With the recent booming growth of women’s football in Europe, in 2019 UEFA decided to reformat the tournament and make it more entertaining and challenging. Up till last season, there was no Group stage played among clubs in the main competition. This season, the competition is going to be similar to their male counterparts, with 4 groups seeded among Europe’s finest.
The group stage of this year’s UEFA Women’s Champions League was drawn last night and it is clear that the fans are up for an exciting few weeks ahead of us.
UEFA WOMEN’S CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GROUPS
The groups are drawn in a similar fashion as the men have been doing it for many years. There were 4 pots having 4 teams each. Pot 1 consisted of the defending champions and the three domestic champions of the associations. Other than these 4, 12 other contenders earned their place in the prestigious competition through 2 rounds of qualifications. In this way, 16 teams were seeded into 4 groups.
🤩 Group stage draw ✅
The most exciting group is______#UWCL | #UWCLdraw pic.twitter.com/5v9eoQ2jRx
— UEFA Women’s Champions League (@UWCL) September 13, 2021
In group A or as some may call the group of death we have Chelsea, Wolfsburg, Juventus and Servette FCCF and group B has PSG, Briedablik, Real Madrid and Kharkiv. Group C consists of the defending Champions Barcelona, Arsenal, Hoffenheim and HB Koge. Lastly, Group D has Bayern Munich, Lyon, BK Hacken and Benfica.
ONES TO WATCH
Barcelona, one of the strongest and favourites to win the tournament are seeded into Group C along with Arsenal who are also a strong side. Both teams are going to clash in the opening game itself which means fireworks are guaranteed that night. Arsenal made it into the group stages after outsourcing Manchester United by one point which is why the red-devils are having to sit this one out.
🎉 BARCELONA ARE CHAMPIONS OF EUROPE! 🎉#UWCLfinal | 🏆🔵🔴
— UEFA Women’s Champions League (@UWCL) May 16, 2021
Chelsea lost last year’s final 4-0 against Barcelona and would be highly determined to finish the job this time around. Unfortunately for them, they have been seeded into a difficult group and they would be expecting trouble from the get-go. Chelsea and Wolfsburg would have easily passed through but the addition of Juventus from Pot 3 makes things tricky for all the parties.
Real Madrid knocked Manchester City out during qualification and are now set to face PSG who were semi-finalists last season. Lyon have won the Champions League 7 times but they are facing the German Champions early on this time.
The full fixture list for the 2021/22 #UWCL group stage! 🗓️👇https://t.co/S9J2j6s89V
— UEFA Women’s Champions League (@UWCL) September 13, 2021
The group stage fixtures are to be played on 5th and 6th October. The games are going to be streamed on DAZN in partnership with Youtube globally. This year the competition is going to be way more exciting since the group stages give the underdogs a shot at glory.