The dates for Arsenal Women’s two-legged Champions League semi-final have been confirmed by UEFA. The Gunners play two-time UWCL winners Wolfsburg, who eliminated Arsenal in last season’s quarter-final, in Germany on Sunday, 23 April at 2.30pm BST (3.30pm local time).
The return leg takes place at Emirates Stadium on Bank Holiday Monday, 1 May at 5.45pm with, at the time of writing, 24,000 tickets already sold.
Get ready, Gooners… ✊
Our @UWCL semi-final vs VfL Wolfsburg will kick off at 5:45pm on May 1 ✅
Come and join us at Emirates Stadium for a Bank Holiday to remember 🏟️
— Arsenal Women (@ArsenalWFC) April 5, 2023
Women’s Champions League semi-finals have always been played at weekends to maximise broadcast and stadium revenue. Matches in the knockout rounds are obliged to have VAR, which means, in reality, they have to be played in the club’s bigger stadium.
The second leg takes place on Bank Holiday Monday since the men are playing at home on Saturday, 30 April against Chelsea and UEFA regulations say the visiting team should be given the chance to train on the pitch the day before the tie is played. Both legs will be shown live on DAZN’s YouTube channel, free of charge with no subscription required.
Arsenal’s qualification for the semi-final, their first since 2013 when they also played Wolfsburg, means their WSL trips to Manchester United and Everton, initially arranged for those weekends, will be rearranged.
The trip to Manchester United will now take place on Wednesday 19 April at Leigh Sports Village with a 7.15pm kickoff. Arsenal currently trail United by three points at the top of the WSL table with a game in hand. The fixture at Everton is to be confirmed.
You can buy tickets for the home leg against Wolfsburg on 1 May here. We will have all the usual coverage from both legs on Arseblog News.
Damn! Games are accumulating! I hope by that time we have the the squad depth to deal with all them games!
Can’t wait! But please no more injuries.
Why have the WSL arranged the away MankU game with less than 4 days recovery time before we play a CL semi final in Germany? I thought the FA had declared to give “every possible support” to clubs competing in Europe.
Really?
Another plan to derail an Arsenal fc team🙄🙄
Very much hope Lia Wälti is available for the 2nd Leg in the big stadium.