2021–22 UEFA Women's Champions League qualifying rounds explained

The 2021–22 UEFA Women's Champions League qualifying rounds began on 17 August and ended on 9 September 2021.[1]

A total of 68 teams competed in the group stage qualifying rounds of the 2021–22 UEFA Women's Champions League, which includes two rounds, with 46 teams in the Champions Path and 22 teams in the League Path. The 12 winners in the round 2 (seven from Champions Path, five from League Path) advanced to the group stage, to join the four teams that entered in that round.[2]

Times are CEST (UTC+2), as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).

Teams

Champions Path

The Champions Path included all league champions which did not qualify directly for the group stage, and consisted of the following rounds:

Below are the participating teams of the Champions Path (with their 2021 UEFA club coefficients),[3] grouped by their starting rounds.

Round 2
width=200Teamwidth=50
Sparta Prague35.300
BK Häcken16.100
Køge6.900
Round 1
width=200Teamwidth=50
BIIK Kazygurt36.700
Glasgow City33.600
St. Pölten28.000
Twente20.000
Gintra Universitetas18.600
Spartak Subotica17.400
Breiðablik17.000
Juventus15.200
SFK 200014.400
Apollon Limassol14.200
Olimpia Cluj12.000
Vllaznia10.800
Anderlecht10.300
Vålerenga9.800
Zhytlobud-1 Kharkiv9.100
Ferencváros8.300
Servette Chênois7.600
Pomurje7.400
PAOK7.000
Osijek6.400
Benfica5.600
CSKA Moscow5.500
NSA Sofia5.400
Slovan Bratislava5.000
Mitrovica5.000
Breznica Pljevlja4.800
Dinamo-BGU Minsk4.200
3.600
Beşiktaş3.500
Flora2.900
Czarni Sosnowiec2.900
Peamount United2.300
Kiryat Gat2.000
Swansea City1.900
Birkirkara1.800
Åland United1.700
Agarista Anenii Noi1.300
Rīgas FS1.200
Kamenica Sasa1.200
Racing FC1.200
Tbilisi Nike0.600
Glentoran0.400
Hayasa0.200

League Path

The League Path includes all league non-champions and consists of the following rounds:

Below are the participating teams of the League Path (with their 2021 UEFA club coefficients),[3] grouped by their starting rounds.

Round 2
width=200Teamwidth=50
Lyon124.400
VfL Wolfsburg97.100
Manchester City79.700
Slavia Prague52.300
Rosengård49.100
Real Madrid12.800
Round 1
width=200Teamwidth=50
Brøndby IF41.900
Zürich30.600
Arsenal27.700
FC Minsk25.200
Bordeaux18.400
1899 Hoffenheim15.100
Levante12.800
PSV9.000
Kristianstad8.100
Slovácko7.300
Valur7.000
Okzhetpes6.700
Milan5.200
Rosenborg4.800
Celtic4.600
Lokomotiv Moscow3.500

Format

Round 1 consisted of mini-tournaments with two semi-finals, a final and a third-place play-off hosted by one of the participating teams. If the score was level at the end of normal time, extra time was played, and if the same number of goals were scored by both teams during extra time, the tie was decided by a penalty shoot-out. Round 2 was played over two legs, with each team playing one leg at home. The team that scored more goals on aggregate over the two legs advance to the next round. If the aggregate score was level at the end of normal time of the second leg, the away goals rule was no longer applied starting from this season.[4] To decide the winner of the tie, extra time was played, and if the same number of goals were scored by both teams at the end of normal time, the tie was decided by a penalty shoot-out. An additional preliminary round consisting of two-legged home-and-away matches would have been played by the champions from the lowest-ranked associations if more than 50 associations had entered the tournament and the title holders hadn't qualified through league position. Since only 50 associations entered, this round was skipped.

In the draws for each round, teams were seeded based on their UEFA club coefficients at the beginning of the season, with the teams divided into seeded and unseeded pots containing the same number of teams. Prior to the draws, UEFA may form "groups" in accordance with the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee, but they are purely for convenience of the draw and do not resemble any real groupings in the sense of the competition. Teams from associations with political conflicts as decided by UEFA may not be drawn into the same tie. After the draws, the order of legs of a tie could have been reversed by UEFA due to scheduling or venue conflicts.

Schedule

The schedule of the competition is as follows (all draws are held at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland).

RoundDraw dateFirst legSecond leg
Round 12 July 202117–18 August 2021 (semi-finals)20–21 August 2021 (third-place play-off & final)
Round 222 August 202131 August – 1 September 20218–9 September 2021

Round 1

The draw for Round 1 was held on 2 July 2021, 13:00 CEST.[5] The hosts of each tournament were selected after the draw. The semi-finals were played on 17 and 18 August, and the third-place play-offs and finals on 20 and 21 August 2021. The winners of the finals advanced to round 2.

