After a couple of seasons hitching a ride on the men's UCL threads, time for the UWCL to fly solo. The final is, like the UCL, in Kiev in May, but in Valeriy Lobanovskyi rather than the Olimpiyskiy.
And qualifying starts today.
49 of the 55 UEFA members have entered at least one team, giving a record 61 entrants.
The absent nations are Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Gibraltar, Liechtenstein and San Marino. The latter two do not actually have a women's football league, while Andorra's women's league is not 11-a-side. The champions of Armenia (Yerevan LH), Azerbaijan (Gabala) and Gibraltar (Lincoln Red Imps) did not enter.
Georgia are entering a team for the first time since 2010–11, while Luxembourg return after a one-year absence.
The top twelve leagues by coefficient each get two entrants - that's Germany, France, Sweden, England, Spain, Russia, Italy, Denmark, Czechia, Austria, Scotland and Norway - so the Dutch, new European Champions, have only one club side participating (Ajax, who won the league ahead of Twente last season).
The competition:
• The main competition is a straight knockout of 32 teams, with home and away legs except for the Final.
• 21 teams go straight to the last 32: this is the champions and runners-up from associations 1–9 and the champions but not the runners-up from associations 10, 11 and 12. Defending Champions Lyon are in this batch of teams, though Paris SG, who made the Final last season, will not be in the competition at all.
• These teams are: Wolfsburg (CH), Bayern Munich(RU), Lyon (CH), Montpellier (RU), Linköping (CH), Rosengård (RU), Manchester City (CH), Chelsea (RU), Atlético Madrid (CH), Barcelona (RU), Rossiyanka (CH), Zvezda Perm (RU), Fiorentina (CH), Brescia (RU), Brøndby (CH), Fortuna Hjørring(RU), Slavia Praha (CH), Sparta Praha(RU), St. Pölten (CH), Glasgow City(CH), Lillestrøm (CH)
• The remaining 40 teams must compete in the qualifiers for the other 11 places.
Qualifying:
• The 40 teams were allocated into four seeding positions.
• They were drawn into ten groups of four.
• First, the ten teams which were pre-selected as group hosts were drawn from their own designated pot and allocated to their respective group as per their seeding positions.
• Next, the remaining 30 teams were drawn from their respective pot which were allocated according to their seeding positions.
• In each group, teams play against each other in a round-robin mini-tournament at the pre-selected hosts' ground.
• The ten group winners plus one runner-up (with the best record against the teams finishing first and third in their group) advance to the round of 32 to join the 21 teams which received a bye.
• The qualifiying matches are played on 22, 25 and 28 August 2017.
Info on the Wiki here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017–1...alifying_round
And qualifying starts today.
49 of the 55 UEFA members have entered at least one team, giving a record 61 entrants.
The absent nations are Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Gibraltar, Liechtenstein and San Marino. The latter two do not actually have a women's football league, while Andorra's women's league is not 11-a-side. The champions of Armenia (Yerevan LH), Azerbaijan (Gabala) and Gibraltar (Lincoln Red Imps) did not enter.
Georgia are entering a team for the first time since 2010–11, while Luxembourg return after a one-year absence.
The top twelve leagues by coefficient each get two entrants - that's Germany, France, Sweden, England, Spain, Russia, Italy, Denmark, Czechia, Austria, Scotland and Norway - so the Dutch, new European Champions, have only one club side participating (Ajax, who won the league ahead of Twente last season).
The competition:
• The main competition is a straight knockout of 32 teams, with home and away legs except for the Final.
• 21 teams go straight to the last 32: this is the champions and runners-up from associations 1–9 and the champions but not the runners-up from associations 10, 11 and 12. Defending Champions Lyon are in this batch of teams, though Paris SG, who made the Final last season, will not be in the competition at all.
• These teams are: Wolfsburg (CH), Bayern Munich(RU), Lyon (CH), Montpellier (RU), Linköping (CH), Rosengård (RU), Manchester City (CH), Chelsea (RU), Atlético Madrid (CH), Barcelona (RU), Rossiyanka (CH), Zvezda Perm (RU), Fiorentina (CH), Brescia (RU), Brøndby (CH), Fortuna Hjørring(RU), Slavia Praha (CH), Sparta Praha(RU), St. Pölten (CH), Glasgow City(CH), Lillestrøm (CH)
• The remaining 40 teams must compete in the qualifiers for the other 11 places.
Qualifying round | 22, 25, 28 August 2017 | |
Round of 32 | 4–5 October 2017 | 11–12 October 2017 |
Round of 16 | 8–9 November 2017 | 15–16 November 2017 |
Quarter-finals | 21–22 March 2018 | 28–29 March 2018 |
Semi-finals | 21–22 April 2018 | 28–29 April 2018 |
Final | 24 May 2018 |
• The 40 teams were allocated into four seeding positions.
• They were drawn into ten groups of four.
• First, the ten teams which were pre-selected as group hosts were drawn from their own designated pot and allocated to their respective group as per their seeding positions.
• Next, the remaining 30 teams were drawn from their respective pot which were allocated according to their seeding positions.
• In each group, teams play against each other in a round-robin mini-tournament at the pre-selected hosts' ground.
• The ten group winners plus one runner-up (with the best record against the teams finishing first and third in their group) advance to the round of 32 to join the 21 teams which received a bye.
• The qualifiying matches are played on 22, 25 and 28 August 2017.
Info on the Wiki here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017–1...alifying_round
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