Meet the UEFA Women's Champions League group contenders

Sixteen teams take part in the UEFA Women's Champions League group stage.

We introduce the contenders.

• Holders Barcelona are joined by fellow former champions Arsenal, Lyon and Wolfsburg.
• Chelsea are former runners-up, while Bayern and Man City are past semi-finalists. Juventus, Real Madrid and Roma have made the last eight.
• Barcelona, Bayern, Chelsea, Lyon and Real Madrid have reached the group stage in all four seasons since the round was introduced in 2021/22. Roma and St. Pölten are in for the third year in a row and Juventus and Wolfsburg for the third time overall.
• Celtic, Man City, Twente, Vålerenga and competition debutants Galatasaray and Hammarby are in the group stage for the first time under this format.
• Celtic and Galatasaray are the first teams from Scotland and Türkiye to reach the group stage. Other than debut pair Galatasaray and Hammarby, Celtic and Vålerenga are the only clubs who have never previously been among the last 16 in any format.
• England is the third nation to have three teams in a group stage after Germany (Wolfsburg, Bayern and Hoffenheim) in 2021/22 and France (Lyon, Paris Saint-Germain and Paris FC) in 2023/24. London has two teams (Arsenal and Chelsea) in the group stage for the third time after 2021/22 and 2022/23, emulated only by Paris in 2023/24.

All details correct as of start of group stage.

Group A

• Lyon and Wolfsburg have met in four finals, with OL losing in 2013 but winning in 2016, 2018 and 2020. Lyon also knocked out Wolfsburg in the 2016/17 and 2018/19 quarter-finals.
• Wolfsburg won at home and drew away to Roma in the 2022/23 group stage. Both went through in what was Roma's debut campaign.

Lyon (FRA)

UEFA coefficient ranking (end of 2023/24): 2
How they qualified: French champions
Last season: Runners-up
Domestic honours: 17 x League champions, 10 x Cup winners
Previous European best: Winners (2010/11, 2011/12, 2015/16, 2016/17, 2017/18, 2018/19, 2019/20, 2021/22)

• Lyon have reached an unmatched 11 finals in winning their record eight titles, and last season added one of the few competition marks they didn't previously hold, equalling Arsenal's 15 quarter-final appearances.

Wolfsburg (GER)

UEFA coefficient ranking (end of 2023/24): 4
How they qualified: German runners-up; W12-0agg vs Fiorentina (W7-0a, 5-0h)
Last season: Round 2
Domestic honours: 7 x League champions, 11 x Cup winners
Previous European best: Winners (2012/13, 2013/14)

• Wolfsburg had reached a record 11 consecutive quarter-finals before last season's round 2 exit to Paris FC.

Roma (ITA)

UEFA coefficient ranking (end of 2023/24): 17
How they qualified: Italian champions; W10-3agg vs Servette FCCF (W3-1h, W7-2a)
Last season: Group stage
Domestic honours: 2 x League champions, 2 x Cup winners
Previous European best: Quarter-finals (2022/23)

• Roma progressed from round 1 to the last eight on their competition debut in 2022/23, but last season they fell short in a group featuring Ajax, Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern, with just five points separating the four teams.

Galatasaray (TUR)

UEFA coefficient ranking (end of 2023/24): Not ranked (debut season)
How they qualified: Turkish champions; W4-1a vs Racing Union, W5-0n vs BIIK, W4-3agg vs Slavia Praha (D2-2h, 2-1a aet)
Last season: Not in competition
Domestic honours: 1 x League champions
Previous European best: Debut

• Galatasaray eliminated three-time quarter-finalists Slavia to become the first Turkish team to reach the group stage, though Konak Belediyespor made it to the knockout round of 16 in 2013/14.

Group B

• Chelsea and Madrid are in the same group for the third year running. In both the two previous seasons, Chelsea won at home and drew away.
• Chelsea's European debut tie in 2015/16 was against Celtic's local rivals Glasgow City, the Blues winning home and away. Already this season, Arsenal have knocked out Rangers.

Chelsea (ENG)

UEFA coefficient ranking (end of 2023/24): 6
How they qualified: English champions
Last season: Semi-finals
Domestic honours: 7 x League champions, 5 x Cup winners
Previous European best: Runners-up (2020/21)

• Long-serving manager Emma Hayes left in the summer to be replaced by Lyon's Sonia Bompastor, the only person to have won this competition as player and coach.

Real Madrid (ESP)

UEFA coefficient ranking (end of 2023/24): 8
How they qualified: Spanish runners-up; W5-2agg vs Sporting CP (W2-1a, W3-1h)
Last season: Group stage
Domestic honours: Best league finish – 2nd place x 3
Previous European best: Quarter-finals (2021/22)

• Madrid are now contesting their fourth European campaign, having got through qualifying each time.

Twente (NED)

UEFA coefficient ranking (end of 2023/24): 31
How they qualified: Dutch champions; W7-0h vs Cardiff City, W5-0h vs Valur, W8-1agg vs Osijek (W4-1a, W4-0h)
Last season: Round 2
Domestic honours: 9 x League champions, 3 x Cup winners
Previous European best: Round of 16 (2015/16, 2016/17, 2019/20)

• Having got through qualifying to reach this stage at the fourth attempt, Twente will aim to follow in the footsteps of Ajax, who became the first Dutch group participants last season and progressed to the quarter-finals ahead of Bayern and Roma (then losing to Chelsea).

