UEFA has confimed the entries: UEFA: http://www.uefa.com/womenschampionsleague/news/newsid=2562830.html Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018–19_UEFA_Women's_Champions_League 60 teams from 48 associations. 20 enter in the round of 32. Other 40 play in ten groups of four. Group winners and two best second places will qualify to round of 32 as well. Some interesting facts: - Greek champions PAOK apparently were banned from entering. The runners-up enter. - Why is Brescia as Italian runners-up not confirmed yet? (Second Italian entrant tbc) - Now in the 18th season of the competition, we miss out on KI Klksvik for the first time. - There are two Barcelonas, one from Cyprus - Luxembourg did enter last year, not this year. Others champions missing are Armenia, Azerbaijan and Gibraltar. Liechtenstein, San Marino and Andorra shouldn't have a league/championshp currently.
...AC Milan's intend is to buy licence for Serie A, by this Brescia will land in Serie C as their owner (has Leeds Utd and men's Brescia) is not much interested in WoSo developement. Milan can't play in CL though that way so it's probably that Tavgnacco (3rd in Serie A) will play instead..
Yes, this is very sad, but true: I remember when he wanted to deny Rigamonti Stadium (the men's one) to the women's team for a quarter-final match of Women's Champions' League, some months ago.
Bigger issue - simply put the none existent money in Women's Champions League aren't even worth the trouble nowadays.
Gaps of 10% or more: 1/2, 2/3, and 5/6 Kinda surprised to see Rosengard as high as they are, but I guess they're consistent enough.
Qualifying round Group 1: Ajax (NED), Thór/KA (ISL), Wexford Youths (IRL), Linfield (NIR, hosts) Group 2: FC Minsk (BLR), Somatio Barcelona FA (CYP), Olimpija Ljubljana (SVN, hosts), Slovan Bratislava (SVK) Group 3: Glasgow City (SCO, hosts), Górnik Łęczna (POL), Anderlecht (BEL), Martve (GEO) Group 4: Slavia Praha (CZE), MTK Hungária (HUN, hosts), Ataşehir Belediyespor (TUR), Mitrovica (KOS) Group 5: ŽFK Spartak (SRB), Basel (SUI), Pandor Qiryat Gat (ISR), Breznica Pljevlja (MNE, hosts) Group 6: Olimpia Cluj (ROU), WFC Khakhiv (UKR, hosts), Cardiff Met (WAL), Birkirkara (MLT) Group 7: BIIK-Kazygurt (KAZ), Landhaus Austria Wien (AUT), Akadimia Elpides Karditsas (GRE), Rigas Futbola skola (LVA, hosts) Group 8: SFK 2000 Sarajevo (BIH, hosts), Pärnu (EST), Vllaznia (ALB), Agarista - SS Anenii Noi (MDA) Group 9: Gintra Universitetas (LTU, hosts), NSA Sofia (BUL), Honka (FIN), EBS/Skála (FRO) Group 10: Avaldsnes (NOR), Osijek (CRO, hosts), Sporting CP (POR), ŽFK Dragon 2014 (MKD) Bye to round of 32 1 Lyon (FRA, holders) 111.740 2 Wolfsburg (GER) 125.390 3 Paris Saint-Germain (FRA) 84.740 4 Barcelona (ESP) 80.170 5 FC Rosengård (SWE) 77.470 6 Manchester City (ENG) 57.470 7 Bayern München (GER) 48.380 8 Fortuna Hjørring (DEN) 50.045 9 Chelsea (ENG) 47.470 10 Brøndby (DEN) 47.075 11 FC Zürich (SUI) 43.890 12 Linköping (SWE) 41.470 13 Zvezda-2005 (RUS) 37.395 14 Sparta Praha (CZE) 32.550 15 LSK Kvinner (NOR) 31.920 16 Atlético Madrid (ESP) 25.170 17 St. Pölten (AUT) 23.415 18 Fiorentina (ITA) 19.385 19 Ryazan-VDV (RUS) 13.395 20 Juventus (ITA) 11.385
Juventus hasn't an history, so it also has no points, but of course it's a much stronger team than its position suggests. I hope they're not paired to some "unbeatable one" in the first rounds, because I feel they could advance quite far otherwise.
The point system isn't a ranking system it is a reward system for team's that done well in WCL earlier. So any new teams from a decent league will do better or much better than the points indicates. It would probably have been better for Juventus to have had to play in the qualifying round, 3 easy wins to cement a good point for next year even if they should draw Lyon or a German team in the round of 32.
