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.
How Many Americans Play In The Champions League 2022-23
- Christian Pulisic, Chelsea
- Weston McKennie, Juventus
- Gio Reyna, Borussia Dortmund
- Sergiño Dest, AC Milan
- Malik Tillman, Rangers
- James Sands, Rangers
- Cameron Carter-Vickers, Celtic
- Timothy Chandler, Eintracht Frankfurt
- Josh Cohen, Maccabi Haifa
- Owen Otasowie, Club Brugge
- John Brooks, Benfica
It’s incredible that 11 Americans could play in the Champions League this season, which would be a record, and yet only a couple of those 11 play on the USMNT. Every single group in the Champions League has at least one American player in it.
There is an American in every Champions League Group Stage group
Who are you most excited to watch? pic.twitter.com/vmJKA4Ju93— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) August 25, 2022
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Let’s meet the players and their opponents.
Americans In Champions League 2022-23
Christian Pulisic
- Group E
- Opponents: AC Milan, Red Bull Salzburg and Dinamo Zagreb
- UCL Stats Prior To 22-23 Season: 43 Appearances, 7 Goals, 8 Assists
Pulisic has the most Champions League goals out of any American in history with seven. He has scored at least one goal in the previous four Champions League seasons.
It will be interesting to see how much playing time the American gets as his manager Thomas Tuchel reportedly “doesn’t trust” him. The first three Chelsea games of the 2022-23 season saw Pulisic used as a substitute.
If the Chelsea forward gets action in the Champions League, he should be expected to get a goal or two in a group the Blues are predicted to advance out of.
Weston McKennie
- Group H
- Opponents: Paris Saint-Germain, Benfica and Maccabi Haifa
- UCL Stats Prior To 22-23 Season: 19 Appearances, 2 Goals, 1 Assist
McKennie will be entering his fourth Champions League season this year. The American midfielder had a horrible ending to his last European campaign when he broke his foot vs. Villarreal in the Round of 16.
It will certainly be exciting to watch McKennie go up against the likes of PSG while Benfica is certainly no pushover. Group G will be an exhilarating one to watch.
Gio Reyna
- Group G
- Opponents: Manchester City, Sevilla and Copenhagen
- UCL Stats Prior To 22-23 Season: 10 Appearances, 0 Goals, 2 Assists
Staying healthy will be Reyna’s biggest challenge ahead of the Champions League season. The 19-year-old has been the victim of a string of injuries that saw him miss all of Dortmund’s UCL games last season.
The attacking midfielder is full of talent and will get to play against his old teammate Erling Haaland when Dortmund plays Manchester City. It looks like Dortmund and Sevilla will battle it out for the second spot in Group G.
Sergiño Dest
- Group E
- Opponents: Chelsea, Red Bull Salzburg and Dinamo Zagreb
- UCL Stats Prior To 22-23 Season: 16 Appearances, 1 Goal, 1 Assist
Dest's dreams of the playing Champions League ball were granted this season with a loan to AC Milan. The situation was looking bleak after Xavi and Barcelona decided Dest was no longer needed at the club.
A last-minute loan to defending Serie A champions on deadline day was met with a massive sigh of relief from USMNT fans.
I’m so proud and excited to join the Champions of Italy and such a historic club! Forza Milan ⚫️ @acmilan pic.twitter.com/E8r6Jri9kU
— Sergiño Dest (@sergino_dest) September 1, 2022
Malik Tillman
- Group A
- Opponents: Ajax, Liverpool and Napoli
- UCL Stats Prior To 22-23 Season: 2 Appearances, 0 Goals, 0 Minutes
Tillman has only played 18 minutes of Champions League action prior to this season. He will surely be getting more as he played a huge part in qualifying Rangers for the group stage.
Rangers qualified for the group stage after playing through two qualifying rounds. Tillman scored the game-winning goal for Rangers against Belgian side Union Saint-Gilloise and then followed that performance up with getting the game-winning assist vs. PSV to send the Scottish side to the group stage.