Celtic (SCO)

UEFA coefficient ranking (end of 2023/24): 72
How they qualified: Scottish champions; W3-1n aet vs KuPS Kuopio, W2-0a vs Gintra, W3-0agg vs Vorskla Poltava (W1-0a, W2-0h)
Last season: Round 1 final
Domestic honours: 1 x League champions, 2 x Cup winners
Previous European best: Round 1 final (2023/24)

• Celtic are the first Scottish team to appear in the group stage, although Glasgow City did reach two quarter-finals under the previous format.

Group C

• Arsenal beat Bayern in the 2022/23 quarter-finals, losing 1-0 in Germany but winning the return 2-0.
• Arsenal faced Juventus in that season's group stage, drawing 1-1 away then prevailing 1-0 at home.

Bayern München (GER)

UEFA coefficient ranking (end of 2023/24): 5
How they qualified: German champions
Last season: Group stage
Domestic honours: 6 x League champions, 1 x Cup winners
Previous European best: Semi-finals (2018/19, 2020/21)

• Bayern exited in the group stage last season after conceding a late Paris Saint-Germain equaliser on Matchday 6.

Arsenal (ENG)

UEFA coefficient ranking (end of 2023/24): 7
How they qualified: Third place, England; W6-0h vs Rangers, W1-0h vs Rosenborg, W4-1agg vs Häcken (L0-1a, W4-0h)
Last season: Round 1 final
Domestic honours: 15 x League champions, 14 x Cup winners
Previous European best: Winners (2006/07)

• The Gunners reached the quarter-finals in all their 15 previous (non-consecutive) entries before their round 1 final penalty shoot-out loss to Paris FC last season.

Juventus (ITA)

UEFA coefficient ranking (end of 2023/24): 10
How they qualified: Italian runners-up; W5-2agg vs Paris Saint-Germain (W3-1h, W2-1a)
Last season: Round 1 final
Domestic honours: 5 x League champions, 3 x Cup winners
Previous European best: Quarter-finals (2021/22)

• Juve are through to the group stage for a third time after becoming the first team to knock out Paris Saint-Germain before the quarter-finals since Tyresö in 2013/14.

Vålerenga (NOR)

UEFA coefficient ranking (end of 2023/24): 38
How they qualified: Norwegian champions; W3-1a vs Farul Constanța, W5-1agg vs Anderlecht (W2-1a, 3-0h)
Last season: Round 2
Domestic honours: 2 x League champions, 2 x Cup winners
Previous European best: Round of 32 (2020/21) / Round 2 (2021/22, 2023/24)

• The Oslo outfit are emulating Brann, who became the first Norwegian team in the group stage last season and reached the quarter-finals.

Group D

• Barcelona beat Manchester City 4-2 on aggregate in the 2020/21 quarter-finals, though the English club won their home second leg 2-1 (the only team to beat Barcelona in the competition that season).
• Man City beat St. Pölten 3-0 both home and away in the 2017/18 round of 32.

Barcelona (ESP, holders)

UEFA coefficient ranking (end of 2023/24): 1
How they qualified: Holders, Spanish champions
Last season: Winners
Domestic honours: 9 x League champions, 10 x Cup winners
Previous European best: Winners (2020/21, 2022/23, 2023/24)

• Barça are aiming to become only the second club after Lyon to win three titles in a row, and also to equal OL's record of reaching five straight finals (between 2016 and 2020).

Manchester City (ENG)

UEFA coefficient ranking (end of 2023/24): 9
How they qualified: English runners-up; W8-0agg vs Paris FC (W5-0a, W3-0h)
Last season: Not in competition
Domestic honours: 1 x League champions, 3 x Cup winners
Previous European best: Semi-finals (2016/17, 2017/18)

• City are making their group stage debut after losing to Real Madrid in 2021/22 and 2022/23 qualifying.

St. Pölten (AUT)

UEFA coefficient ranking (end of 2023/24): 15
How they qualified: Austrian champions; W5-0n vs Neftçi, W1-0n vs Vllaznia, W8-0agg vs Mura (W3-0h, W5-0a)
Last season: Group stage
Domestic honours: 9 x League champions, 10 x Cup winners
Previous European best: Round of 16 (2020/21) / Group stage (2022/23, 2023/24)

• It took St. Pölten seven attempts to reach the old round of 16 in 2020/21, but they are now among the last 16 for the fourth time in five seasons.

Hammarby (SWE)

UEFA coefficient ranking (end of 2023/24): Not ranked (debut season)
How they qualified: Swedish champions; W3-2agg vs Benfica (L1-2h, W2-0a)
Last season: Not in competition
Domestic honours: 2 x League champions, 3 x Cup winners
Previous European best: Debut

• In their first-ever European tie, Hammarby knocked out last season's quarter-finalists Benfica despite losing the opener at home. No team had ever previously overturned a first-leg deficit in a Women's Champions League qualifier.

Cup winners refers only to main FA national cup in each country.
n = round 1 match hosted by club other than the two playing.