was dominated by the current champion of the competition, Real Madrid. Since then, 22 clubs have become champions of this prestigious competition, but enough with all the boring history, let’s get into how it works.

The Champions League begins with the previous individual league seasons. These leagues include the Big five leagues in Europe which are the Premier League in England, La Liga in Spain, Ligue 1 in France, the Bundesliga in Germany, and Serie A in Italy, as well as 10 smaller leagues throughout Europe. Each league will have a certain number of spots to play in the Champions League, some having four spots like England’s Premier League and Spain’s La Liga, and others with only one spot like the smaller Eredivisie in the Netherlands.

These teams who finish their season in the top positions of their individual leagues will be included in the following years Champions League Group Stage, which happens in November. The 2022-23 Champions League group stage occurred last year, and 16 teams proved themselves by finishing in the top half of their respective groups of four. These teams will now play in the knockout stages of the tournament, which began in February of this year.

Each round will be decided by two legs, or games, played at each team’s respective stadium. For example, in the Liverpool v. Real Madrid matchup, the first game will be played at Liverpool’s Anfield in England, then the next leg will be played at Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Spain. The team who advances is the one who scores more goals in the two games combined. However, if the score is tied after the two games, there will be an extra 30 minutes played at the end of the second leg, and ultimately a winner is decided after extra time or penalties. The winner of this competition will be crowned the Champions of European football, which the remaining teams look to accomplish.

Top 3 Teams

Manchester City

Manchester City has been in great form recently, currently sitting in second place in the English Premier League, only five points behind Europa League team Arsenal, and six points ahead of Newcastle United. Although winning the last two premier league titles in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons, Manchester City has yet to finish the Champions League on top. “[Manchester City] will be one of the favorites and then crash out in an upset because they just don’t have the right chemistry like champions should,” Senior Gopala Varadarajan said. “They’ve gone from playing beautiful soccer to just giving it to Haaland and hoping he’ll score a hat trick, which won’t happen every game.”

Paris Saint Germain

Paris is home to arguably the greatest all-star team the world has ever seen. PSG has a menacing front three consisting of the undisputed greatest player of all time, Lionel Messi, the world’s top talent Kylian Mbappe, and Neymar, the modern day Ronaldinho. Despite their strong team, they still have not been able to top the competition, having unexpected exits in recent years. After being up 2-0 on aggregate against Real Madrid in the second half of the second leg, they conceded three goals to Karim Benzema and lost their chance to win their first Champions League title. Now, this does not take away from the pure quality that PSG has, and this year they truly have a strong chance at topping European football.

Real Madrid

Real Madrid is looking scary as ever going into the Champions League knockout stages. Led by 2022 Ballon d’Or winner Karim Benzema, team-of- the-year goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, and veteran Croatian midfielder Luka Modric, the team seeks to continue their title as Europe’s best team into 2023. As the club with the most historical success in the competitions, they are frequently the crowd favorites. Despite the loss of one of the world’s best players, Christiano Ronaldo, in 2018, the team has stayed in peak condition. With a plethora of young signings, experienced players, and the greatest comeback luck we have ever seen, other teams would hate to face up against these European giants.

Paly Predictions

The polls are in! Whether you like them or not, these are our Paly students’ predictions for the first round of the group stages. Now, don’t be too discouraged if your team isn’t predicted to win — especially you Leipzig fans — there’s still a chance! Survey conducted through Schoology with over 80 participants.

Champions League Bracket

Fill out your own hypothetical bracket to see who you think will become champions of European Football. Complete the bracket, snap a picture, and tag us on Instagram @vikingsportsmag.