The first of three English teams start their Women’s Champions League campaign this week, and here we take a look at the competition’s new format, how teams qualify for the league phase and key dates for this season’s competition.
Women’s Champions League introduces new format for 2025-26 season
European football is changing in women’s football this season, with a new format introduced for the Champions League.
The change comes after the men’s competition changed to a new ‘league phase’ format last season. This season, the Women’s Champions League will follow a similar format.
There will be 18 teams taking part in the league phase, two more than the group stage format of recent years.
Each team will play six different opponents, three at home and three away, and ranked into one overall table.
The top four sides in the league phase will advance directly to the quarter-finals. Teams that place between fifth and 12th, will compete in a two-legged playoff to decide the final four teams to make the last eight.
Remaining teams placed between 13th and 18th will crash out of the competition.
🏴 Arsenal claim the 2025 #UWCL title in Lisbon! 🏆#UWCLfinal || @ArsenalWFC pic.twitter.com/dgMDZwTAWW
— UEFA Women’s Champions League (@UWCL) May 24, 2025
Which teams will take part in the league phase of the Champions League?
At the time of writing, nine teams have already booked their place in the 18-team league phase under the new Champions League format.
That list includes defending champions Arsenal, and reigning Women’s Super League holders Chelsea.
They are joined by Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Benfica, Juventus, Lyon, Paris Saint-Germain and VfL Wolfsburg.
A further nine teams will join them if they successfully make it out of the qualifying rounds.
How do the Champions League qualifying rounds work?
First and second qualification rounds
The qualification stage is split into two mini-tournaments – a ‘Champions Path’ and a ‘League Path’.
Those included in the Champions Path won their respective league titles last season, while the League Path includes those who finished either runner-up or in third place.
The Champions Path begins in the first round of qualifying, featuring 21 teams. Mini-tournaments were held, consisting of three or four teams, with semi-finals and finals.
The six teams that won their group, including the Republic of Ireland’s Athlone Town, joined 22 other teams in the Champion Path in the second round of qualifying.
Also in the second round of qualifying, the league path gets underway, featuring 15 teams, including Manchester United.
The second round of qualifying again features mini-tournaments involving three or four teams, in both the champions and league paths.
Manchester United kickstart their Champions League on Wednesday against PSV.
Should they win, they will face the winner of a clash between Hammarby and Metalist Kharkiv on Saturday.
United will be without new signing Fridolina Rolfo for the second qualifying round, with the Swede out for the next two to three weeks.
Third qualification round
In the Champions Path, seven tournament winners from the second round join reigning Austrian champions St. Polten in the third round of qualifying.
Unlike the previous two rounds, games are played over two legs home and away, with four teams advancing to the league phase of the Champions League.
In the League path, four teams will advance from the second to the third round of qualifying. There, they will be joined by Atletico Madrid, BK Hacken, Eintracht Frankfurt, Paris FC, Real Madrid, Sporting.
Five teams from the League Path will qualify for the league phase of the competition.
Do teams drop into the Women’s Europa Cup?
In total, 31 teams from the Women’s Champions League will drop to the Women’s Europa Cup this season.
Manchester United will drop into the Women’s Europa Cup if they finish second or third in their mini-tournament in the second round of qualifying, or if they lose their two-legged third-round qualifying match.
Teams entering the competition include;
Europa Cup First Round
- Seven third-placed teams from the second round Champions Path
- Four third-placed teams from the second round League Path
Europa Cup Second Round
- Seven runners-up from the second round Champions Path
- Four runners-up from the second round League Path
- Four losers from the third round Champions Path
- Five losers from the third round League Path
Women’s Champions League key dates
Qualifying rounds
- Second qualifying round semi-finals – Wednesday, August 27th
- Second qualifying round finals and third-place playoffs – Saturday, August 30th
- Third qualifying round (draw on August 31st) – First leg on Thursday, September 11th, and second leg on Thursday, September 18th
League phase (draw on September 19th)
- Matchday 1 – October 7th to 8th
- Matchday 2 – October 15th to 16th
- Matchday 3 – November 11th to 12th
- Matchday 4 – November 19th to 20th
- Matchday 5 – December 9th to 10th
- Matchday 6 – December 17th
Knockout phase (Draw on December 18th)
- Knockout phase playoffs – First leg (February 11th to 12th), second leg (February 18th to 19th)
- Quarter-finals – First leg (March 24th to 25th), second leg (1st to 2nd April)
- Semi-finals – First leg (April 25th to 26th), second leg (May 2nd to 3rd)
- Final – May 22nd to 24th at Ullevaal Stadion in Oslo (date to be confirmed)
