Well, yes and no. They are actually 0.333 points ahead of Sweden right now over 5 years. But any point won by Häcken in the Group stage will see Sweden go back to fifth place. They won't lose their third teams this year as Denmark are 6 points behind and one team out of two still in, with Italy also till in with one team out of two and 9 points behind. Although my calculation show that if Juventus win the tournament by winning all their remaining games, they will grab the sixth place and get 3 teams. Denmark only need 17 points to overtake the Czech Republic
Lol, won't happen! Although it would be neat to have 3 Italians teams in the tournament. last season, Sassuolo would have sure deserved!
Well, it could be interesting next season, because the 5 years coefficient from 18/19 to 22/23 should see some fighting: As far as I know it looks like this 2. GER 52.000 3. SPA 48.167 4. ENG 43.167 Spain likely to get their third place and direct qualification to group stage back. And four the three teams places 5. DEN 23.750 6. SWE 23.500 7. CZE 22.833 Czech Republic could lose their third team for the season 24/25 if they don't perform in 22/23.
If a Tennis US Open final between No 73 and No 150 is possible why shouldn`t we get a final between Breidablik and Kharkiv? I hope Juventus get your wish Wolfsburg! (The biggest advantage of getting Wolfsburg in your group is that you don`t have to play against Bayern or Hoffenheim).
Considering the new format guarantees 10 unique champions by simple nature of the format, (top three nations' champs directly to the group stage + 7 other champions from qualifying,) 11 is on the low side but honestly fairly expected because qualifications from the league path have a high chance of coming from the top 3 nations (already direct to the group stage) or from a nation whose champion is strong enough to come through the qualifying champions path. Basically, only 7 spots are for "diversity" and the other 9 spots are bloat from the top nations. The only question is whether those 9 spots are claimed by just 3 nations or actually spread to 5 or 6.
Yeah, I was just speaking more generally about the format itself i.e. without the permutations of the title holder slot.
Although I sure don't see Juventus advancing from their group, I anyway seriously believe that their chances would be better by picking Wolfsburg, than by picking OL or Arsenal (although the fact you're mentioning that this would be a way to avoid Bayern from pot 1 is basically irrelevant, since Barça, PSG and Chelsea would be equally unbeatable to Juventus; I don't think Juventus can meet Hoffenheim instead, since they're in the same pot ).
Champions League draw https://www.uefa.com/womenschampionsleague/streaming/ Group A Chelsea Wolfsburg Juventus Servette Group B PSG Breidablik Real Madrid Kharkiv Group C Barcelona Arsenal Hoffenheim Köge Group D Bayern Lyon Häcken Benfica
I'd say C and D are the strongest and A is also comepetitive but Group B don't match the rest - PSG and Real Madrid draw the lucky tickets into quarters.
I would say that groups B and C are going to have some competition for 2nd/3rd places. A and D have obvious favorites to make it out of groups and the question's gonna be just "who is the first and who is the second?".
Think Chelsea can win their group, don’t know if Wolfsburg is still a formidable team in CL. Juventus is not a scary team even with that name brand, they don’t impress me much.
It's worth to remeber that from 5th Oct - till winter brake almost all those clubs (PSG and Lyon will reschedule their domestic league matches?) will play match in every 3-4 days (UWCL, domestic league, domestic cup). UWCL will have much more impact on domestic league and vice versa. UWCL Group stage schedule Matchday 1: 5/6 October Matchday 2: 13/14 October Matchday 3: 9/10 November Matchday 4: 17/18 November Matchday 5: 8/9 December Matchday 6: 15/16 December ie. Chelsea vs. Manchester City is on 14th Nov - right in the middle of possible clash with Wolfsburg and Juventus. Besides... Hayes has some work to do because Chelsea dont look convincing so far and this time around Wolfsburg may actually score goals instead of collecting the woodwork all the time. Especially when Pajor is in her best form to date. She scored in something like 14 out of 15 matches she played for Wolfsburg since the 21/22 season started.
Well.. yes and now. She's the focal point of Wolfsburg attack, no less than Miedema is for Arsenal. But Wolfsburg isn't one dimenssional team. Yeah, making player like Pajor "manageable" is doable (ie. double marking or by using specific tactical set up) but it's also a costly gamble cuz on the other hand it closes some other tactical possibilities in the match. Not to mention that it still can be exploited by the rival team who is expecting this and has plan B. Chelsea are the favourites of this group but Wofsburg is plenty able to outscore them and Juventus still can surprise them - like they had Lyon last season.
I have looked at the D1 Arkema schedule, I can't see many postponement being asked by the clubs. With games played on Friday, Saturday and Sundays, there is flexibility to chose when they will on the week-end. Regarding the FA WSL, well it is a messy scheduling so....anything is possible.
They will just have to get used to it. In NWSL some teams had like 4 to 5 games roughly 2 weeks or more.
Interesting to note that Real Madrid, after their big win over Manchester City, manages to follow up, by losing their first two league games 4-0 and 2-0.
Well, of course Spanish Primera División Femenina is not one of those leagues where just 2 or 3 teams can dominate the whole field...