I'd say Manchester United warped pot 3 quite a bit. By the way, it's surely off-topic here, but when and why Olympic Lyonnais decided to add Lyonnes to their names? The historical one wasn't good enough?
Who is broadcasting this? I'd rather not use Paramount+ (CBS) for boycott reasons. I can VPN if needed.
Just a correction for the US broadcasts which are on Paramount+, which is where you can get Golazo I think. Also, just checked ESPN+ has games in Spanish--so a lot more coverage this year.
Spanish teams are top of the table after matchday 1 alongside Wolfsburg. Arsenal, PSG and Bayern among the currently eliminated teams. PSG and Bayern have given themselves a mountain to climb on the goal difference.
Seeing these rankings is quite funny because of how new they feel compared to the old group stage system; probably they won't have the same effect at all when we'll be used to them. By scoring at least one goal vs Barcelona, though, Bayern managed to avoid the last place and to leave it to 0-6 losers of Sankt Pölten!
It certainly makes it interesting because with only four teams qualifying directly, there is not much margin of error for direct qualification. 15 points should guarantee it.
After five rounds, we know 11 of the 12 teams qualified for the final phase (playoffs between teams 5th to 12th before the quarterfinals). The last remaining uncertainty concerns Leuven (12th) and Valerenga (13th). Leuven will stay qualified regardless of their result in the last round if Valerenga doesn't win against Bayern. It's worth noting OH Leuven's remarkable run, the newcomer in this competition. After successfully navigating the three qualifying rounds, the Belgians managed the league phase, securing three draws (PSG, Roma, PFC) and a victory against Twente. Will they surprise us with a draw against Arsenal next? Arsenal have been a bit weak lately, having only managed a narrow 1-0 home win against Twente. The 6th and final round of this league phase will be interesting; who will advance directly to the quarterfinals by finishing in the top 4? Barca is already in the running, and OLL has a good chance of being there too. Then, Chelsea, Juve, real, WOB will fight to get in. With poor goal difference, Bayern and Manchester United seem to be out of contention. Follow --> WOB vs Chelsea. Juve vs MU. Twente vs REAL. Bayern vs Valerenga. On the French side, the results are a bit better than last year. Lyon performed well, as usual, despite a draw against Juventus (albeit with a great remontada ). Paris FC, having qualified, had a respectable run with two wins and two draws. They can hardly hope for better in the sixth round against Barcelona. PSG is the sinking ship, for the second year in a row, the result of total neglect by the club's management coupled with highly questionable coaching. Next year, France will again have two teams automatically qualified for the league stage; I hope Paris FC will be among them (instead of PSG). Finally, it should be noted that 4 of the 6 teams in Pot 2 have been eliminated: PSG, Roma, Benfica, and St. Pölten. Roma, the current Serie A leaders, are the biggest surprise.
Vålerenga's campaign has been so frustrating. Punished by decisive handball VAR-penalties in four matches. Man Utd 1 - 0 Vålerenga Vålerenga 1 - 2 Wolfsburg Vålerenga 2 - 2 St. Pölten (Vålerenga should have won that game by at least three goals) Vålerenga 0 - 1 Paris FC (down to 10 players in 45 mins. Sævik sent off in the first half, which was correct btw)
Bayern has 1 point more than Wolfsburg. So they need two of Chelsea, Juve and Real not to win (and a win against Valerenga themselves).
Real not winning against Twente seem hard to get: so, more realistically, they basically need Chelsea and Juventus not to win.
Further positive news for the UWCL and women's EURO. UEFA and Euronics Group sign UEFA Women’s Champions League and UEFA Women’s EURO 2029 sponsorship agreements Wednesday, December 17, 2025 The leading electronics and home appliance retailer continues its support as part of its long-term commitment to women’s football. UEFA has today announced a multi-year sponsorship deal with Euronics Group, Europe’s leading electronics and home appliance retailer, which will see the group serve as an official partner of the UEFA Women’s Champions League for three seasons and UEFA Women’s EURO 2029 taking place in Germany. The Amsterdam-based company will continue its support of the UEFA Women’s Champions League as part of its long-term commitment to women’s football, with the aim of further inspiring women and girls to participate in sport while reinforcing its commitment to diversity, inclusion and community engagement across Europe and beyond. Guy-Laurent Epstein, UEFA executive director of marketing, said: “This new four-year agreement strengthens our collaboration and reaffirms a shared commitment to the continued growth of women’s football. Working with Euronics Group has already delivered tangible results, and we look forward to building on this strong foundation to further develop and elevate our two women’s flagship competitions across Europe and beyond.” John Olsen, CEO of Euronics International, said: “We’re excited to renew our partnership with UEFA and continue supporting the UEFA Women’s Champions League and UEFA Women’s EURO 2029. The new league format of the Women’s Champions League and greater broadcast exposure give us an amazing opportunity to reach more fans and communities. We are proud to have been part of the immense growth of women’s football, and our members across all our markets are looking forward to bringing this partnership to life locally for the next years to come. Euronics Group joins adidas, Amazon, Heineken, PepsiCo and Vodafone as a UEFA Women’s Champions League partner. Euronics Group joins adidas, Amazon, Carlsberg, Lidl, PepsiCo and Vodafone as a UEFA Women’s EURO 2029 partner. https://www.uefa.com/news-media/new...ics-group-sign-uefa-women-s-champions-league/
On the 5 years coefficient UEFA have 1. England 70.082 2. Spain 69.665 ---------------------- 3. France 68.666 4. Germany 58.915 5. Italy 45.250 6. Portugal 36.333 --------------------- 7.Netherlands 26.666 8.Norway 23.666 9. Sweden 23.665 10. Belgium 19.875 Belgium with the 11 places up in one season. Making it to the League phase and getting points pushed up their coefficient from 11.000 to 19.875 that's an 80% improvement.
With the introduction of League phase and a second competition the coefficients will rise. We have already 6 nations with a coefficient of more than 10 this season (3,4,3,2 in the last four seasons).
Norway with a 0.001 advantage over Sweden: every single goal along these 5 years did count! I figure Czech Republic dropped down nowhere to be seen, by now.