Nick Cushing’s side will learn their Round of 32 fate from 1:30pm CET, ahead of their second European adventure.
Here’s everything you need to know about the competition and the draw, which takes place in Nyon, Switzerland...
Brief history
The Women’s Champions League is Europe’s elite club competition.
Originally named the UEFA Women’s Cup, it debuted in the 2001/02 season before being rebranded for the 2009/10 campaign when, for the first time, the runners-up from the top eight ranked nations were able to participate.
The format of the final was also changed, becoming a single match played in the same city as the men’s tournament as opposed to a two-legged contest.
Four-time winners 1. FFC Frankfurt and Lyon are the most successful clubs in the history of the competition. Lyon are the defending champions.
Arsenal are the only English side to have won the tournament, defeating Umea 1-0 over two legs in April 2007.
Format and qualification
In contrast to the men’s tournament, there is no group stage in the UWCL.
In general, the title holders - the champions of the top 12 associations - plus the runners-up of highest-ranked associations (exact number depending on the number of entries) receive a bye to the round of 32.
All other teams (runners-up of lowest-ranked associations plus champions of associations starting from 13th) enter the qualifying round, with the group winners plus a maximum of two best runners-up advancing to the round of 32.
Forty other entrants competed in the qualifying round. Teams were split into groups of four with the ten group winners and the runners-up with the best record against the teams finishing first and third in their group advancing to the round of 32 to join the 21 teams which received a bye.
Seeding
The 16 sides with the highest cofficient are seeded and placed in a separate pot from the unseeded teams. No club can meet a team from their own association. The seeds will play the second leg at home.
The contenders
Seeded teams
Lyon (FRA)
Wolfsburg (GER)
FC Rosengård (SWE)
Barcelona (ESP)
Fortuna Hjørring (DEN)
Bayern München (GER)
Brøndby (DEN)
FC Zürich (SUI)
Rossiyanka (RUS)
Manchester City (ENG)
Glasgow City (SCO)
Zvezda-2005 (RUS)
Brescia (ITA)
Slavia Praha (CZE)
Sparta Praha (CZE)
Linköping (SWE)
Unseeded teams
Chelsea (ENG)
Montpellier (FRA)
LSK Kvinner (NOR)
BIIK-Kazygurt (KAZ)
Apollon (CYP)
St. Pölten (AUT)
Atlético Madrid (ESP)
Olimpia Cluj (ROU)
Medyk Konin (POL)
Gintra Universitetas (LTU)
Stjarnan (ISL)
Fiorentina (ITA)
Avaldsnes (NOR)
Minsk (BLR)
PAOK (GRE)
Ajax (NED)
Key dates
The Round of 32 first leg will be played on either 4 or 5 October, with the second leg taking place on 11 or 12 October.
The Round of 16 will be drawn on Monday 16 October 2017 and played in November (8 or 9 and 15 or 16). The quarter and semi-final draws will be conducted on Friday 24 November, before the competition then breaks to line up with the men’s game, resuming in March for the quarter-finals (21 or 22 and 28 or 29).
The semi-finals will be played on 21 and 22 April (first leg) and 28 and 29 April 2018 (second leg).
The final will be held at the Valeriy Lobanovskyi Dynamo Stadium in Kiev, Ukraine on Thursday 24 May 2018.
City’s European history
The Blues made their Champions League debut in the 2016/17 campaign, having finished second in the FA WSL in 2015.
An incredible debut campaign saw Cushing’s side reach the semi-finals, defeating Zvezda Perm (6-0 on aggregate), Brondby (2-1 agg.) and Fortuna Hjorring (2-0 agg.) before falling to the eventual competition winners Lyon (3-2 agg.)
City ended the 2016 domestic season as league and Continental Tyres Cup champions to qualify to the 2017/18 tournament.
Make sure you tune in tomorrow, when we’ll have full coverage of the draw on ManCity.com, Twitter and Facebook.