Seeding

A total of 59 teams played in Round 1. They were divided into two paths:

  • Champions Path (43 teams): 43 teams which entered in this round.
  • League Path (16 teams): 16 teams which entered in this round.

Seeding of teams for the semi-final round was based on their 2021 UEFA club coefficients,[3] with 22 seeded teams and 21 unseeded teams in the Champions Path, and 8 seeded teams and 8 unseeded teams in the League Path. Teams were drawn into two semi-finals within each four team group and, for the group with three teams, the team with the highest coefficient was given a bye to the final. In the semi-finals, seeded teams would be considered the "home" team for administrative purposes, while in the third-place play-offs and finals, the teams with the highest coefficients would be considered the "home" team for administrative purposes. Due to political reasons, teams from the following associations could not be drawn into the same group: Kosovo / Bosnia and Herzegovina; Kosovo / Serbia; Kosovo / Russia; Ukraine / Russia.

Champions Path
width=50%Seededwidth=50%Unseeded
valign=topvalign=top
League Path
width=50%Seededwidth=50%Unseeded
valign=topvalign=top

Champions Path

Tournament 1

Bracket

Hosted by Gintra Universitetas.

Semi-finals

----

Final

Tournament 2

Bracket

Hosted by Glasgow City.

Semi-finals

----

Final

Tournament 3

Bracket

Hosted by Osijek.

Semi-finals

----

Final

Tournament 4

Bracket

Hosted by SFK 2000.

Semi-finals

----

Final

Tournament 5

Bracket

Hosted by Åland United.

Semi-finals

----

Final

Tournament 6

Bracket

Hosted by Apollon Limassol.

Semi-finals

----

Final

Tournament 7

Bracket

Hosted by PAOK.

Semi-finals

----

Final

Tournament 8

Bracket

Hosted by Juventus.

Semi-finals

----

Final

Tournament 9

Bracket

Hosted by Twente.

The third place play-off between Peamount United and Tbilisi Nike was cancelled following a decision taken by the Dutch health authorities to put the whole team of Tbilisi Nike into quarantine after a player had tested positive for COVID-19. The result of the match was awarded by UEFA as a walkover for Peamount United.

Semi-finals

----

Final

Tournament 10

Bracket

Hosted by Pomurje.

Semi-finals

----

Final

Tournament 11

Bracket

Hosted by Czarni Sosnowiec.

Final

League Path

Tournament 1

Bracket

Hosted by Zürich.

Semi-finals

----

Final

Tournament 2

Bracket

Hosted by Kristianstad.

Semi-finals

----

Final

Tournament 3

Bracket

Hosted by Rosenborg.

Semi-finals

----

Final

Tournament 4

Bracket

Hosted by Lokomotiv Moscow.

Semi-finals

----

Final

Round 2

The draw for Round 2 was held on 22 August 2021, 13:00 CEST.[6]

Seeding

A total of 24 teams play in Round 2. They were divided into two paths:

  • Champions Path (14 teams): 3 teams which entered in this round, and 11 winners of Round 1 (Champions Path).
  • League Path (10 teams): 6 teams which entered in this round, and 4 winners of Round 1 (League Path).

Seeding of teams was based on their 2021 UEFA club coefficients,[3] with 7 seeded teams and 7 unseeded teams in the Champions Path, and 5 seeded teams and 5 unseeded teams in the League Path. Teams from the same association in the League Path could not be drawn against each other. The first team drawn in each tie would be the home team of the first leg.

Champions Path
width=50%Seededwidth=50%Unseeded
valign=topvalign=top
League Path
width=50%Seededwidth=50%Unseeded
valign=topvalign=top

Summary

The first legs were played on 31 August and 1 September, and the second legs on 8 and 9 September 2021.

The winners of the ties will advance to the group stage.

|+Champions Path|}|+League Path|}

Champions Path

Køge won 3–0 on aggregate.----Breiðablik won 4–1 on aggregate.----Juventus won 3–0 on aggregate. ----Benfica won 5–1 on aggregate.----Zhytlobud-1 Kharkiv won 5–2 on aggregate.----Servette Chênois won 3–2 on aggregate.----BK Häcken won 6–3 on aggregate.

League Path

Lyon won 4–2 on aggregate.----Arsenal won 7–0 on aggregate.----Real Madrid won 2–1 on aggregate.----5–5 on aggregate. VfL Wolfsburg won after penalties.----1899 Hoffenheim won 6–3 on aggregate.

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 16 May 2021. 2021/22 Women’s Champions League: dates, access list, full guide. 1 July 2021. UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations.
  2. Web site: Regulations of the UEFA Women's Champions League. 1 July 2021. UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations.
  3. Web site: Club coefficients . UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations . 20 May 2021 . 2 July 2021.
  4. Web site: Abolition of the away goals rule in all UEFA club competitions. UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations. 24 June 2021.
  5. Web site: Women's Champions League round 1 draw. 2 July 2021. UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations.
  6. Web site: Women's Champions League round 2 draw. 22 August 2021. UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations.