SI Soccer
·31 January 2025
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Yahoo sportsSI Soccer
·31 January 2025
At the end of 2024, the final-ever UEFA Women's Champions League (UWCL) group stage concluded. The 16-team field was slimmed down to eight.
From next season, the women's tournament will follow the men's and shift to a 'Swiss model'. Although the 2025/26 women's edition will feature just 18 teams, a smaller increase of just two.
For the eight teams eliminated after the group stage, there is no UEFA Women's Europa League or secondary competition either.
The quarterfinals are set to begin on March 18, although the advancing eight teams do not yet know their opponents. The draw for the quarterfinals will be held in Nyon, Switzerland, on February 7.
As the higher-seeded finishers from the group stage, Lyon, Barcelona, Chelsea, and Arsenal will be drawn against a team from the lower-seeded quartet: Wolfsburg, Bayern Munich, Manchester City, and Real Madrid.
The full list of teams qualified for the quarterfinals are as follows:
When looking back at previous UWCL campaigns, the only real surprise from the teams eliminated is perhaps AS Roma. The 2023-24 Italian champions were quarterfinalists in the 2022-23, but for the pass two editions of the competition have been drawn into incredibly difficult groups.
This was a debut UWCL campaign for both Galatasaray and Hammarby. So, those two clubs will look back fondly at their European adventure despite their disappointing results.
Well-beaten Turkish champions Galatasaray lost six matches out of six and scored just one goal. While Swedish champions Hammarby were much more competitive, winning two matches but still fell nine points short of Barcelona and Manchester City in Group D.
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