2025/26 Women's Champions League and new UEFA women's club competition: Dates, access list, full guide

The 2025/26 UEFA Women's Champions League will be the first season under a new format with an expanded entry and an 18-team league phase replacing the old group stage.

• Provisional access list: Who enters and when
• 2025/26 UEFA Women's Football Calendar
• New format from 2025/26

2025/26 UEFA Women's Champions League match dates

First qualifying round (one-venue mini-tournaments)

Draw: 16 June, Nyon (date TBC)
Semi-finals: 30 July
Final/third-place play-off: 2 August

Second qualifying round (one-venue mini-tournaments)

Draw: 16 June, Nyon (date TBC)
Semi-finals: 27 August
Final/third-place play-off: 30 August

Third qualifying round

Draw: 31 August, Nyon (date TBC)
First leg: 11 September
Second leg: 18 September

League phase

Draw: 19 September, Nyon (date TBC)
Matchday 1: 7/8 October
Matchday 2: 15/16 October
Matchday 3: 11/12 November
Matchday 4: 19/20 November
Matchday 5: 9/10 December
Matchday 6: 17 December

Knockout phase play-offs

Draw: 18 December, Nyon (date TBC)
First leg: 11/12 February
Second leg: 18/19 February

Quarter-finals

Draw: 18 December, Nyon (date TBC)
First leg: 24/25 March
Second leg: 1/2 April

Semi-finals

Draw: 18 December, Nyon (date TBC)
First leg: 25/26 April
Second leg: 2/3 May

Final (Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo)

22, 23 or 24 May tbc

2025/26 second UEFA women's club competition match dates

First qualifying round

Draw: Date TBC
First leg: 10/11 September
Second leg: 17/18 September

Second qualifying round

Draw: 19 September, Nyon (date TBC)
First leg: 7/8 October
Second leg: 15/16 October

Round of 16

Draw: 19 September, Nyon (date TBC)
First leg: 11/12 November
Second leg: 19/20 November

Quarter-finals

Draw: 19 September, Nyon (date TBC)
First leg: 11/12 February
Second leg: 18/19 February

Semi-finals

Draw: 19 September, Nyon (date TBC)
First leg: 24/25 March
Second leg: 1/2 April

Final (two legs)

Draw (to decide order of ties): 19 September, Nyon (date TBC)
First leg: 25 or 26 April
Second leg: 2 or 3 May

How will the UEFA Women's Champions League format look from the 2025/26 season?

Under the new format, teams will no longer play three opponents twice – home and away – but will instead face fixtures against six different teams in the league stage, playing half of those matches at home and half of them away.

To determine the six different opponents, the teams will be ranked in three seeding pots based on their latest club coefficient ranking. To ensure a balanced level of opposition for all and a balanced calendar, each team will then be drawn to play two opponents from each of these pots, playing one match against a team from each pot at home, and one away.

The results of each match will decide the overall ranking in the new league, with three points for a win, one for a draw and none for a defeat. The new format, with all the teams ranked together in a single league, will mean that there is more to play for all the way through to the final night of the league phase where all the matches will kick off at the same time.

The top four sides in the league will qualify automatically for the quarter-finals, while the teams finishing in 5th to 12th place will compete in a two-legged knock-out phase play-off to secure their path to the last eight. Teams ranked 13 to 18 will be eliminated.

The four clubs which prevail in the knockout phase play-offs will then progress to the quarter-finals, where they will each face one of the top-four finishers, who will be seeded and will play the second leg of the quarter-final at home.

From the quarter-finals onwards, the competition will follow its existing format of knockout rounds leading to the final staged at a neutral venue selected by UEFA.

Who will qualify for the new UEFA Women's Champions League league phase and how will the format work?

From the 2025/26 season, 18 teams will compete in the league stage, two more than presently take part in the group stage format.

In addition to the previous season's Women's Champions League winner, and the domestic champions of the three top-ranked national associations, who qualify directly in the current format, the champions of associations ranked 4–6 and the runners-up of associations 1 and 2 will access the league stage directly.

For 2025/26, that means the champions and runners-up of France and Germany will have direct berths in the league stage, along with the champions of Spain, England, Portugal and Italy.

Four more teams will join via the Champions qualifying path and five from the League qualifying path, which is extended to include two new teams: the runners-up of the association ranked 17 and the third-placed team from the seventh-ranked association for the first time.

The reformed access list, while guaranteeing participation in the league stage for an increased number of teams will also mean that eight teams play two fewer qualifying matches.

How does the new second competition work?

Thirteen teams, the third-placed teams in the domestic league from associations ranked 8–13 and the runners-up of associations ranked 18–24, will enter the competition directly while a feeding system from the Women's Champions League will see the new competition offer a second chance to the clubs eliminated in the third qualifying round as well as the runners-up and third-placed teams from the second qualifying round tournaments.

The second competition will be a straight knockout, played in parallel to the Women's Champions League. It will feature a total of six rounds, the first and second qualifying rounds, and the round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final, all of which will be played over two legs (home and away).

The winners will automatically qualify for the third qualifying round of the champions path of the next season's Women's Champions League, with one round to negotiate for a place in the league stage.