The draw for Round 1 of the 2022/23 Women’s Champions League has been made, with 56 clubs including Manchester City, Real Madrid and Juventus competing for just 15 places to advance to the next stage of qualifying.
The draw is split into two sections: Champions path and League path.
The Champions path is for clubs who won their domestic league in 2021/22, with 42 teams split into 11 mini-tournaments. The League path, meanwhile, features 16 non-champions from stronger domestic leagues and will be played in the same format.
Champions and League mini-tournaments have two semi-finals and a final, with only the winners going on to the Round 2 draw. One club in each mini-tournament will be designated as a host.
Semi-finals are scheduled for 18 August, with finals to follow on 21 August. The draw for the next round of qualifying will be made on 1 September.
Manchester City and Real Madrid have been drawn in the same League path mini-tournament, which means only one can progress to the next round. The side met in qualifying last season, with Real prevailing and eventually getting as far as the quarter-finals.
Juventus, another quarter-finalist in 2021/22, are in a Round 1 mini-tournament with Racing-Union of Luxembourg, Flora Tallinn from Estonia and Israel’s Qiryat Gat.
Champions path
Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4
Group 5
Group 6
Group 7
Group 8
Group 9
Group 10
Group 11
League path
Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4
Once the 15 Round 1 winners are determined, they will be joined by nine other clubs in Round 2 – including Arsenal, Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich, in a 24-team competition for the 12 remaining unclaimed places in the group stage.
Only Lyon, Chelsea, Wolfsburg and Barcelona are guaranteed a place in the group stage.
The group stage will eventually get underway with matchday one in the second half of October.
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