The last qualifying games are coming up: (GMT times) The round 2 game in Lithuania is set for live coverage on Youtube (KO 12:00 CET) and on Gintra's Facebook. (Preview: fkgintra.lt) Gintra-Universitetas v Vålerenga www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTVWMQrTv0s St Pölten are leading the Austrian league with 9 wins in 9, while CSKA Moscow were confirmed as the Russian 2020 season champions a few days ago. (Preview: skn-frauen.at) More highlights from yesterday, the teams from Slovenia and Hungary: ŽNK Pomurje [blue] 4-1 Ferencváros Špela Kolbl 27', Kaja Korošec 37'p, 73', 80' / Evelin Mosdóczi 53'p www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUmqUP5LJRs - Match report: RTVslo.si
Gintra 0 - 7 Vålerenga It was raining sideways in Lithuania and the pitch looked very heavy. Gintra started pretty well in the first ten minutes when they had energy, but then had nothing to offer after Vålerenga scored following a couple of corners.
Here are the 32 teams. The draw is on Tuesday and will have travel restrictions like in the qualifiers. Seeded Lyon (FRA, holders) 145.680 Wolfsburg (GER) 114.090 Barcelona (ESP) 102.140 Paris Saint-Germain (FRA) 98.680 Bayern München (GER) 78.090 Manchester City (ENG) 69.645 Slavia Praha (CZE) 65.365 Chelsea (ENG) 63.645 Rosengård (SWE) 59.015 Atlético Madrid (ESP) 47.140 Fortuna Hjørring (DEN) 46.385 Brøndby (DEN) 45.385 LSK Kvinner (NOR) 44.075 BIIK-Kazygurt (KAZ) 38.570 Glasgow City (SCO)* 36.590 Zürich (SUI) 34.920 Unseeded Sparta Praha (CZE) 31.365 Fiorentina (ITA) 29.065 FC Minsk (BLR)* 25.270 St. Pölten (AUT)* 23.950 Ajax (NED) 23.890 ŽFK Spartak (SRB)* 20.615 Göteborg (SWE) 20.015 Juventus (ITA) 17.065 PSV Eindhoven (NED) 10.890 Vålerenga (NOR)* 9.075 Górnik Łęczna (POL)* 8.285 Servette (SUI) 7.920 WFC Pomurje (SVN)* 6.980 WFC-2 Kharkiv (UKR)* 4.800 SL Benfica (POR)* 3.960 Lanchkhuti (GEO)* 0.000 *Came through qualifying
As usual, a lot of very dangerous unseeded teams for the seeded ones. I wonder how the Covid-19 considerations will come into place: will they build geographical "groups" like at the previous stage?
Well, I think the growth in WoSo in Europe recently is factoring into a reduction in non-competitive teams. (Or, put another way, a growth in competitiveness from previously middling leagues like ITA, ESP, NED, etc.) Usually, if there are "strong" teams in the unseeded category, it's because they're new to continental play despite coming from otherwise strong leagues, while weaker teams with more history getting their places in the seeded category - an oversight of the system. Now, though, there seem to be significantly more "strong" teams in the unseeded category than there are "weak" teams seeded. I could argue that nearly half of the unseeded teams could be seeded, but unlike in previous years, there aren't nearly as many good options for who they should bump. This is, BIIK, Glasgow, and Zurich as the only potential drops I can see at first glance, but none of those three are pushovers, either. Those three were the only questionable seeds last year, too, but last year there were only four seed-deserving teams (Arsenal, Fiorentina, and both SWE teams); now, there's seven (both ITA, both NED, Sparta, Goteburg, Valerenga). The group stage can't come soon enough. Thankfully, only one year to wait!
I love the fact that a side with a 0.000 coefficient made it to that stage. Congratulations to the Georgian champion. Will Trump claim that win ?
ooooo that's a good point... Now I want to make a quick-n-dirty map of seeded vs unseeded teams to attempt to predict the match-ups... Benfica probably gonna get smacked down by one of the Spain teams. I wonder if BIIK is gonna get paired with Kharkiv, or if BIIK is soooo far away that the organizers say "eh, it doesn't matter" with them.
I fear Italian teams getting paired with OL and PSG. But maybe there are other possible patterns than a France-Italy one...
