2024/2025 UEFA Women’s Champions League: Preview, schedule and how to watch live
Your one-stop guide to the 24/25 edition of the UWCL, with sixteen teams in the running to become European champions.
Football
Home to some of the best football teams in the world, the 2024/2025 UEFA Women’s Champions League will be held between 8 October and 25 May.
Sixteen teams will compete against each other in a bid to become the next European champions.
The final will be held in May, with last year’s champions and runners-up – FC Barcelona and Lyon respectively – looking to make a return.
Ahead of action commencing, Olympics.com looks at which sides are considered the favourites and who this year’s debutants are.
Read on to find out the competition format, schedule, and how to watch.
2024/2025 UEFA Women’s Champions League: Format and how it works
While there have been many changes in UEFA competitions this season, particularly in the men’s side, which has switched to a table format for their version of the Champions League, the women’s tournament remains unchanged.
Next season they will adopt the league style, but for now it remains the usual group stage and knockout phase until the final in May 2024.
16 teams have been drawn into four groups of four, playing each other twice – home and away – between October and December.
The top two from each group will then progress into the knockouts, beginning with the quarter-finals before moving on to the semi-finals.
Each match-up will be played over two legs, home and away.
The remaining two sides will take each other on in the grand finale as they bid to write their name in the history books.
UWCL hopefuls Juventus knocked out PSG in the playoffs.
2024/2025 UEFA Women’s Champions League: Preview – who are the favourites?
FC Barcelona are no doubt the overwhelming favourites coming into the Champions League this term, as reigning champions. Their victorious run earlier this year marked their third title overall, which is an incredible feat for a side who won their first just three years ago in the 2020/2021 campaign. Adding the likes of Ewa Pajor and Ellie Roebuck, providing crucial depth and experience, has only bolstered their ranks as they look to retain the trophy for a third consecutive season.
Looking to challenge them is the side they beat in the latest final: Lyon. The French giants will always be among the sides tipped to go all the way as a result of their incredible record in Europe. They are the most decorated side in the competition’s history, winning a staggering eight titles between 2010 and 2022. While they’ve had a managerial change, bringing in Joe Montemurro, they’ve kept the core of their squad together and added the likes of Tabitha Chawinga, who joins having spent an impressive season on loan with French rivals PSG.
Also in the mix to storm to glory this term is Chelsea, who are looking to become only the second English side ever to achieve success in Europe. Like the aforementioned Lyon, a change of coach was on the agenda at the start of the new season following Emma Hayes’s departure. The Blues turned to their fellow hopefuls for a solution, bringing Sonia Bompastor to London. Bompastor has a history of winning this competition as both a manager and a player with Lyon and could be the key to Chelsea winning the one trophy that has continuously eluded them over the years.
There are two debutants in this year’s competition hoping to make their mark in Hammarby and Galatasaray. The former certainly haven’t got it easy for their first outing, drawn in a group alongside favourites Barça, Manchester City and St. Polten. Galatasaray equally have their work cut out for them, facing Lyon, AS Roma, and VfL Wolfsburg across the group stages.
Joining them in the groups for the very first time is the aforementioned City, along with Celtic, FC Twente, and Valerenga. Each of this quartet has experience in Europe, but this format is new to them following a stint away from the big stage.
