Greg . 2 days ago

European women's club football: a look at the Champions League's new format

Less than 72 hours after England beaten Spain at the UEFA Women's Euros, continental club football recommenced with the first qualifying round of a new-look UEFA Women's Champions League.

Eighteen teams took to the pitch on Wednesday as the first qualifying round mini-tournaments obtained underway.

The nine winners from the day progress to Saturday's finals, where a further three clubs are engaged.

This is just the first of three qualifying rounds in what is a new-look UEFA Women's Champions League.

The first of a four-year cycle, the competition has been given something of a makeover.

 Here is the lowdown on a new era of women's club football in Europe.

Women's Champions League follows men with league phaseThe major change in the Women's Champions League is the introduction of a new league phase.

In the previous cycle, a 16-team group stage started the main round of the competition.

That has now made way for a league phase with 18 teams.

This mirrors the men's club competitions, which switched to this format at the start of last season.

It has been largely well-received, and now women's football's premier club competition adopts the format.

Before the league phase, there are three rounds of qualifying.

The first and second qualifying rounds are conducted in mini-tournaments, which contain three or four teams.

There is a domestic champions path - dedicated for league winners - and a league path for runners-up and third-place teams from some of the top leagues.

At the terminate of qualification, four sides from the champions path and five from the league path join nine direct entrants in the league phase.

Among the nine sides to automatically qualify are the defending champions, Arsenal, along with six league winners and the second-place teams from the two best-ranked nations.

For the group phase, the 18 clubs will play six different opponents - three at home, and three on the road.

They will be split into three pots of six teams - decided by club coefficient - where everyone will confront two sides from each pot (one home and one away game).

 At the conclusion of this portion of the competition, the top four teams will qualify directly for the quarter-finals.

The sides that complete between fifth and 12th will join the knockout round playoffs, while the bottom six teams are removed.

After the knockout playoffs, the tournament will continue the same way as in previous years.

That is not the only significant change to women's club football, as there is now a second club competition.

 Cup-style tournament makes an introductionSay hello to the UEFA Women's Europa Cup, the new tournament.

As the name suggests, it is a cup competition with six rounds, all of which contain two-legged ties.

That includes the final, where both legs will occur on a weekend.

This was created in large part to expand the number of matches in Europe for clubs removed in UWCL qualifying.

After all, 31 of the 44 teams to partake in the tournament will come from the Champions League.

There are two rounds of qualifying in the Women's Europa Cup.

The first round will contain the 13 direct entrants, hailing from some of Europe's mid-tier leagues.

Joining them will be the third-place sides from the UWCL second qualifying round mini-tournaments.

 The second qualifying round sees the winners from the previous round join alongside the UWCL second qualifying round runners-up, as well as the losing teams from the third qualifying round.

After this, it will be a 16-team, straight knockout phase.

A bracket will be created, using the club coefficient to seed the sides.

 Winning the Women's Europa Cup will provide a team direct access to the UWCL third qualifying round, Champions Path.

They may, however, qualify for the league phase directly via their domestic league, and/or if the Women's Champions League titleholder has already acquired a spot in the competition through their league performance.

The very first matches of the UWEC will occur in September, following the UWCL second qualifying round mini-tournaments.