Women’s Champions League draw LIVE: Chelsea, Arsenal and Man City discover group opponents in Nyon

The Women’s Champions League draw for the group stages of the 2024-25 edition of the tournament has been held with Arsenal, Chelsea and Man City learning their opponents.

Unlike the men’s edition of the tournament which has changed this season to a league-based format, the women’s while smaller is still split into the more traditional groups of four, although changes are due to come in for the 2025-26 season.

The Women’s Champions League has been held every year since 2009-10 when it was renamed from the Uefa Women’s Cup, and Lyon are the most successful side with eight titles, although Barcelona, who have won the tournament three times, are the defending champions. There are only 16 teams in total in the group stages, split into four groups of four. Only four teams including the defending champions qualified automatically, with the other 12 places determined by rounds of qualification - which Women’s Super League sides Arsenal and Manchester City both came through successfully.

Follow all the live reaction from the draw in Nyon in the blog below:

UWCL draw LIVE

• Chelsea in Group B, paired with Real Madrid

• Arsenal in Group C along with Bayern

• Man City to face reigning champions in Group D

• Full draw for 24/25 UWCL

Uefa Women’s Champions League draw - LIVE

12:28 , Karl Matchett

Full draw:

Group A - Lyon, Wolfsburg, Roma, Galatasaray

Group B - Chelsea, Real Madrid, Twente, Celtic

Group C - Bayern Munich, Arsenal, Juventus, Valerenga

Group D - Barcelona, Manchester City, St. Polten, Hammarby

The fixtures order and dates will be confirmed tomorrow morning!

Uefa Women’s Champions League draw - LIVE

12:33 , Karl Matchett

That’s it for today’s draw; the start of the journey on the road to Lisbon is now set and the three WSL teams involved will feel they stand a good chance of reaching the knockouts at least, with perhaps Arsenal facing the toughest set of fixtures initially.

Thanks as always for joining us and make sure to come back for our live coverage of the Women’s Champions League this season, along with every single WSL game for 2024/25!

See you next time!

Uefa Women’s Champions League draw - LIVE

12:26 , Karl Matchett

Hammarby are out next and they go into Group D, which leaves the last team out as Valerenga who go into Group C.

Uefa Women’s Champions League draw - LIVE

12:24 , Karl Matchett

Pot four now, the final quartet - which includes Scottish side Celtic.

Out first is Galatasaray, who are drawn into Group A.

Next is Celtic, big moment for them...and it’s Group B. What a big task!

Uefa Women’s Champions League draw - LIVE

12:22 , Karl Matchett

Two more teams, one each will face a WSL side.

Juventus are out first and they’ll go into... Group C, so along with Arsenal.

That leaves St. Polten, who will face City in Group D.

Uefa Women’s Champions League draw - LIVE

12:21 , Karl Matchett

Onto pot three swiftly.

Roma are out first and they go into Group A, which looks strong so far indeed.

FC Twente are debutants and they are drawn into Group B along with Chelsea.

Uefa Women’s Champions League draw - LIVE

12:19 , Karl Matchett

Real Madrid come out and go into Group B - so they’ll be facing Chelsea again!

Final ball out must be Wolfsburg, which means they’ll go into Group A with Lyon.

Uefa Women’s Champions League draw - LIVE

12:18 , Karl Matchett

Pot two now:

Arsenal are drawn into Group C - they’ll face Bayern Munich.

Manchester City are out next and they go into Group D, so they are with Barcelona.

Uefa Women’s Champions League draw - LIVE

12:16 , Karl Matchett

Here we go, Pot 1 teams and their groups first of all:

Lyon are out first and they go into Group A.

Chelsea go into Group B.

Bayern Munich into C, that leaves Barcelona in D.

Uefa Women’s Champions League draw - LIVE

12:13 , Karl Matchett

Right: four pots, four teams in each. One from each pot will be drawn into each group, so four groups of four in total.

No clubs from the same country together; Groups A and B will play the same matchnight, C and D together on the other.

Teams are paired so Barcelona and Real Madrid for example will play on different days.

Uefa Women’s Champions League draw - LIVE

12:11 , Karl Matchett

Here we go with the montages! A big map of Europe, the locations of each team, a little zoom in on their location.

Draw ambassador today is German icon and Champions League winner Lira Alushi, an old teammate of Kessler’s.

They are on stage now discussing post-playing career work and how matters have changed since their days on the pitch.

“The big full stadiums, the organisation is just amazing!”

The draw will start shortly.

Uefa Women’s Champions League draw - LIVE

12:04 , Karl Matchett

Nadine Kessler is on stage and there’s plenty of appreciation for last season, including greater viewing numbers than ever before.

A second women’s competition, coming into play for next season, is again mentioned along with the expanded Champions League and the new format we mentioned earlier.

Six teams making their debuts this year: Celtic, Galatasaray, Hammarby, Twente, Valerenga and the WSL’s own Man City.

Uefa Women’s Champions League draw - LIVE

12:00 , Karl Matchett

Ok we’re about ready to go and Uefa are now live in Nyon - no doubt some of the usual ceremony and build-up video montages to come, then the draw itself will get underway.

Uefa Women’s Champions League draw - LIVE

11:55 , Karl Matchett

Arsenal Women boss Jonas Eidevall after the win last night ensured they’d be in the UWCL:

“One part of the season starts now. This is what we wanted. We wanted to go into the group stage. We wanted to play in the league. We know it's going to be a lot of really challenging games, but it's going to be fun games as well, and we've built a squad to deal with it.”

And Chelsea boss Sonia Bompastor, speaking last week about trying to win it:

"If we don't achieve that goal I will be the one you need to blame. I am fine with that.

"Every day the vision in my head is really clear. I just came here to win with the team, with the squad and with the club every title. I know the club already won a lot of titles and had such a great success in past years. I just want to help them make the next step."