James Sands
- Group A
- Opponents: Ajax, Liverpool and Napoli
- UCL Stats Prior To 22-23 Season: 0 Appearances
Sands has played in the Concacaf Champions League before, but he will make his UEFA Champions League debut this season.
The American midfielder/defender featured for Rangers in the Europa League final vs. Eintracht Frankfurt last season but will now get to compete against the big boys in Group A. Rangers are certainly the underdogs in this group.
Cameron Carter-Vickers
- Group F
- Opponents: Real Madrid, RB Leipzig and Shakhtar Donetsk
- UCL Stats Prior To 22-23 Season: 0 Appearances
Carter-Vickers is loving life at his new club Celtic. The American defender was loaned to Celtic from Tottenham last season and the Scottish club made his move permanent this summer.
Carter-Vickers plays the full 90 minutes almost every game for Celtic and will be a for-sure starter in the Champions League. We’ll get to see him go up against the defending European champion and try to defend Karim Benzema and company.
Real Madrid is the clear favorite to top the group, but don’t rule Celtic out of a surprise second-place finish.
Timothy Chandler
- Group D
- Opponents: Tottenham, Sporting Club Portugal and Marseille
- UCL Stats Prior To 22-23 Season: 0 Appearances
Chandler’s days with the USMNT might be done, but he’s still part of the Eintracht Frankfurt roster. The 32-year-old is now in a back-up role for Frankfurt. He did feature in five of his team’s games during the Europa League-winning run last season.
Chandler has been in the Frankfurt ranks for nearly his entire career and will get to make his Champions League debut this season. This is the first time Eintracht Frankfurt has qualified for the Champions League/European Cup since it finished runner-up in the 1959-60 season.
Josh Cohen
- Group H
- Opponents: Paris Saint-Germain, Juventus and Benfica
- UCL Stats Prior To 22-23 Season: 0 Appearances
Cohen is a truly remarkable story. The 30-year-old goalkeeper is going to go from playing in the USL Championship with Sacramento Republic FC to playing in the UEFA Champions League in a three-year span.
In 2019, Israeli club Maccabi Haifa acquired Cohen on a free transfer from Sacramento. He quickly earned his role as the starting goalkeeper and now is set to play on the biggest European stage.
Maccabi Haifa had to play in three rounds of qualifying (six games) to make it to the group stage. Cohen started all six games, keeping two clean sheets along the way. He and his club are capable of defeating teams like Red Star Belgrade and Olympiacos, but now he’s going to have Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappé shooting at him.
Owen Otasowie
- Group B
- Opponents: Porto, Bayer Leverkusen and Atlético Madrid
- UCL Stats Prior To 22-23 Season: 0 Appearances
Otasowie has been a forgotten figure for the USMNT. In November 2020 he made his international debut for the U.S. with a three-minute substitute appearance in a friendly vs. Wales.
In the same season he made his Premier League debut with Wolves and had six appearances. A $4.4 million transfer to Belgian side Club Brugge in August 2021 halted all the exciting progress. Otasowie didn’t make a single appearance for the club last season and made his club debut on Aug. 5, 2022.
It’s not likely he’ll play a big part in Club Brugge’s Champions League campaign, but fingers will be crossed he makes at least one appearance.
John Brooks
- Group H
- Opponents: Paris Saint-Germain, Juventus and Maccabi Haifa
- UCL Stats Prior To 22-23 Season: 4 appearances, 0 goals, 0 assists
Well, well, well. Look who made a last-minute transfer to a Champions League club. Brooks is going back to Europe's biggest competition after getting his first taste of UCL action with Wolfsburg in the 21-22 season.
Brooks was linked with clubs all over the world during the summer. Fans weren't sure if he would end up in LaLiga, MLS or even Saudi Arabia. In the end it was Benfica who swooped in to get the American defender.
✍️ Bem-vindo, Brooks!
— SL Benfica (@SLBenfica) September 1, 2022
If Brooks shuts down PSG and Juventus then USMNT head coach Gregg Berhalter might have to actually consider him for the World Cup.
