Meet the UEFA Women's Champions League group contenders

Sixteen teams will take part in the UEFA Women's Champions League group stage, with the draw now made.

Holders Lyon and fellow direct entrants Wolfsburg, Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain are joined by the 12 round 2 winners. Fixtures run between 19 October and 22 December.

We introduce the contenders that will compete in the four groups.

Group A

Chelsea (ENG)

UEFA coefficient ranking (end of 2021/22): 6
How they qualified: English champions
Last season: Group stage
Domestic honours: 5 x League champions, 4 x Cup winners
Previous European best: Runners-up (2020/21)

• Went out in a three-way head-to-head goal difference tie-break behind Wolfsburg and Juventus in last season's group stage.

Paris Saint-Germain (FRA)

UEFA coefficient ranking (end of 2021/22): 4
How they qualified: French runners-up; W4-1agg vs Häcken
Last season: Semi-finals
Domestic honours: 1 x League champions, 3 x Cup winners
Previous European best: Runners-up (2014/15, 2016/17)

• Scored 25 goals without reply in their six group wins last season.

Real Madrid (ESP)

UEFA coefficient ranking (end of 2021/22): 22
How they qualified: Third place, Spain; W6-0 vs Sturm Graz, W1-0 vs Manchester City, W5-1agg vs Rosenborg
Last season: Quarter-finals
Domestic honours: Best league finish – 2nd place
Previous European best: Quarter-finals (2021/22)

• Got to the last eight on debut last season, the first team to do so since Man City, who Madrid have now knocked out in both their European campaigns.

Vllaznia (ALB)

UEFA coefficient ranking (end of 2021/22): 35
How they qualified: Albanian champions; W1-0 vs Spartak Myjava, W3-2agg vs Vorskla-Kharkiv-2
Last season: Round 2
Domestic honours: 9 x League champions, 9 x Cup winners
Previous European best: Round of 32 (2019/20)

• First Albanian club to reach the last 16 of any UEFA competition since KF Tirana in the 1989/90 men's European Cup.

Group B

Wolfsburg (GER)

UEFA coefficient ranking (end of 2021/22): 3
How they qualified: German champions
Last season: Semi-finals
Domestic honours: 7 x League champions, 9 x Cup winners
Previous European best: Winners (2012/13, 2013/14)

• Have reached at least the quarter-finals in all ten seasons since their 2012/13 debut, but are without a title since winning in their first two campaigns.

Slavia Praha (CZE)

UEFA coefficient ranking (end of 2021/22): 8
How they qualified: Czech champions; W1-0agg vs Valur
Last season: Round 2
Domestic honours: 19 x League champions (inc Czechoslovakia), 3 x Cup winners
Previous European best: Quarter-finals (2015/16, 2017/18, 2018/19)

• First Czech team to make the new group stage after missing out against Arsenal in round 2 last season.

St. Pölten (AUT)

UEFA coefficient ranking (end of 2021/22): 23
How they qualified: Austrian champions; W7-0 vs Ljuboten, W3-0 vs Dinamo-BSUPC, W3-2agg (aet) vs KuPS Kuopio
Last season: Round 1 final
Domestic honours: 7 x League champions, 8 x Cup winners
Previous European best: Round of 16 (2020/21)

• Had fallen at the round of 32 six times before making the last 16 two seasons ago; now Austria's first group representatives.

Roma (ITA)

UEFA coefficient ranking (end of 2021/22): N/A
How they qualified: Italian runners-up; W3-1 vs Glasgow City, W0-0, 5-4pens vs Paris FC, W6-2agg vs Sparta Praha
Last season: Not in competition
Domestic honours: 1 x Cup winners
Previous European best: Debut season

• The only European debutants to make this season's group stage.

Group C

Lyon (FRA, holders) 

UEFA coefficient ranking (end of 2021/22): 1
How they qualified: Holders, French champions
Last season: Winners
Domestic honours: 15 x League champions, 9 x Cup winners
Previous European best: Winners x 8 (2010/11, 2011/12, 2015/16, 2016/17, 2017/18, 2018/19, 2019/20, 2021/22)

• Last season reached their record tenth final before dethroning Barcelona to claim an unmatched eighth title.

Arsenal (ENG)

UEFA coefficient ranking (end of 2021/22): 10
How they qualified: English runners-up; W3-2agg vs Ajax
Last season: Quarter-finals
Domestic honours: 15 x League champions, 14 x Cup winners
Previous European best: Winners (2006/07)

• Arsenal have reached a record 14 quarter-finals, in as many entries.

Juventus (ITA) 

UEFA coefficient ranking (end of 2021/22): 17
How they qualified: Italian champions; W4-0 vs Racing Union, W3-1 vs Qiryat Gat, W3-1agg vs HB Køge
Last season: Quarter-finals
Domestic honours: 5 x League champions, 2 x Cup winners
Previous European best: Quarter-finals (2021/22)

• Sara Björk Gunnarsdóttir's second-leg goal against HB Køge means she has now scored for five different clubs in Europe: Breidablik, Rosengård, Wolfsburg, Lyon and Juve, who she joined from the holders in the summer.

Zürich (SUI)

UEFA coefficient ranking (end of 2021/22): 26
How they qualified: Swiss champions; W6-0 vs KÍ, W1-0 vs Apollon LFC, W10-0agg vs SFK 2000 Sarajevo
Last season: Round 1 semi-finals
Domestic honours: 23 x League champions, 15 x Cup winners
Previous European best: Round of 16 (2013/14, 2014/15, 2016/17, 2018/19)

• Only Sparta Praha (33 in Czechoslovakia and Czechia) and Mašinac Niš (25 in Yugoslavia, Serbia & Montenegro and Serbia) have won more European women's domestic league titles.

Group D

Barcelona (ESP)

UEFA coefficient ranking (end of 2021/22): 2
How they qualified: Spanish champions
Last season: Runners-up
Domestic honours: 7 x League champions, 9 x Cup winners
Previous European best: Winners (2020/21)

• Reached three finals in four years and attracted two record-breaking 90,000+ crowds to their home knockout games at the Camp Nou last season.

Bayern München (GER)

UEFA coefficient ranking (end of 2021/22): 5
How they qualified: German runners-up; W4-1agg vs Real Sociedad
Last season: Quarter-finals
Domestic honours: 4 x League champions, 1 x Cup winners
Previous European best: Semi-finals (2018/19, 2020/21)

• Beat eventual winners Lyon 1-0 at home in the group stage last season and took Paris to extra time in the quarter-finals.

Rosengård (SWE)

UEFA coefficient ranking (end of 2021/22): 11
How they qualified: Swedish champions; W4-2agg vs Brann
Last season: Round 2
Domestic honours: 12 x League champions, 15 x Cup winners
Previous European best: Semi-finals (2003/04 as Malmö FF)

• Have reached six quarter-finals since 2011/12.

SL Benfica (POR)

UEFA coefficient ranking (end of 2021/22): 37
How they qualified: Portuguese champions; W9-0 vs Hajvalia, W2-1 vs Twente, W5-3agg (aet) vs Rangers
Last season: Group stage
Domestic honours: 2 x League champions, 1 x Cup winners
Previous European best: Group stage (2021/22)

• No Portuguese team had reached the last 16 in any format until last season; now Benfica have done so two seasons in a row.

Cup winners refers only to main FA national cup in each country.