Women's Champions League 2025-2026: how its new format works

The UEFA Women’s Champions League returns renewed and with many new features. After the 3rd qualifying round, the 18 teams that will compete in the new league phase of the continental tournament. All the action is enjoyed live on Disney+.

So what is the new format? How is it different from the men’s competition? And when is the draw for the league phase?

Also, what is this new competition called the UEFA Women’s European Cup?

What is the new format of the women’s Champions League?

Let’s start with the basics. In the previous format, 16 teams competed in four groups of four, with the top two advancing to the quarterfinals, and then the semifinals and final.

This season, the Women’s Champions League adopts a similar format to the revamped men’s competition (which has 36 teams), with the 18 teams in a large leaderboard. That means there will be two more teams in the competition proper.

Nine teams qualified automatically from the seven highest-ranked countries:

The remaining nine places are filled through qualifying rounds, with the losing teams progressing to the new UEFA Women’s Europa Cup (more on this below).

Final Qualifying Round Pairings:

Valerenga vs. Ferencvaros
Vorskla Poltava vs. OH Leuven
St. Pölten vs. Fortuna Hjørring
Katowice vs. Twente
BK Häcken vs. Atlético de Madrid
Paris FC vs. Austria Vienna
Brann vs. Manchester United
Eintracht Frankfurt vs. real Madrid
AS Roma vs. Sporting CP.

So how does it work?

Teams in positions 13 to 18 are eliminated at the end of the league stage in December.
The eight teams in positions 5 to 12 play in the knockout phase in February to earn a spot in the quarterfinals.
The top four go directly to the quarterfinals, which are held in March and April.

From the knockout phase onwards, the competition has a two-legged format until the semi-finals, with a traditional single-legged final, but with limited draws.

How does the league phase influence the knockout bracket?

The new format gives importance to the league classification with the teams paired. The higher you finish, the more favorable the path will be, including a direct jump to the quarterfinals for the top four.

In the women’s tournament, there is only one draw, on December 18, which establishes the entire draw. There is no country protection, meaning teams from the same league can play each other throughout the knockout phase.

That’s how it works.

For the knockout phase, the draw will create four pairings from:

11 or 12 against 5 or 6 (two pairings)
9 or 10 against 7 or 8 (two pairings).

The draw will place the four created pairings in a position on the draw, either the silver or blue half.

Next, the teams paired in positions 1 and 2, and 3 and 4, will be drawn into one of the two possible positions, again to create the pairings.

For the quarterfinals, the draw will be:

The winners of a tie between 7, 8, 9 and 10 will play against 1 or 2 (two ties).
The winners of a pairing between 5, 6, 11 and 12 will play against 3 or 4 (two pairings).

The complete picture is already defined.

The teams that finish in positions 1-4 will play the second leg of the quarterfinals at home.

The semi-final pairings are already defined by the draw of the draw. In principle, the teams classified in positions 1 and 2 will play the second leg of the semifinals at home. However, if 1 and/or 2 are eliminated in the quarterfinals, the right to play at home will pass to the team that eliminated them. For example, if Arsenal (first) is eliminated by Paris FC (ninth), it will be Paris FC that has home advantage in the semi-finals.

Therefore, it is not based on league standings, meaning it is impossible for teams that finish in third and fourth place to play the second leg of the semi-finals at home, as they cannot claim first or second place.

Well, how does the league stage draw work?

The draw for the league phase will take place on September 19.

Instead of placing teams into groups, the draw now creates the pairings. There will be three pots with six teams each, classified according to the UEFA club coefficient. Each club will play six games, with two rivals drawn from each of the three pots. One match in each pot will be at home and the other away.

There are 18 teams and 18 unique calendars that will be drawn.

There are two fundamental principles in the league phase:

• No club can play against another team in its own league. (For example, Arsenal cannot play against Chelsea).
• A club cannot play against more than two teams from the same country. (If Arsenal match Lyon and Paris Saint-Germain, they will not be able to play against Paris FC.)

The drawing ceremony will also be noticeably different. In previous seasons, the fate of all the teams was decided by a manual draw, with balls and drums for the teams and groups, carried out by a group of former players. But the new format is so complicated that it would take too long to complete it that way.

This is how it works now:

• A team will be drawn on stage (starting with Pot 1 and ending with Pot 3).
• A computer will randomly select that club’s six rivals (subject to draw restrictions) and determine which match is played at home or away.

Pot positions may not be as crucial, but they still matter as each pot contains a range of quality. The distribution of home and home games will also be important, given the variety of potential rivals for each club.

Although the draw creates the schedule of matches, the order in which they will be played will not be published until later.

When will the games be played?

Third qualifying round

Departure: September 11
Return: September 18

League phase

Day 1: October 7-8
Day 2: October 15-16
Day 3: November 11-12
Day 4: November 19-20
Day 5: December 9-10
Day 6: December 17

On the sixth day, all nine matches will start at the same time.

Quarter finals

Departure: February 11-12
Return: February 18-19

Semifinals

Departure: March 24-25
Return: April 1-2

End

Between May 22 and 24 at the Ullevaal stadium in Oslo, Norway.

What is the UEFA Women’s European Cup?

It is a new second-tier European competition, but it does not automatically feature any teams from the top seven nations: France, Germany, Spain, England, Portugal, Italy and Sweden.

A total of 43 teams will compete, with runners-up and third-place finishers from nations ranked 8th to 24th earning a place in their own right.

The remaining places will be filled by the teams that lose in the qualifying rounds of the Women’s Champions League. For example, Inter Milan (Italy) is the only team from one of the top seven leagues that has already been eliminated and has moved on to the first qualifying round of the Women’s European Cup. Other teams (at least two) from the top seven countries will participate if they lose in the final qualifying round of the Champions League.

The entire competition, including the final, is played in a two-legged knockout format.

First qualifying round

Second qualifying round