No, one cannot earn more points by playing qualifying. You get 3 points (and not more even by 3 wins in qualifying) for playing the round of 32, regardless if you played qualifying or not. A good side note: UEFA added live coefficients for the women: Country https://www.uefa.com/memberassociations/uefarankings/womenscountry/#/yr/2018 and club https://www.uefa.com/memberassociations/uefarankings/womensclub/#/yr/2018
Today: Kickoff times: - https://www.uefa.com/womenschampionsleague/season=2019/matches/qualifying The first game is kicking off shortly, in Ukraine - Cluj v Cardiff Met - http://www.faw.cymru/en/news/archers-ready-uefa-womens-champions-league-return/ The champions of the Maltese First Division are also there: - http://www.sportinmalta.com/birkirk...-journey-in-the-uefa-womens-champions-league/ The group hosted by Glasgow City is actually in Edinburgh to play its games, inside some kind of spaceship: "Leanne Crichton says Anderlecht present 'toughest' test" - bbc.com/sport/football/45088415 Oriam Sports Performance Centre, Edinburgh (photo: M.J. Richardson, cc-by-sa) (Edit) Or they might be playing outside, but where's the fun in that
Some matchday 1 videos and reports are around, I'll post some at the weekend. But not even UEFA has written a round-up, which is pretty poor. This article looks at the results for teams with players from Africa: - http://www.womenssoccerunited.com/how-the-18-africans-fare-in-uwcl-opening-day/ (Archived) Here are the fixtures for matchday 2, today, now https://www.uefa.com/womenschampionsleague/season=2019/matches/qualifying
There was also a massive 8-month gap in write-ups for the WNTs in WWC qualifying... There's only one article between Nov.30 and today. Someone at UEFA lost interest there.
Video links, mostly highlights - matchdays 1 and 2. Group 1 In Northern Ireland, day 1 matches: - Highlights Ajax Vrouwen - Wexford Youths (Champions League) - UWCL: Þór/KA (black) - Linfield Ladies (red) - 2-0 (1-0) - 07.08.2018 Group 2 In Slovenia: - ZFK Minsk (red/black) - ŽNK Olimpija Ljubljana 6:0 - Somatio Barcelona FAW (orange) v Slovan Bratislava (2-0) 07/02/18 Full game: WCL : ŽNK OLIMPIJA - SOMATIO BARCELONA (Friday) Group 3 Georgia's FC Martve were easily beaten 12-0 and 7-0, leaving the more important business for the other two games: - Glasgow City v Anderlecht - UWCL Group 3, MD1 (7/8/18) - Anderlecht (purple) v Gornik Leczna (white) - MD2 (10/8/18) Group 4 Slavia Praha are top after 2 easy wins, but it was hard-fought between the champions of Hungary (at home) and Turkish champs Ataşehir Belediyespor: Full game: ATAŞEHIR (red) - MTK HUNGÁRIA FC (dark blue) Group 5 Hardly any video from Montenegro, but FC Basel (Switzerland) and Spartak Subotica (Serbia) are level on 6 points, playing each other in Monday's finale. - https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomeP...-4-0-win-for-Subotica-against-Breznica-675879 Group 6 Kharkiv (UKR) and Olimpia Cluj (ROM) are on 6 points after they beat Cardiff Met 3-2 and 5-2. Their clash should be live on this channel. - https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/45094652 Group 7 The Kazakh champions BIIK Kazygurt are top on 6 points, following their nearly-not-disastrous run to the last 16 last season. Kazygurt need a point against 3rd-placed Landhaus Wien on Monday in Riga. - https://www.kawowo.com/2018/08/08/u...-biik-kazygurt-in-champions-league-qualifier/ (Archived) Group 8 Bosnia's SFK Sarajevo are in control after two 5-0 wins. Full match: SFK 2000 Sarajevo (red) - SS Anenii Noi, Moldova (blue) Group 9 The Lithuanian and Finnish clubs are level on 4 points after their 1-1 draw, with Bulgarian FC NSA Sofia a point behind. - Goals: Gintra Universitetas (yellow) v FC Honka (white), 1-1 Group 10 Norway's Avaldsnes are top with 6 points - https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=https://www.fotball.no/turneringer/toppserien/2018/avaldsnes-dragon/&edit-text=&act=url The crucial clash between Avaldsnes and the Croatian hosts Osijek is streaming here on Monday. Full tables atm on the Wikipedia page.
All 20 games are being played simultaneously today, at 15:00 GMT As mentioned, two matches will be livestreamed: In group 3, being played in Edinburgh, the maths is extremely tight between the top 3, Anderlecht, Górnik Łęczna and Glasgow City: - https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/45157184 Two runners-up also qualify, depending on who got the best results against the teams in 1st and 3rd - hence today's simultaneous kickoffs. (Runners-up info is here.)
