Nick Cushing’s side will learn our Round of 16 fate at 1:30 CET on Monday 30 September 2019.
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.
Six-time winners and current holders Lyon are the most successful club in the history of the competition.
Arsenal are the only English side to have won the tournament, defeating Umea 1-0 over two legs in April 2007.
Last time out
Manchester City kicked off their Women’s Champions League campaign in style with an 11-1 aggregate win over Swiss side Lugano in the Round of 32.
A rampant six-goal second half display in the first leg saw City cruise to a 7-1 first-leg victory, their highest ever winning margin in the competition.
And a Janine Beckie hat-trick plus a further strike from Pauline Bremer saw Nick Cushing’s side pick up where they left off with a convincing 4-0 second leg triumph at the Academy Stadium.
Format
The tournament involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA.
A record 62 teams from 50 associations entered the 2019/20 edition.
Manchester City are one of the eight sides boasting the highest UEFA coefficient and are therefore seeded and placed in a separate pot to the other eight unseeded teams.
In contrast to the men’s tournament, there is no group stage in the UWCL.
No club can meet a team from their own association.
Matches are on 16/17 & 30/31 October.
The contenders
Seeded
Lyon (FRA, holders) coefficient 129.865
Wolfsburg (GER) 112.575
Paris Saint-Germain (FRA) 99.865
Barcelona (ESP) 91.160
Bayern München (GER) 67.575
Slavia Praha (CZE) 59.870
Manchester City (ENG) 59.655
Brøndby (DEN) 50.045
Unseeded
Fortuna Hjørring (DEN) 47.045
BIIK-Kazygurt (KAZ) 34.580
Glasgow City (SCO) 34.085
Atlético Madrid (ESP) 33.160
FC Twente (NED) 26.900
Arsenal (ENG) 17.655
FC Minsk (BLR) 16.625
Breidablik (ISL) 10.930
Key dates
Round of 16 draw: 30 September 2019, Nyon
Round of 16: 16/17 & 30/31 October 2019
Quarter-final & semi-final draw: 8 November 2019, Nyon
Quarter-finals: 24/25 March & 1/2 April 2020
Semi-finals: 25/26 April & 2/3 May 2020
Final (Viola Park, Vienna): 24 May 2020
City’s European history
Cushing’s side made our 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. and repeated the success of the previous year, defeating St Polten (6-0 agg.), Lillestrom (7-1 agg.) and Linkoping (7-3 agg.) before once again being edged out by Lyon in the last four.
The 2018/19 would prove unsuccessful, as City fell at the first hurdle, losing to Atletico Madrid over two legs in the Round of 32, but the domestic cup double winners secured progression to our fourth successive European tournament with a top-two finish in the FA WSL.
That emphatic two-legged win over Lugano is further evidence that we business this campaign and Cushing’s side will be ready and raring to go ahead of the Round of 16.
