Women's Champions League round 1: Ajax beat Frankfurt; Roma, Real Madrid, Juventus and Rangers among others through

The 2022/23 UEFA Women's Champions League began with round 1, and in Sunday's finals Ajax dramatically knocked out four-time winners Eintracht Frankfurt and Real Madrid again eliminated Manchester City. Other victors included Benfica, Juventus and debutants Roma and Rangers.

Round 1 is one of two qualifying rounds before the 16-team group stage, which begins in October. Qualifying is split into two sections: the champions path and the league path. In both paths, round 1 consists of two stages, each of one-off knockout matches played in single-venue mini-tournaments, mostly involving four teams but in two cases three, with the top seeds in those three-team mini-tournaments given byes to the final.

The winners of each final (11 in the champions path, four in the league path) advance to join the teams entering in round 2 (drawn on 1 September and played over two legs later that month). In round 2, 24 teams will compete for the last 12 slots in the group stage alongside holders Lyon and fellow direct entrants Barcelona, Chelsea and Wolfsburg.

Round 1 final summary

Ajax celebrate beating FrankfurtAFC Ajax

• Last season Madrid, on debut, beat two-time semi-finalists Man City in round 2 on their way to the last eight and they knocked the English side out again today. The goal came from Caroline Weir, who left City for Madrid in the summer.
• A last-gasp bicycle-kick volley from substitute Eshly Bakker gave Ajax victory over four-time winners Frankfurt.
• Among other winners, Juventus got to the quarter-finals last season and Benfica also reached the group stage.
• Sarajevo continue a run in which they are setting a new outright record of 20 straight appearances.
• Former quarter-finalists Valur progressed.
• Through on debut: Brann (known until 2021 as Sandviken), KuPS Kuopio (who equalised in the last minute of extra time then beat Anderlecht on penalties), Rangers, Roma (who also won on penalties, against Paris FC).

Round 1 semi-final summary

• Frankfurt knocked out 2003 runners-up Fortuna Hjørring.
• Real Madrid and Man City set up a rematch of their dramatic round 2 encounter last season, when the Spanish debutants knocked out the two-time semi-finalists and eventually reached the quarters.
• Another of last season's quarter-finalists, Juventus, also progressed.
• Benfica, who reached last season's group stage, are through but Breidablik and Servette will not return this time after losing to Rosenborg and Paris FC respectively.
• FIFA Women's World Cup winner and three-time Olympic gold medallist Heather O'Reilly has come out of retirement to play for Shelbourne, and got their winner against Pomurje in the fourth minute of her European debut at age 37.
• Twente's Fenna Kalma, who managed seven goals across two games in round 1 last season, got six on Thursday and has scored 23 in her 13 European appearances.
• KÍ Klaksvík and Sarajevo set a new record of 20 appearances (including the pre-2009 UEFA Women's Cup).
• Through on debut: Brann, KuPS, Rangers, Roma, Spartak Myjava.
• Another debutant, UKS SMS Łódź, had a 2-0 lead overturned by Anderlecht, who were 3-2 victors with a last-minute winner.
• Two-time quarter-finalists Glasgow City's loss to Roma meant in the third-place play-off in their group they met Servette, who beat them to the group stage in last season's round 2, and defeated the Scottish side again on Sunday.

League path results

• Sixteen teams entered at this stage: the runners-up from the associations ranked seventh to 16th and the third-placed teams from the associations ranked first to sixth.
• They competed in four knockout mini-tournaments of four teams each.
• The winners of the four finals progress to round 2, into which six teams have direct entry. Five group stage places will be on offer in round 2.

Group 1 (hosts Glasgow City)

21 August:
Final
Paris FC 0-0 Roma (aet, 4-5 pens)
Third-place match
Servette FCCF 1-0 Glasgow City 

18 August:
Semi-finals
Paris FC 3-0 Servette FCCF
Glasgow City 1-3 Roma

Group 2 (hosts Rosenborg)

21 August:
Final 
FC Minsk 0-1 Rosenborg
Third-place match
Slovácko 0-3 Breidablik 

18 August:
Semi-finals
FC Minsk 2-1 Slovácko
Breidablik 2-4 Rosenborg 

Group 3 (hosts Fortuna Hjørring)

21 August:
Final 
Ajax 2-1 Eintracht Frankfurt 
Third-place match
Fortuna Hjørring 2-3 Kristianstad (aet)

18 August:
Semi-finals
Ajax 3-1 Kristianstad
Fortuna Hjørring 0-2 Eintracht Frankfurt 

Manchester City, boasting several Women's EURO 2022 winners, were knocked out again by MadridGetty Images

Group 4 (hosts Real Madrid)

21 August:
Final 
Manchester City 0-1 Real Madrid 
Third-place match
Sturm Graz 5-1 Tomiris-Turan 

18 August:
Semi-finals
Manchester City 6-0 Tomiris-Turan
Real Madrid 6-0 Sturm Graz 

Champions path results

• Forty-two teams entered at this stage: the champions of the associations ranked eighth and below.
• They competed in 11 knockout mini-tournaments: nine with four teams and two with three teams.
• The winners of the 11 finals progress to round 2, into which three teams have direct entry. Seven group stage places will be on offer in round 2.