Qualifiers - the final matchdays highlights Group 1 After Ajax won 2-0 and Þór/KA won 3-0, the unbeaten teams met in the last match. Their 0-0 was enough for both to qualify for the Champions League. Highlights Ajax Vrouwen - Thór/KA (Champions League) The other game was an inter-Irish champions' match, won by the visiting side: Linfield Ladies FC (red) 2-3 Wexford Youths Women Group 2 Cyprus's Somatio Barcelona beat FC Minsk 2-0 to win the group. The other game was at Stadion Stožice in Ljubljana, champs of Slovakia and Slovenia: WCL: Slovan Bratislava (blue) - ŽNK Olimpija Ljubljana 1:0 Group 3 Final game: Glasgow needed to win by more than 1-0, Górnik needed a draw: Highlights | Gornik Leczna v Glasgow City - UWCL Group 3, MD 3 (13/8/18) Group 4 Slavia Prague beat the hosts MTK Hungária 4-1, so the Czechs have qualified. In the other game, Turkey's Ataşehir won 6-1 against Kosovo's FKK Mitrovica. Group 5 Serbia's Spartak Subotica took the group, with a 5-0 win v the Swiss FC Basel. Group 6 In Ukraine, the group decider - both teams had 6 points: Full match: Matchday 3. WFC Kharkiv (white) - Olimpia Cluj (red) Other full match: Matchday 3. Birkirkara (black) - Cardiff Met (red) Group 7 BIIK Kazygurt sealed the group with a 2-0 win v Landhaus Vienna. Group 8 The Bosnian hosts SFK only needed to avoid a big loss against Finland's Pärnu, but the visitors did score after 8 mins (at the start of this vid). Full match: Pärnu - SFK 2000 Sarajevo Group 9 A goalfest in Lithuania - the top 2 had drawn, so goal difference decided 1st place. Home team Gintra took it with their 9-0 win, while the Finnish FC Honka only got a mere 7-0 victory, but in the end they both qualified. Highlights UWCL QR: Gintra-Universitetas - FC NSA Sofia (picturesque stadium!) Group 10 Norway's Avaldsnes qualified with a 2-2 draw, but they needed Luana Bertolucci Paixão's late equalizer to steal 1st place from Sporting of Portugal. As well as the ten group winners, the two runner-up qualifying spots went to Þór/KA (Iceland) and FC Honka (Finland). Will Lyon's victory be emulated by Spartak Subotica? Still technically possible (photo: Visem, cc-by-sa)
Group 3 was arguably the toughest group this year. Glasgow City, RSC Anderlecht and Górnik Łęczna all finished on 6 points with outsider FC Martve on 0. Glasgow scored lest goals in this group but advanced anyway cuz of better head-to-head GD tie-braker. Górnik - debutants in CL, despite looking the best in this group were very unlucky at the end. @sbahnhof thanks for all those quality summary of yours on this thread and others as well.
Looks like the draw has already been made, too: https://www.uefa.com/womenschampionsleague/season=2019/draws/round=2001002/ The "Draw Notes" mention both ITA-DEN matchups but fail to mention the perfect matching of the nationalities in those games. Very possible for one two-team nation to perfectly eliminate another two-team nation this early in the competition! Also: I'm really upset seeing Atletico-ManCity this early in the competition too. There's a long history of English teams eliminating Spanish teams and it makes me sad. I'm thinking Ajax and LSK are the most likely unseeded teams to advance.
I am anyway quite happy with this draw: considering what Italian teams could have got instead, the ITA-DEN clash sounds perfectly ok!
There aren't many previews of the 1st round yet, but it's kicking off on Wednesday afternoon (CET) with the early matches in Kazakhstan (BIIK v Barça) and in Russia (Ryazan v Rosengård). Juventus will make their debut against Brøndby - they're playing the 1st leg on Wednesday evening at the Stadio Silvio Piola. (Blusea2001, pd)
I am thinking the two Italian teams could upset the two Danish teams. Also looking at the association rankings, France might overtake Germany for the place deciding the 2020/21 season, it does not happen very often to see a country overtake Germany
BIIK Kazygurt have just beaten Barcelona 3-1. Could be an interesting return leg. I also wonder whether Lyon will score double digits against an Avaldsnes team currently in ninth place in the Norwegian league having only won four matches all season. Relegation is not unthinkable with five matchdays to go.
Well, although BIIK Kazygurt demonstrated in previous seasons that they're not exactly a token, I guess it would be a fail of epic proportions for Barcelona if they wouldn't advance! I can definitely see OL massacre Avaldsnes instead.