Here are the groups ahead of the 2024/25 edition:
- Group A: Lyon, Wolfsburg, AS Roma, Galatasaray
- Group B: Chelsea, Real Madrid, FC Twente, Celtic
- Group C: Bayern Munich, Arsenal, Juventus, Valerenga
- Group D: FC Barcelona, Manchester City, St. Polten, Hammarby
2024/2025 UEFA Women’s Champions League: Schedule and how to watch
Group Stage
Matchday One
- 8 October: AS Roma vs. VfL Wolfsburg (18:45 CET)
- 8 October: Lyon vs. Galatasaray (18:45 CET)
- 8 October: Celtic vs. FC Twente (21:00 CET)
- 8 October: Chelsea vs. Real Marid (21:00 CET)
- 9 October: Bayern Munich vs. Arsenal (18:45 CET)
- 9 October: Hammarby vs. St. Polten (18:45 CET)
- 9 October: Valerenga vs. Juventus (21:00 CET)
- 9 October: Manchester City vs. FC Barcelona (21:00 CET)
Matchday Two
- 16 October: Juventus vs. Bayern Munich (18:45 CET)
- 16 October: St. Polten vs. Manchester City (18:45 CET)
- 16 October: Arsenal vs. Valerenga (21:00 CET)
- 16 October: FC Barcelona vs. Hammarby (21:00 CET)
- 17 October: Galatasaray vs. AS Roma (18:45 CET)
- 17 October: Real Madrid vs. Celtic (18:45 CET)
- 17 October: VfL Wolfsburg vs. Lyon (21:00 CET)
- 17 October: FC Twente vs. Chelsea (21:00 CET)
Matchday Three
- 12 November: Juventus vs. Arsenal (18:45 CET)
- 12 November: FC Barcelona vs. St. Polten (18:45 CET)
- 12 November: FC Bayern Munich vs. Valerenga (21:00 CET)
- 12 November: Manchester City vs. Hammarby (21:00 CE
- 13 November: Galatasaray vs. VfL Wolfsburg (18:45 CET)
- 13 November: Real Madrid vs. FC Twente (18:45 CET)
- 13 November: AS Roma vs. Lyon (21:00 CET)
- 13 November: Celtic vs. Chelsea (21:00 CET)
Matchday Four
- 20 November: VfL Wolfsburg vs. Galatasaray (18:45 CET)
- 20 November: FC Twente vs. Real Madrid (18:45 CET)
- 20 November: Lyon vs. AS Roma (21:00 CET)
- 20 November: Chelsea vs. Celtic (21:00 CET)
- 21 November: Valerenga vs. Bayern Munich (18:45 CET)
- 21 November: Hammarby vs. Manchester City (18:45 CET)
- 21 November: Arsenal vs. Juventus (21:00 CET)
- 21 November: St. Polten vs. FC Barcelona (21:00 CET)
Matchday Five
- 11 December: Galatasaray vs. Lyon (18:45 CET)
- 11 December: VfL Wolfsburg vs. AS Roma (18:45 CET)
- 11 December: Celtic vs. Real Madrid (21:00 CET)
- 11 December: Chelsea vs. FC Twente (21:00 CET)
- 12 December: Bayern Munich vs. Juventus (18:45 CET)
- 12 December: Valerenga vs. Arsenal FC (18:45 CET)
- 12 December: Hammarby vs. FC Barcelona (21:00 CET)
- 12 December: Manchester City vs. St. Polten (21:00 CET)
Matchday Six
- 17 December: FC Twente vs. Celtic (18:45 CET)
- 17 December: Real Madrid vs. Chelsea (18:45 CET)
- 17 December: AS Roma vs. Galatasaray (21:00 CET)
- 17 December: Lyon vs. VfL Wolfsburg (21:00 CET)
- 18 December: FC Barcelona vs. Manchester City (18:45 CET)
- 18 December: St. Polten vs. Hammarby (18:45 CET)
- 18 December: Arsenal vs. Bayern Munich (21:00 CET)
- 18 December: Juventus vs. Valerenga (21:00 CET)
Quarter-finals
- 18–19 March: First leg
- 26–27 March: Second leg
Semi-finals
- 19–20 April: First leg
- 26–27 April: Second leg
Final
- 23–25 May
Fans wanting to ensure they don’t miss a minute of the action can tune into DAZN, which is the home of women’s European football.
Either on their website or on YouTube, games will be shown live across the globe.
TNT Sports will also have certain games live for those in the UK, subject to broadcast selection.