Following on from last season’s success in the UEFA Women’s Champions League, the 2025/26 iteration takes on a new format.
There will now be a single league phase featuring 18 teams (similar to the league phase in the men’s Champions League), replacing the group stages. That also means there are two more teams involved than in the previous format.
Teams no longer play their opponents twice - home and away - but will instead face fixtures against six different teams, playing half of those matches at home and half of them away.
For us, we will play Lyon, Real Madrid and Twente at home in Borehamwood, as well as Benfica, Bayern Munich and OH Leuven on our travels.
The results of the matches will determine the ranking of the new 18-team league. The top four sides in the league phase will qualify automatically for the quarter-finals, while the teams finishing in 5th to 12th place will compete in a two-legged knockout phase play-off to secure their path to the last eight. Teams ranked 13 to 18 will be eliminated.
The four winners of the knockout phase play-offs progress to the quarter-finals, where they will each face one of the top-four finishers, who will be seeded and will play the second leg of their quarter-final at home.
League phase matches will be played between October and December, with ours listed below:
- Tuesday, October 7 (8pm) v Lyon (H)
- Thursday, October 16 (8pm) v Benfica (A)
- Wednesday, November 12 (5.45pm) v Bayern Munich (A)
- Wednesday, November 19 (8pm) v Real Madrid (H)
- Tuesday, December 9 (8pm) v Twente (H)
- Wednesday, December 17 (8pm) v OH Leuven (A)
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