Uefa Women’s Champions League draw - LIVE

11:50 , Karl Matchett

Next season the UWCL will follow the men’s version this year in terms of format, moving to an 18-team Swiss style league format where teams will play six matches.

For this year though we remain in four-team groups, also with six matches, and judging by the opening week of men’s UCL games...that’s far, far better for both viewing and different outcome potential.

Enjoy it while it lasts...

Uefa Women’s Champions League draw - LIVE

11:45 , Karl Matchett

About 15 minutes until the draw starts...let’s come up with some dream scenarios for each side in the group stage.

Chelsea will feel they shouldn’t fear anyone, of course, but they would probably take Real Madrid, St Polten and Valerenga as a decent trio to deal with in the groups.

For second seeds Arsenal and City, perhaps you take the risk of an Barca or Lyon now to avoid them in the quarter-finals? Then Twente and Celtic - Battle of Britain, why not - to complete the group and bank on a top-two finish.

Uefa Women’s Champions League draw - LIVE

11:40 , Karl Matchett

Last year Barcelona beat Lyon 2-0 in the final in Bilbao, making it a second straight win for the Catalan side and a fourth final appearance in a row.

The last time neither one of Barcelona or Lyon reached a final it was... 2015.

Can anybody break their run this time?

Here’s what they’ll all be playing for come the end of the season:

Uefa Women’s Champions League draw - LIVE

11:30 , Karl Matchett

Goals from Beth Mead, Lia Walti, Maria Caldentey and Frida Maanum sent Arsenal through with a 4-0 win over Hacken last night after losing the first leg 1-0, while Celtic were comfortable once Emma Lawton scored just after the restart to make it one on the night and 2-0 on aggregate. Shannon McGregor later added another.

Man City were already five up from their first leg and made it eight on aggregate with Chloe Kelly scoring once and Bunny Shaw twice.

Elsewhere, the likes of Roma, Twente, Juventus and Real Madrid were among the sides winning their playoffs, while Fiorentina, PSG, Benfica and Servette were among those who exited.

Uefa Women’s Champions League draw - LIVE

11:20 , Karl Matchett

Women’s and girls’ football sees record growth in historic four year period for the game

The success of the Lionesses has coincided with record growth in women’s and girls’ football, according to a new report from the Football Association.

The governing body said the number of women and girls playing football has increased by 56 per cent since the ‘inspiring positive change’ programme was launched in 2020 - since when England have become European champions in 2022 before reaching the World Cup final a year later.

Seventy-seven per cent of schools now offer girls equal access to football, up by 14 per cent, which breaks down as 88 per cent of primary schools and 50 per cent of secondary schools.

Seventy-three ‘emerging talent centres’ have been established to nurture young players in high-quality environments - with the talent base having grown by 265 per cent.

That has contributed to significant increases in the number of players from under-represented groups, up 127 per cent, and economically deprived areas, up 112 per cent.

More here:

Women’s and girls’ football sees record growth in historic four year period

Uefa Women’s Champions League draw - LIVE

11:10 , Karl Matchett

Here’s a full list of match dates to mark - as well as when the draw will be made for the knock-out phase in the new year.

Group stage:

• Matchday 1: 8/9 October

• Matchday 2: 16/17 October

• Matchday 3: 12/13 November

• Matchday 4: 20/21 November

• Matchday 5: 11/12 December

• Matchday 6: 17/18 December

Quarter-final & semi-final draw: 7 February, Nyon

Quarter-finals:First leg: 18/19 March; Second leg: 26/27 March

Semi-finals:First leg: 19/20 April; Second leg: 26/27 April

Final: 23, 24 or 25 May tbc (Estadio Jose Alvalade, Lisbon)

Uefa Women’s Champions League draw - LIVE

11:00 , Karl Matchett

In terms of the draw...well, if you’ve seen any men’s Champions League draws over the past few decades, or the women’s draw over the last few years, you’ll know what’s coming.

One team from each pot goes into each group, so four-team collectives who will face each other during the group stage.

Teams from the same nation can’t face each other at this stage and that straight away means Chelsea will face either Wolfsburg or Real Madrid, for example, as their Pot 2 opponents.

Uefa Women’s Champions League draw - LIVE

10:51 , Karl Matchett

So - let’s go over the main points of today’s draw first. Starting with: Which teams are in each pot? Here’s a full rundown...

Pot One

• Barcelona

• Lyon

• Bayern Munich

• Chelsea

Pot Two

• Wolfsburg

• Arsenal

• Real Madrid

• Manchester City

Pot Three

• Juventus

• St. Pölten

• Roma

• Twente

Pot Four

• Valerenga

• Celtic

• Hammarby

• Galatasaray

Uefa Women’s Champions League draw - LIVE

10:39 , Karl Matchett

The draw ceremony itself starts at noon, with three WSL sides set to be involved - and Celtic too from north of the border, after they beat Vorskla Poltova in their qualifier to become the first Scottish side to reach the group stage.

Man City had an easy time of things across two legs to hammer Paris 8-0 on aggregate, but Arsenal had a one-goal deficit to overcome from the first leg.

They did so in style, a 4-0 victory over Hacken ensuring they’re in the groups - while Chelsea are of course there too after winning last season’s Women’s Super League.

Women’s Champions League draw

Monday 23 September 2024 16:18 , Sonia Twigg

Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s live build up and coverage of the Women’s Champions League draw in Nyon.

The women’s competition is markedly smaller than the men’s version with just 16 teams reaching the group stages, although there are extensive knockout stages before that.

Only one Women’s Super League club, Chelsea, qualified automatically for the group stages, with second and third, Manchester City and Arsenal sent into the pre-group stage knockout rounds.