Who can Arsenal face in Champions League qualifying Round 1? | OneFootball

Arsenal have secured their spot in the 2023/24 Women’s Champions League by finishing third in the Barclays Women’s Super League. This article discusses the teams they could potentially encounter in September 2023.

The Champions League qualifying system works like this:

16 teams compete in the Group stage.

Four gain direct entry, seven come through the Champions path, and five via the League path.

Arsenal will play in the League path, along with Manchester United.

Meanwhile, Chelsea will feature in the Champions path.

The four teams that have secured a direct spot for the Group stage include the current title holders, either Barcelona or Wolfsburg, with the final set for 3rd June.

Olympique Lyonnais, FC Bayern, and FC Barcelona also have confirmed spots.

However, because Barcelona won the Champions League final victory in Eindhoven, the fourth-ranked country’s champion instead moves directly to the group stage, and Chelsea also progress straight to the Group stage.

In the Champions path, only the country champions compete, with countries ranked 4th to 6th (England, Sweden, and the Czech Republic) joining in the second qualifying round.

The nations ranked 7th (Italy) to 48th (Latvia) participate in Qualifying Round 1, while countries ranked 49 to 52 would compete in a preliminary round if required. All these teams vie for seven slots that lead to the Group stage.

The League path sees runner-up and third-place teams competing for five spots in the Group stage. Arsenal will enter the tournament in Qualifying Round 1, while Manchester United will begin in Round 2.

The potential adversaries and their UEFA coefficient for the Round 1 mini-tournament, which will be played in a semi-final and final format, with four teams competing in four brackets, are as follows:

Arsenal boast the highest coefficient, which secures their seeded status in the draw.

Consequently, they will compete against one of the eight lower coefficient teams in the semi-final.

Should they win, they would then face the victor of the other semi-final in their four-team bracket.

If Arsenal top their group, they will be among the four winners that will join the six top-ranked countries’ runner-ups in Round 2. These teams are:

The qualifying round is conducted in a home-and-away format, with the seeded teams playing against unseeded teams.

At this stage, Arsenal will not face Manchester United; instead, they would meet one of the four teams with the lowest coefficient in the League path.

This means they would avoid Wolfsburg, Paris SG, Real Madrid, and potentially Juventus, should they progress past Round 1.

Here are the key dates for the 2023/24 season:

Preliminary round (if needed) Draw: 30 June, Nyon (provisional) First leg: 26/27 July Second leg: 2/3 August

Round 1 (one-venue mini-tournaments) Draw: 30 June, Nyon (provisional) Semi-finals: 6 September Final/third-place play-off: 9 September

Round 2 Draw: 15 September, Nyon (provisional) First leg: 10/11 October Second leg: 18/19 October

Group stage Draw: 20 October, Nyon (provisional) Matchday 1: 14/15 November Matchday 2: 22/23 November Matchday 3: 13/14 December Matchday 4: 20/21 December Matchday 5: 24/25 January Matchday 6: 30/31 January

The FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023, taking place in Australia/New Zealand, concludes on 20 August. Consequently, playing Qualifying Round 1 just 17 days after the final could result in players who reach the World Cup semi-finals having little to no break at all.

This could significantly increase the risk of injury during the season.