AFTER an incredible summer for the Lionesses, winning back to back Euros, it is that time of year again, the return of European club football in the world of the women’s game.
The Women’s Super League has three representatives in the Champions League – Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United.
Many of these players belong to the Lionesses who did the double of international football, like Chloe Kelly, Ella Toone, Lucy Bronze and captain, Leah Williamson so there is now doubt they will bring their European success to this competition.
Arsenal made the League phase of the competition due to winning the competition for the second time back in Lisbon on May 24th when they defeated an in-form Barcelona with the only goal coming from Swedish international – Stina Blackstenius.
Chelsea progressed straight to the League phase as well but by winning the Women’s Super League, impressively for the sixth consectutive time and with Sonia Bompastor in her second year as a manager, it is no doubt Chelsea will impress in this competition.
For Manchester United they went through three rounds of qualifying to get to this stage, defeating PSV, Hammerby and Brann, after narrowly beating close rivals, Manchester City to the third place spot in the WSL last season.
Each team will play six teams out of the 18 qualified, three at home and three away in Europe.
Arsenal’s six games are – Lyon (H), Bayern Munich (A), Real Madrid (H), Benfica (A), Twente (H) and OH Leuven (A).
Chelsea’s six games are – Barcelona (H), Wolfsburg (A), Roma (H), St. Polten (A), Paris FC (H) and Twente (A).
Manchester United’s six games are – Lyon (H), Wolfsburg (A), PSG (H), Juventus (A), Valerenga (H) and Atletico Madrid (A).
The games are staggered across just over two months slotting inbetween the domestic league fixtures and international breaks;
- Matchday 1: October 7th-8th.
- Matchday 2: October 14th-15th.
- Matchday 3: November 11th-12th.
- Matchday 4: November 19th-20th.
- Matchday 5: December 9th-10th.
- Matchday 6: December 17th.
For any of our English representatives to qualify to the knockouts, they need to place first to fourth for automatic qualification or win a two-legged play off against any other team ranked fifth to twelfth.
Unfortunately, if they are to place anywhere from 13th to 18th, they will be eliminated from the competition.
All of the English teams have drawn quite a few tough fixtures, with all of them having to play at least one European giant on their journey to the knockout rounds.
So, will Arsenal complete one of their greatest achievements to win back-to-back European titles like the Lionesses this summer?
Will Chelsea finally get their hands on some European silverware after coming so close and falling short for several years?
Or, will Manchester United hold their own in their first ever knockouts of the Champions League and defy the likes of Barcelona or Lyon to the title?
Let’s hope that we see an English side in the final in May at Ullevaal Stadion in Oslo, Norway.
