2016–17 UEFA Women's Champions League
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates |
August 2016 (qualifying) October 2016 – 1 June 2017 (knockout phase) |
| Teams |
32 (knockout phase) Maximum of 67 (total) (from Maximum of 54 associations) |
The 2016–17 UEFA Women's Champions League will be the 16th edition of the European women's club football championship organized by UEFA, and the 8th edition since being rebranded as the UEFA Women's Champions League.
The final will be held at Cardiff City Stadium in Wales on Thursday 1 June 2017.[1]
Expansion
The tournament will be expanded such that the top 12 national associations (instead of the previous top 8) in the rankings are allowed to enter two teams in the competition.[2]
The change has been criticised, as it will not increase performance at the top, but just broaden the competition.[3] No increase in prize-money also has been criticised, with some clubs still making a net-loss on wider trips through the continent.[4]
Association team allocation
A maximum of 67 teams from 54 UEFA member associations may participate in the 2016–17 UEFA Women's Champions League. The ranking based on the UEFA Women's Champions League association coefficient is used to determine the number of participating teams for each association:
- Associations 1–12 each have two teams qualify.
- All other associations, should they enter, each have one team qualify.
- The winners of the 2015–16 UEFA Women's Champions League are given an additional entry if they do not qualify for the 2016–17 UEFA Women's Champions League through their domestic league.
Association ranking
For the 2016–17 UEFA Women's Champions League, the associations are allocated places according to their 2015 UEFA Women's Champions League association coefficient, which takes into account their performance in European competitions from 2010–11 to 2014–15.[5]
Scotland will for the first time receive two entries in the UEFA Women's Champions League.[6]
|
|
|
- Notes
- (TH) – Additional berth for title holders
- (DNE) – Did not enter
- (NR) – No rank (association did not enter in the five seasons used for computing coefficients)
Distribution
The format of the competition remains unchanged from previous years, starting from the qualifying round, which is played as mini-tournaments with four teams in each group, followed by the knockout phase starting from the round of 32, which is played as home-and-away two-legged ties except for the one-match final.
Unlike the men's Champions League, not every association enters a team, and so the exact number of teams in each round (qualifying round and round of 32) can not be determined until the full entry list is known. 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 to join the automatic qualifiers.[6] The following scenarios are possible:[7]
- If there are between 57 and 59 entries, the lowest-ranked 36 teams enter the qualifying round (9 groups), with between 9 and 11 teams advancing to the round of 32 to join the automatic qualifiers (between 21 and 23 teams).
- If there are between 60 and 62 entries, the lowest-ranked 40 teams enter the qualifying round (10 groups), with between 10 and 12 teams advancing to the round of 32 to join the automatic qualifiers (between 20 and 22 teams).
- If there are between 63 and 65 entries, the lowest-ranked 44 teams enter the qualifying round (11 groups), with between 11 and 13 teams advancing to the round of 32 to join the automatic qualifiers (between 19 and 21 teams).
- If there are 66 entries, the lowest-ranked 48 teams enter the qualifying round (12 groups), with 14 teams advancing to the round of 32 to join the automatic qualifiers (18 teams).
Teams
The following list the teams that qualified and might enter this season's competition. Here TH denotes the title holders, CH denotes the national champion, RU the national runner-up. Entries from 49 associations are possible. Three associations have no current league (Azerbaijan, Liechtenstein, San Marino). Azerbaijan only has junior leagues and teams from Liechtenstein play in the Swiss leagues. Gibraltar's league is only nine-a-side for 2014/15 and Andorra's is only five-a-side.[8] If they keep that for the 2015/16 season, they are ineligible as well. Armenia has a regular league with a 11-a-side champion crowned for autumn and summer,[9] but has never registered for European competition.
| Title holder + Associations ranked 1–12 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 TH[Note TH] |
|||
 CH |
RU |
 CH |
RU |
 Rosengård (CH) |
Eskilstuna United DFF (RU) |
 Chelsea (CH)[10] |
Manchester City (RU) |
 Zvezda Perm (CH)[11] |
Rossiyanka (RU) |
 CH |
RU |
 CH |
RU |
 CH |
RU |
 CH |
RU |
 CH |
RU |
 Glasgow City (CH)[12] |
Hibernian (RU) |
 Lillestrøm SK (CH) |
Avaldsnes IL (RU) |
| Associations ranked 13–54 | |||
 CH |
 CH |
 CH |
 BIIK Kazygurt (CH)[13] |
 CH |
 Breiðablik (CH)[13] |
.svg.png){kind=small} CH |
 CH |
 CH |
 CH |
 PK-35 Vantaa (CH)[14] |
 Gintra Universitetas (CH)[15] |
 CH |
 CH |
 Zhytlobud Kharkiv (CH) |
 FC Minsk (CH) |
 CH |
 CH |
 CH |
 CH |
 CH |
 CH |
 CH |
 CH |
 Pärnu JK (CH)[16] |
 KÍ Klaksvík (CH)[13] |
 CH |
 CH |
 Newry City (CH) |
 CH |
 CH |
 CH |
 CH |
 Rīgas FS (CH)[17] |
 CH |
 CH |
 CH |
|||
- Notes
- ^ Title holders (TH): Spot will only be taken if the title holders do not qualify through their domestic league.
See also
References
- ↑ "2016–17 Champions League final in Cardiff". shekicks.net. 1 August 2015.
- ↑ "New distribution concept for club competitions approved". UEFA.org. 23 March 2015.
- ↑ "Vorschlag zur Aufwertung des Europapokals der Frauen". framba.de. 23 March 2015.
- ↑ "UEFA increase countries eligible for two slots in women's Champions League". dailycannon.com. 25 March 2015.
- ↑ "2016/17 coefficient rankings" (PDF). UEFA. Retrieved 25 September 2015.
- 1 2 "Scotland among 12 nations with two entries". UEFA. 25 September 2015. Retrieved 25 September 2015.
- ↑ "Access List for the UEFA Women's Champions League 2016/17" (PDF). UEFA.com. Retrieved 25 September 2015.
- ↑ "Femení Base, Femení Base". faf.ad. 11 August 2015.
- ↑ "Մրցաշարեր". ffa.am. 11 August 2015.
- ↑ "Chelsea seal Women's Super League title". BBC. 4 October 2015. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
- ↑ "Josee Nahi won double with Zvezda-2005 Perm". lta-agency.com. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
- ↑ "Glasgow City secure their ninth league title in a row". BBC Sport. BBC. 18 October 2015. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
- 1 2 3 "Paris step up, Chelsea push as knockouts near". UEFA. 9 September 2015. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
- ↑ "PK-35 voitti jo viidennen Suomen mestaruutensa 2010-luvulla". hs.fi. 4 September 2015.
- ↑ ""Gintros-Universiteto" komanda 11 kartą iš eilės užsitikrino Lietuvos čempionių titulą (11th consecutive title for Gintra)" (in Lithuanian). lff.lt. 28 September 2015. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
- ↑ "PJK naiskond kuuendat aastat järjest Eesti meister!" (in Estonian). parnujk.ee. 26 September 2015. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
- ↑ "Rīgas FS sieviešu komanda 3. gadu pēc kārtas izcīna čempionu titulu". rigasfutbolaskola.lv. 13 July 2015.
External links
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||