For those of you who are curious about the qualifying situation for Arsenal Women this week as they negotiate their first round of Champions League qualifiers, below is something of an explainer.
Because Arsenal finished 3rd in the WSL, they enter the UWCL in the first qualifying round which is taking place this week. In the first round, teams are drawn into groups of four and a mini tournament takes place between the four teams. Arsenal were drawn into a group with Glasgow Rangers, Atletico Madrid and Rosenborg.
From there, the teams are split into semi-finals with the two highest seeds (in this case, Arsenal and Atletico Madrid) kept apart. So the Gunners took on Glasgow Rangers on Wednesday evening with Atletico Madrid playing Rosenborg in the other semi-final earlier in the day.
The four team mini tournaments are always hosted by one of the four teams and all matches take place on the same ground. This happens because a lot of the teams that enter at this stage are not wealthy and cutting down travel and accommodation costs is essential for their participation. Given Boreham Wood were relegated from the National League last season and have lost revenue as a result, they were keen to host the mini-tournament and that works well for Arsenal too.
On Wednesday, Atleti were the victims of a shock result at Meadow Park, drawing 2-2 with Rosenborg after extra time before losing on penalties. On Wednesday evening, Arsenal thrashed Rangers 6-0 (which was largely expected). This means that Atletico Madrid will play Rangers at midday on Saturday in a third place playoff, while Arsenal play Rosenborg at Meadow Park on Saturday evening at 7.30pm in the mini-tournament final.
Why the third place playoff, I hear you ask? What is the point if neither team can progress? Well, firstly, the teams will play for coefficient points. For a lot of teams that go out at this stage, those are valuable because they can land you a kinder draw next year and give you a better shot at qualification.
A second game also justifies the cost of travel and accommodation for participating teams who are not fabulously wealthy. A second game against top tier opposition has the added bonus of helping teams to prepare for their domestic seasons. Rangers will certainly value a game against Atleti on Saturday. (In truth, Atleti would probably sooner go home and lick their wounds).
The winners of Arsenal v Rosenborg go into a two legged playoff round for entry to the group stages. This will be drawn on Monday and is simply a series of two legged ties, with a home and away leg. The Women’s Champions League group stage is 16 teams in four groups of four (next year, the tournament will follow the men’s version into the ‘Swiss model’).
Only four teams are guaranteed into the group stage without playing any preliminary rounds. The holders and the champions from the next three highest ranked leagues for coefficient points. This year, that is Barcelona, Lyon, Bayern Munich and Chelsea. Everyone else has to qualify.
The qualifying rounds are a graveyard, as Arsenal found to their cost last year when they exited after the first qualifying round when they drew 3-3 with Paris FC before losing on penalties. The first qualifying round this year has already taken significant scalps. Frankfurt, who finished 3rd in the Bundelisga and have won the competition four times, suffered a shock defeat to Sporting on Wednesday and are out.
The fact that the opening round of qualifiers are one legged games during pre-season makes them more open to jeopardy. Last summer, Arsenal took part in the qualifiers on a plastic pitch in Sweden, three weeks after the final weekend of the World Cup in Australia, which seven Arsenal players participated in.
Last year, 2023 finalists Wolfsburg fell at the qualifying stage, as did Juventus and Manchester United. When Lyon won the Champions League in 2023, they only won their qualifier after extra time. It was the closest they came to losing in the competition.
So why are the qualifiers so difficult? Well, for the first qualifying round, you will be drawn into an easier group if you won your domestic league, even if you come from a relatively ‘minor’ league. The champions of Iceland will get a more favourable draw than the teams that finish 3rd in Germany, Spain, France and England.
This is because, at this stage of women’s football’s development, UEFA cannot discourage teams from less wealthy leagues from investing in their women’s teams. If the champions of Switzerland, for example, find it impossible to qualify for the group stages, the chances of them mothballing their women’s teams or starving them of funding increase.
