By Craig Edwards
The First Round draw in this season’s UEFA Women’s Champions League draw takes place this Friday with Glasgow City one of the seeded teams in the League Path.
City are one of 16 teams in this section of the draw with the draw itself beginning at 12pm UK time.
Here is all the information you need to know and remember to follow all the events in Nyon on our social channels including fixture information following the draw.
DRAW PROCEDURE
The 16 teams in the League Path have been split into two different pots based on the clubs UEFA co-efficient as follows:
Seeded:
Manchester City (ENG)
Glasgow City (SCO)
Fortuna Hjorring (DEN)
Real Madrid (ESP)
FC Minsk (BLR)
Ajax (NED)
Breidablik (ISL)
Paris FC (FRA)
Unseeded:
Eintracht Frankfurt (GER)
Servette (SUI)
Kristianstads DFF (SWE)
Slovacko (CZE)
Sturm Graz (AUT)
Rosenborg (NOR)
AS Roma (ITA)
Tomiris-Turan (KAZ)
The 16 teams will then be drawn into four different groups with each group featuring two seeded teams and two unseeded teams. The first drawn seeded team will face the first drawn unseeded team in the first semi final with the other seeded and unseeded team in the group playing each other in the second semi final.
The winners of each semi final will progress to the final with the side that has the best coefficient being classed as the designated home team. The two losing semi finalists play in a third place playoff. The four matches in the group will be played in one location to be determined after the draw.
POTENTIAL SEMI FINAL OPPONENTS
EINTRACHT FRANKFURT
Eintracht Frankfurt, better known as their former name FFC Frankfurt, are four time winners of the UEFA Women’s Champions League.
Following a merger in 2020, they became Eintracht Frankfurt and beat Turbine Potsdam by three points to finish third in the Frauen Bundesliga last season to qualify for this season’s UWCL.
The seven time German champions are also four time UWCL champions and last won the competition in 2015, when they beat Paris Saint-Germain in Berlin but haven’t played in Europe since they were beaten in the 2016 semi-final by fellow German side, VfL Wolfsburg.
Glasgow City have faced Frankfurt before back in 2008 which the German side won 3-1. City have faced German opposition six times, most recently the 2020 Quarter Final against VfL Wolfsburg.
SERVETTE FCCF
Servette is a name that is known to City fans following our encounter in last season’s UEFA Women’s Champions League.
The Swiss side won 3-2 on aggregate to reach the group stage where they finished bottom of a tough group featuring Chelsea, Juventus and VfL Wolfsburg. The Swiss side reached the Round of 32 the year before where they were knocked out by Atletico Madrid.
Servette won their one and only Swiss league title in 2020-21 and were runners-up last season after losing the Playoff Final to FC Zurich on penalties despite winning the regular season.
A semi final against Servette would be the fifth time City have played Swiss opposition with the two encounters against Servette along with the two matches against FC Zurich in 2014.
KRISTIANSTADS DFF
It will be a second season of European football for Kristianstads DFF following a second consecutive third placed finish in the Damallsvenskan.
Kirstianstads, like City, was formed in 1998 when they merged with Wä DFF and won promotion to the top flight of Swedish football in 2008 and experienced European football for the first time last season where they beat Brondby before losing to Bordeaux.
City have only met one Swedish side in the past when Eskilstuna United prevailed over two legs back in 2016.
STURM GRAZ
Strum Graz return to the UEFA Women’s Champions League after a two year absence following a fourth runners-up finish in last season’s OFB-Frauenliga.
The Austrian side have had three previous European campaigns before with the furthest they have reached being the Round of 32 in 2016, when they were beaten 9-0 on aggregate by FC Zurich.
Glasgow City have never faced Austrian opposition in a competitive fixture.
SLOVACKO
Slovacko feature in the UWCL for a second consecutive season following their third placed finish in the Czech Women’s First League behind both Prague sides.
The Czech side made their debut in the Champions League last season where they suffered narrow defeats to Bordeaux and Brondby.
City have never beaten Czech opposition in two attempts with Sparta Praha winning both legs of the Round of 32 encounter back in 2020.
ROSENBORG
Formerly known as Trondheims-Orn, Rosenborg are one of the most successful teams in Norway having won the Toppserien a joint record seven times.
Last season saw them return to the UWCL for the first time since 2005 having previously reached the semi-finals of the then called UEFA Women’s Cup. An extra time defeat from Levante denied them a place in the Second Round of last season’s competition.
Glasgow City have met Norwegian opposition once back in 2009 when Rachel Corsie scored in a 6-1 defeat for City against Roa.
AS ROMA
AS Roma will make their UEFA Women’s Champions League debut this season following their best ever finish of second place in Serie A.
The Italian side won their first major honour when they won the Coppa Italia in 2020-21 after a penalty shoot out victory over AC Milan and followed it up with their best finish in the league last season.
A meeting with AS Roma would be Glasgow City’s first competitive fixture against an Italian side
TOMIRIS-TURAN
Tomiris-Turan will feature in a European competition for the first time in their history following a second placed finish in the Kazakhstani Women’s Football Championship.
They beat Okzhetpes to second place and a place in Europe by a solitary point
Glasgow City have faced opposition before from Kazakhstan including last season when Priscila Chinchilla scored the only goal in a 1-0 victory over BIIK-Shymkent.