Here are my propositions: Group 1 Slavia Praha (CZE) 65.365 BIIK-Kazygurt (KAZ) 38.570 WFC-2 Kharkiv (UKR)* 4.800 Lanchkhuti (GEO)* 0.000 Group 2 Barcelona (ESP) 102.140 Atlético Madrid (ESP) 47.140 SL Benfica (POR)* 3.960 Juventus (ITA) 17.065 Group 3 Wolfsburg (GER) 114.090 Bayern München (GER) 78.090 St. Pölten (AUT)* 23.950 Górnik Łęczna (POL)* 8.285 Group 4 Paris Saint-Germain (FRA) 98.680 Chelsea (ENG) 63.645 Fiorentina (ITA) 29.065 Servette (SUI) 7.920 Group 5 Fortuna Hjørring (DEN) 46.385 Brøndby (DEN) 45.385 Sparta Praha (CZE) 31.365 FC Minsk (BLR)* 25.270 Group 6 Rosengård (SWE) 59.015 LSK Kvinner (NOR) 44.075 PSV Eindhoven (NED) 10.890 Ajax (NED) 23.890 Group 7 Manchester City (ENG) 69.645 Glasgow City (SCO)* 36.590 Göteborg (SWE) 20.015 Vålerenga (NOR)* 9.075 Group 8 Zürich (SUI) 34.920 Lyon (FRA, holders) 145.680 ŽFK Spartak (SRB)* 20.615 WFC Pomurje (SVN)* 6.980
That looks pretty reasonable... That would make 2&4 the groups of death and 1&5 the groups of life. Group 5 in particular would be surprisingly even; no team about 50 or below 25, everyone has a dang good shot out. (I say 2 would be a death group b/c I think everyone there except Barca is way better than their coefficient suggests.) 6&7 would also be pretty even, but I think they're more clear-cut than 5 is.
We know UEFA will spring a surprise though by pairing countries far from one another. I mean as previously mentioned Spain+ Portugal plus another unseeded team.. there are none close to those two countries except for France or Italy.
Group 3 Paris Saint-Germain (FRA) 98.680 Manchester City (ENG) 69.645 Slavia Praha (CZE) 65.365 Brøndby (DEN) 45.385 *Fiorentina (ITA) 29.065 *Göteborg (SWE) 20.015 *Vålerenga (NOR)* 9.075 *Górnik Łęczna (POL)* 8.285 *unseeded (I guess) via Górnik page.
Groups out on UEFAs website now: Group 1: Seeded 1 Fortuna Hjørring (DEN) 2 Lyon (FRA, holders) 3 Barcelona (ESP) 4 Zürich (SUI) Unseeded 5 St. Pölten (AUT) 6 Pomurje (SVN) 7 Juventus (ITA) 8 PSV Eindhoven (NED) Group 2: Seeded 1 BIIK-Kazygurt (KAZ) 2 Wolfsburg (GER) 3 LSK Kvinner (NOR) 4 Rosengård (SWE) Unseeded 5 Lanchkhuti (GEO) 6 WFC-2 Kharkiv (UKR) 7 ŽFK Spartak (SRB) 8 FC Minsk (BLR) Group 3: Seeded 1 Brøndby (DEN) 2 Slavia Praha (CZE) 3 Paris Saint-Germain (FRA) 4 Manchester City (ENG) Unseeded 5 Göteborg (SWE) 6 Vålerenga (NOR) 7 Fiorentina (ITA) 8 Górnik Łęczna (POL) Group 4: Seeded 1 Bayern München (GER) 2 Chelsea (ENG) 3 Atlético Madrid (ESP) 4 Glasgow City (SCO) Unseeded 5 Sparta Praha (CZE) 6 Ajax (NED) 7 Benfica (POR) 8 Servette (SUI)
I knew it: I knew this geographcal rules would have damaged Italian clubs. They get the groups with OL and PSG, as I had figured. And Barcelona and Manchester City arren't much easier on paper.
Yes, they both have 50% chances to get a very bad draw and go out in the first round. Goteborg and Valerenga won't be easy opponents for the Group 3 seeds.
I'm upset seeing Lyon and Barca in the same group; any other year I'd estimate those two for finalists. IMO group 1 has two title-worthy teams, two minnows, and four moderately strong teams, so while the R32 might be interesting if the draw gets crazy, I wouldn't call it a Life group or a Death group. I don't expect any surprises at all in group 2; all seeded teams move to the R16, Wolfsburg wins the group. Group 3 is clearly the Group of Death. Every team except the POL entry would normally have a reasonable shot at the top 8. Group 4 isn't much better, though has a bit more differentiation between the top 3 and next 5.
They could still meet in the final. These groups are just for this round. In the qualifiers they had new groups for the draws in both rounds.
Round of 32 draw: 9/10 & 15/16 December St. Pölten (AUT) vs Zürich (SUI) Lanchkhuti (GEO) vs Rosengård (SWE) Göteborg (SWE) vs Manchester City (ENG) Sparta Praha (CZE) vs Glasgow City (SCO) Juventus (ITA) vs Lyon (FRA, holders) ŽFK Spartak (SRB) vs Wolfsburg (GER) Fiorentina (ITA) vs Slavia Praha (CZE) Benfica (POR) vs Chelsea (ENG) Pomurje (SVN) vs Fortuna Hjørring (DEN) WFC-2 Kharkiv (UKR) vs BIIK-Kazygurt (KAZ) Vålerenga (NOR) vs Brøndby (DEN) Ajax (NED) vs Bayern München (GER) PSV Eindhoven (NED) vs Barcelona (ESP) FC Minsk (BLR) vs LSK Kvinner (NOR) Górnik Łęczna (POL) vs Paris Saint-Germain (FRA) Servette (SUI) vs Atlético Madrid (ESP)
And once again the strongest Italian team, Juventus, gets an impossible draw in the round of 32 vs OL! They won't ever lift their rating to a "seeded status" if they are consistently eliminated early because of a nightmare draw: last year they had Barcelona in the round of 32 and this year OL!!!