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Shiny trophy displayed in stadium before match
Amir Azimi
Football

Arsenal, Chelsea, and Manchester City Face Tough Tests in Women’s Champions League

Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City all learned the scale of their European assignments as the Women’s Champions League league phase draw delivered a string of heavyweight clashes – and a reunion or two – in Nyon.

Arsenal thrown into the deep end

Arsenal’s route back towards the sharp end of Europe runs straight through two giants of the competition. The Gunners will face holders Barcelona and eight-time winners Lyon in a daunting league phase group that offers glamour, jeopardy and very little margin for error.

They will host Lyon, Benfica and HB Koge at home, with memories still fresh of their comfortable double over the Danish side in 2021-22. Those nights should offer a platform. The away schedule is far less forgiving: trips to Barcelona, Paris FC and Inter Milan will test both depth and nerve.

For a club that measures itself against the very top, there is no hiding place here. Barcelona, the current benchmark. Lyon, the historic powerhouse. Arsenal will have to live with both.

Chelsea handed reunions and a road test

Chelsea, beaten finalists in 2020-21, have been given a draw rich in storylines as they chase the European crown that continues to elude them.

In London, they will welcome Paris St-Germain, Roma and league-phase debutants Austria Wien. On paper, that home slate offers a blend of pedigree and opportunity: PSG bring Champions League experience, Roma bring bite, Austria Wien bring the unknown.

The real intrigue lies away from home. Blues manager Sonia Bompastor will return to her former club Lyon, where she once lifted this trophy as a player and then as a coach. Now she walks back into France in Chelsea blue to face the record Champions League winners on their own turf.

That trip is joined by journeys to Swedish side Hacken and OH Leuven in Belgium. No easy miles there either. Every away game looks like a different kind of examination – tactical, physical, mental.

City back in Europe – and straight into Bayern

Manchester City, back in continental competition after missing out last season, entered the draw from pot three. They avoided the very worst-case scenario. They did not escape difficulty.

Andree Jeglertz’s side will host PSG, Real Madrid and Austria Wien. Those Etihad nights – or Academy Stadium under the lights – will carry a sense of occasion. PSG’s athleticism, Madrid’s growing European ambition and the potential banana skin of Austria Wien will shape City’s home campaign.

On the road, the challenge spikes. City must travel to Bayern Munich, last season’s semi-finalists, as well as Hacken and Inter Milan. Bayern away is the kind of fixture that defines a European season: hostile, high-level, unforgiving. Hacken and Inter add long trips and awkward conditions to a schedule already packed by domestic commitments.

For a side re-establishing itself on the European stage, this is a proving ground.

Barcelona, Bayern and a semi-final echo

Beyond the English clubs, the draw produced some heavyweight reruns. Barcelona and Bayern Munich will replay their 2025-26 semi-final in Munich, a tie that still lingers in the memory. The German champions will also head to Paris to face PSG, another meeting that feels more like a late knockout round than a league-phase obligation.

The structure of the competition remains clear. All 18 clubs were split into three pots of six, with each team drawn against two opponents – one home, one away – from each pot. Arsenal and Chelsea sat among the top seeds in pot one; Manchester City waited in pot three.

UEFA will confirm the full match schedule on Saturday, 5 September. The league phase opens on 22 and 23 September and closes with matchday six on 16 December. Then the real cut begins: knockout phase play-offs in February 2027, quarter-finals in March, semi-finals in early May and a final in Warsaw in the last week of May.

By then, we will know which of England’s contenders used this brutal league phase as a launchpad – and which were exposed by it.

League phase dates

  • Matchday 1: 22/23 September
  • Matchday 2: 30 September/1 October
  • Matchday 3: 28/29 October
  • Matchday 4: 10/11 November
  • Matchday 5: 18/19 November
  • Matchday 6: 16 December

Arsenal

  • Home: Lyon, Benfica, HB Koge
  • Away: Barcelona, Paris FC, Inter Milan

Chelsea

  • Home: Paris St-Germain, Roma, Austria Wien
  • Away: Lyon, Hacken, OH Leuven

Manchester City

  • Home: Paris St-Germain, Real Madrid, Austria Wien
  • Away: Bayern Munich, Hacken, Inter Milan

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