There is also the philosophical question of what you think the Champions League should be. If you think it ought to be simply the best 16 teams in Europe, only four countries will be represented. The men’s version is moving more towards a model of the 32 best teams in Europe but it still hasn’t quite yet, otherwise a maximum of five leagues would be represented.
Of course, there are still discussions in women’s football, which doesn’t yet have a secondary European competition to ‘catch’ some of these big name exiters (but likely will do from 2025), about the commercial viability of a more democratic model. DAZN bought the rights to the UWCL group stages when the group stages were first launched in 2021 (prior to that it was a straight knockout tournament).
They initially pledged to show the games for free for three seasons before gradually moving to a part subscription model. Last season they were due to start that part subscription model but announced they were going to delay.
I am speculating, but I wouldn’t mind betting that the eliminations of Arsenal, Juventus and Manchester United in the qualifying rounds last season had something to do with their decision. There is a commercial pressure to make sure the teams with the biggest pull are in the group stages, alongside the competing pressure to make elite women’s football accessible for developing leagues.
For now, Arsenal have to beat Rosenborg on Saturday evening and, if they manage that, they will be drawn into a two-legged tie to take place later this month. The two legs will take place either side of Arsenal’s WSL opener against Manchester City on September 22.
The good news is that Manchester City, who finished 2nd in last season’s WSL, will be in the same position. Manchester City have been eliminated in the last two qualifying rounds they have taken part in, both times by Real Madrid, which reinforces how tricky these rounds can be.
As it stands, Arsenal, should they beat Rosenborg, could draw Paris FC, who beat them last year, Sparta Praha, Ajax, who Arsenal beat at the same stage in 2022, Fiorentina, Sporting, Juventus, Hacken or Breidablik from Iceland in the two legged playoff. But clearly, they cannot take anything for granted on Saturday evening.
Really helpful explanation. Thanks, Tim.
This blog made me become imore invested in AWFC, more specifically Tim. It’s because of articles like this! Great work, as always.
Definitely like our chances against the opponents on the other side of the “divide.” But first, let’s send Rosenborg packing.
Thank you, Tim. Really helpful article. Great work as always.
i think we can face teams like Juventus and BK Häcken to if we move on to the next round or am I wrong? We will be seeded and they wont if I understand everything right. Together with Paris FC I think those are the toughest teams we can come up against. It would be very hard to play a physical match in Turin or Gothenburg mid-week before playing City at the Emirates. For once I hope we can get a better draw if we can make it through on saturday. On the other hand a high intensity-match against Juve… Read more »
I welcome a draw against Paris FC
We would drub them this time.
Tim, good explanation, I thought they would get one of these teams…PSG, Wolfsburg, Real Madrid, Manchester City, Juventus and Hacken if they got past this stage, that’s what I saw on Arsenal.com, I think I got it wrong, very good explanation, sometimes it’s confusing.
The official website says the following: “The four winners of the league path mini-tournaments will then be joined by Paris Saint-Germain, Wolfsburg, Real Madrid, Manchester City, Juventus and Hacken. Another draw will take place on September 9 to determine the Round 2 match-ups.” I believe for this draw there will be a seeding based on the UEFA coefficient, so that’s why we can either face another mini tournament winner from the leagues path or Juve / Häcken. From the teams mentioned, the 5 seeded should be PSG, Wolfsburg, Arsenal, Real and Juve. Unseeded according to coefficient should be City, Häcken… Read more »
Thanks for explaining Tim
I’m probably being dense, but why could there not be a bigger tournament with more teams from the bigger leagues that automatically qualify? Then you would still have your Swiss and Icelandic champions.
The CL must be poorer for the absence, every year, of big teams like Arsenal, Man City, Wolfsburg, Eintracht Frankfurt, Atletico Madrid, etc, so surely the answer is to make the comp bigger. Under the current system, the mini tournaments can be tougher than the group stages and the big teams that get through qualifying rounds or qualify automatically have an easier ride than they otherwise would.
Sorry. Missed the bit about it moving to a 32- team model from next season.
This was really insightful and helpful. Thank you Tim.