Holders Barcelona draw Arsenal, Real Madrid to face Paris Saint-Germain in UEFA Women’s Champions League group stage

Holders Barcelona will face Arsenal in the group stage of the UEFA Women’s Champions League, with Paris Saint-Germain drawn with Real Madrid on Monday afternoon.

The Spanish champions overcame English opposition in the final in May to be crowned queens of Europe, beating Chelsea 4-0 in an incredible performance.

The Blues themselves were given a tough draw for the new season as they look to go one better than last term, taking on two-time champions Wolfsburg, who gave them a difficult quarter-final earlier this year, as well as Juventus.

Who has drawn who?

With Wolfsburg and Lyon both sitting in pot two ahead of the draw – clubs that together won all but one edition of the UWCL between 2011 and 2020 – there were always set to be huge clashes in this first round.

The French side, seven-time European champions, will face Bayern Munich in the group stage, the German champions who reached the semi-finals last season. They beat Chelsea in the first leg of that last-four tie, but ultimately fell short due to defeat in London.

The inclusion of Real Madrid in pot three made the draw even more interesting. While PSG got a kinder draw by avoiding Arsenal, Lyon and Wolfsburg by drawing Icelandic outfit Breidablik from pot two, their meetings with Las Blancas will be extremely tough.

This is the Spanish side’s first venture into Europe, with it being just the second ever season that Real Madrid have had a women’s team. However, their defeat of Manchester City in the last round of qualifying has sent a statement straight away.

Other debutantes in the competition are Koge and Hoffenheim, who both went into Group C with Arsenal and Barcelona. The former, of Denmark, beat Sparta Prague in qualifying to reach this stage, while Hoffenheim sent a message by dispatching of Swedish outfit Rosengard, who reached the quarter-finals last season.

When does the UWCL group stage begin?

The first games of the group stages will kick-off on October 5 and 6, with the top two in each of the four groups to progress to the quarter-finals. Those final group games will be played on December 15 and 16.

Although the idea of a women’s equivalent to the Europa League has been discussed, such a competition does not exist yet, so those finishing third and fourth in their groups will be eliminated.

Group stage draw in full

Further reading