European champion Barcelona gets Man City in group stage of Women's Champions League
Barcelona's Aitana Bonmati celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the women's Champions League final soccer match between FC Barcelona and Olympique Lyonnais at the San Mames stadium in Bilbao, Spain, Saturday, May 25, 2024. Credit: AP/Alvaro Barrientos
NYON, Switzerland — Two-time defending champion Barcelona will play Manchester City in a Women’s Champions League group after the 16-team draw on Friday.
Barcelona and Man City also will face St. Pölten and Hammarby in the traditional round-robin groups that start on Oct. 8.
Lyon, the record eight-time European champion, landed in a tough group with Wolfsburg, the titleholder in 2013 and ’14, Roma and debutant Galatasaray.
Juventus eliminated Paris Saint-Germain on Thursday in the second qualifying round and was drawn into a group with Bayern Munich, Arsenal and Vålerenga.
Chelsea was top-seeded in a group with Real Madrid, Twente and Celtic.
This is the final season of the group stage in the Women’s Champions League before it adopts the new single-standings format that the men’s competition changed to this season.
Games finish on Dec. 18 and the top two in each group advances to the knockout stage.
BK Hacken's Josefine Rybrink, bottom, challenges Arsenal's Stina Blackstenius during the UEFA Women's Champions League, Second Round Qualifying, Second Leg match at the Mangata Pay UK Stadium, Borehamwood, England, Thursday Sept. 26, 2024. Credit: AP/Andrew Matthews
Two-leg quarterfinals are in March, the semifinals are in April and the final is at Sporting Lisbon’s stadium on May 25.
The competition has a total prize money fund of at least 24 million euros ($26.8 million) with 11.4 million euros ($12.7 million) shared between the 16 group-stage clubs.
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