Group 1 (hosts Pomurje)

21 August:
Final 
Valur 3-0 Shelbourne 
Third-place match 
Pomurje 2-1 Hayasa

18 August:
Semi-finals
Valur 2-0 Hayasa
Pomurje 0-1 Shelbourne 

Group 2 (hosts PAOK)

21 August:
Final
PAOK 0-4 Rangers 
Third-place match
Swansea City 0-7 Ferencváros

18 August:
Semi-finals
PAOK 2-0 Swansea City 
Ferencváros 1-3 Rangers 

Two wins in Greece took debutants Rangers into round 2Rangers

Group 3 (hosts Split)

21 August:
Final 
BIIK-Shymkent 0-2 Vorskla-Kharkiv-2
Third-place match 
Lanchkhuti 0-2 Split

18 August:
Semi-finals
Vorskla-Kharkiv-2 5-0 Lanchkhuti
BIIK-Shymkent 5-1 Split

Group 4 (hosts Apollon)

21 August:
Final 
Zürich 1-0 Apollon LFC
Third-place match 
KÍ Klaksvík 1-2 SFK Rīga (aet)

18 August:
Semi-finals
Apollon LFC 3-0 SFK Rīga
Zürich 6-0 KÍ Klaksvík

Group 5 (hosts Łódź)

21 August:
Final 
Anderlecht 2-2 KuPS Kuopio (aet, 3-4 pens) 
Third-place match
Gintra 0-1 UKS SMS Łódź

18 August:
Semi-finals
Gintra 0-2 KuPS Kuopio
Anderlecht 3-2 UKS SMS Łódź 

Finland's KuPS Kuopio won their debut European match then beat Anderlecht on penaltiesArtur Kraszewwski

Group 6 (hosts Juventus)

21 August:
Final 
Juventus 3-1 Qiryat Gat
Third-place match
Flora Tallinn 1-3 Racing Union 

18 August:
Semi-finals
Flora Tallinn 0-5 Qiryat Gat
Juventus 4-0 Racing Union 

Group 7 (hosts Universitatea Olimpia Cluj)

21 August:
Final 
SFK 2000 Sarajevo 2-1 Universitatea Olimpia Cluj
Third-place match
Birkirkara 2-1 Glentoran

18 August:
Semi-finals
SFK 2000 Sarajevo 4-0 Birkirkara 
Universitatea Olimpia Cluj 0-0 Glentoran (aet, 4-2 pens)

Sarajevo won as they became the first team to play in 20 consecutive UEFA women's club seasonsAzra Numanović/SFK 2000 Sarajevo

Group 8 (hosts Twente)

21 August:
Final 
Twente 1-2 Benfica
Third-place match
Anenii Noi 0-7 Hajvalia

18 August:
Semi-finals
Benfica 9-0 Hajvalia 
Twente 13-0 Anenii Noi 

Group 9 (hosts Ljuboten)

21 August:
Final
St Pölten 3-0 Dinamo-BSUPC
Third-place match 
Lokomotiv Stara Zagora 5-1 Ljuboten

18 August:
Semi-finals
Dinamo-BSUPC 5-0 Lokomotiv Stara Zagora
St Pölten 7-0 Ljuboten

Group 10 (hosts Breznica Pljevlja)

21 August:
Final
Vllaznia 1-0 Spartak Myjava

18 August:
Semi-final
Breznica 2-3 Spartak Myjava

Group 11 (hosts Spartak Subotica)

21 August:
Final
Spartak Subotica 1-3 Brann 

18 August:
Brann 1-0 ALG Spor

• Sarajevo's new outright record of 20 straight appearances came as Brøndby missed out for the first time since they made their debut in the third edition of the UEFA Women's Cup in 2003/04.

• Eintracht Frankfurt won four titles under their previous guise of FFC Frankfurt. Fortuna Hjørring were runners-up in 2002/03.

• Debuts: Brann (known until 2021 as Sandviken), KuPS, Ljuboten, Lokomotiv Stara Zagora, Rangers, Roma, Spartak Myjava, Tomiris-Turan, UKS SMS Łódź.

• Paris FC previously entered as Juvisy, reaching the 2012/13 semi-finals.

• Man City have twice made the last four.

Season calendar

Round 2 draw
13:00 CET, 1 September, Nyon

Round 2
First leg: 20/21 September
Second leg: 28/29 September

Group stage draw
13:00 CET, 3 October, Nyon

Group stage
Matchday 1: 19/20 October
Matchday 2: 26/27 October
Matchday 3: 23/24 November
Matchday 4: 7/8 December
Matchday 5: 15/16 December
Matchday 6: 21/22 December

Quarter-final & semi-final draw
13:00 CET, 20 January, Nyon

Quarter-finals
First leg: 21/22 March
Second leg: 29/30 March

Semi-finals
First leg: 22/23 April
Second leg: 29/30 April

Final (PSV Stadion, Eindhoven)
3 or 4 June tbc