Draw sets up Sporting to face Nordic side in Europa League | OneFootball

The draw for the second qualifying round of the UEFA Women's Europa Cup, the new 'Europa League' of women's football, has already taken place, with Sporting's team learning who their opponent will be in this stage of the inaugural competition. The Lionesses will face Rosengard, a Swedish club with several appearances in the Champions League. The first leg will be played in Portugal.

The competition will have a simple format: all knockout rounds, always played over two legs, including the final. The structure of the tournament will consist of six phases. First qualifying round, second qualifying round (where the Alvalade club is currently), round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals, and final (also over two legs).

This means there will be no group stage. Each round is a true test of survival: whoever loses is out. The matches of this second qualifying round will be played on October 7 or 8 and 15 or 16. The winners will advance to the round of 16.

The Sporting women's football team could have secured qualification for the Champions League, but lost this Thursday, September 18, against the Italian side Roma (2-0). In the second leg of the third qualifying round, Micael Sequeira's team allowed a comeback in the tie, after the Lionesses' 2-1 victory in the first match.

The green and whites had the chance to return to international competition for the first time since 2018/19, back then under the management of Nuno Cristóvão, but that scenario will no longer happen. Sporting's next match is scheduled for Monday, September 22, against Damaiense, at 16:00, at the Estádio do Algarve.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.