Women's Champions League: Vorskla and Kolos find out Round 1 matchups

05.07.2024 14:42

Today, Vorskla Poltava and Kolos Kovalivka learned their opponents in the UEFA Women's Champions League Round 1.

On July 5 in Nyon, Switzerland, the Round 1 draw of the Women's Champions League took place. In the 2024/2025 season, Ukraine will be represented by two teams in the tournament for only the second time — Vorskla Poltava, starting in the Champions Path Round 1, and Kolos Kovalivka, playing in the League Path Round 1.

Vorskla landed in Group 10, where they will face Latvian club RFS in the semifinals. The match will take place on September 4. If successful, in the final, the Poltava team will meet the winner of the match between Ferencváros (Hungary) and Flora (Estonia).

Kolos, in the Group 1 semifinals of the League Path, will play against Dutch club Ajax on September 4. If successful on September 7 in the final, the Ukrainian team will face the winner of the match between Brøndby (Denmark) and Fiorentina (Italy).

Women's Champions League. Round 1

Champions Path. Group 10

Semifinal. September 4, 2024

Vorskla (Ukraine) — RFS (Latvia)

Ferencváros (Hungary) — Flora (Estonia)

Final/match for 3rd place. September 7, 2024

League Path. Group 1

Semifinal. September 4, 2024

Ajax (Netherlands) — Kolos (Ukraine)

Brøndby (Denmark) — Fiorentina (Italy)

Final/match for 3rd place. September 7, 2024

The current format of the Women's Champions League is structured as follows.

Competition format

Round 1 is one of two qualifying rounds before the group stage featuring 16 teams, starting in October. These two rounds consist of two paths — the Champions Path and the League Path.

Round 1 in both paths consists of two stages, played as single matches: semifinals (September 4) and finals/matches for third place (September 7).

The winners of each final (11 in the Champions Path, 4 in the League Path) progress to Round 2, where 12 group stage participants will be determined. Bayern, Barcelona, Lyon, and Chelsea have automatic qualifications for this stage.

First round draw

Champions Path

This stage involves 43 clubs — champions of associations ranked eighth and below. Participants will be divided into 11 mini-tournaments, each with four teams except for one with three teams.

The winners of the 11 mini-tournaments advance to Round 2, joining three clubs (Roma, Slavia, and Hammarby) with direct qualifications. Seven slots for the group stage will be contested in Round 2.

League Path

This stage involves 16 teams — runners-up from associations ranked seventh to 16th and third-placed teams from associations ranked first to sixth. Participants will be divided into four mini-tournaments. Each mini-tournament will consist of four teams.

The winners of the four finals advance to Round 2, where six clubs (Wolfsburg, Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid, Hacken, and Juventus) have direct qualifications. Five slots for the group stage will be contested in Round 2.

Drawing procedure

In Round 1, clubs are seeded based on their club coefficients at the start of the season. In the Champions Path, clubs are divided into two pots — seeded (22 clubs) and unseeded (21 clubs).

In each group, clubs are distributed into two semifinal pairs, with teams from the seeded pot designated as nominal hosts of their matches. In matches for third place and in finals, the teams with the higher coefficients will be the nominal hosts.

In groups with three teams, the highest-seeded club automatically qualifies for the final. The other two clubs compete for a place in the final in a single match.

In the League Path, 16 clubs are divided into two pots — seeded (eight clubs) and unseeded (eight clubs). Teams from the seeded pot are considered hosts of the semifinals.

According to UEFA Executive Committee decisions at the time of the draw, clubs from the following associations cannot be placed in the same group: Armenia/Azerbaijan, Kosovo/Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo/Serbia, Ukraine/Belarus.

All Russian clubs are barred from participating in the Women's Champions League 2024/2025 season.

Round 1 (mini-tournaments)

Semifinals: September 4, 2024.
Final/match for 3rd place: September 7, 2024.

Round 2

First legs: September 18/19, 2024.
Second legs: September 25/26, 2024.

Group stage

Matchday 1: October 8/9, 2024.
Matchday 2: October 16/17, 2024.
Matchday 3: November 12/13, 2024.
Matchday 4: November 20/21, 2024.
Matchday 5: December 11/12, 2024.
Matchday 6: December 17/18, 2024.

Quarterfinals

First legs: March 18/19, 2025.
Second legs: March 26/27, 2025.

Semifinals

First legs: April 19/20, 2025.
Second legs: April 26/27, 2025.

Final (José Alvalade Stadium, Lisbon, Portugal)

May 23, 24, or 25, 2025.