Arsenal have been drawn against BK Hacken in round two of Women’s Champions League qualifying, while Manchester City will face Paris FC.
Swedish side Hacken reached the quarter-finals of last season’s competition, while Paris FC were responsible for eliminating both Arsenal and Wolfsburg during last year’s qualification stages.
Elsewhere in the round-two draw, two-time runners up Paris Saint-Germain will face Juventus and two-time champions Wolfsburg will play Fiorentina.
The ties will be played across two legs on September 18/19 and 25/26 and the winners will progress to the group stages of the competition.
After finishing third in the Women’s Super League last season, Arsenal’s Champions League qualifiers began last week, with Jonas Eidevall’s side beating Rangers on Wednesday and Rosenborg on Saturday to progress to round two of qualification. The club remain the only English team to have won the competition and reached the semi-finals in 2022-23, but were eliminated at the first qualifying round of last season’s competition.
Manchester City enter the competition at the round two stage after finishing second in the WSL last season. Gareth Taylor’s side are two-time Champions League semi-finalists but were knocked out by Real Madrid during the qualification stage in both 2021-22 and 2022-23. Their fourth-place finish in the WSL during the 2022-23 season meant they did not compete in the Champions League last season.
Wolfsburg — Champions League finalists in 2023 — and Manchester United were both also beaten at the round two qualification stage last season.
The 12 teams that qualify from the two-legged ties will join Barcelona, Lyon, Bayern Munich and Chelsea in the group stages.
Arsenal and Man City must qualify the hard way
Arsenal and Man City were both seeded in the league section of Monday’s draw so were set to receive a slightly favourable tie, but even so have been dealt arguably two of the more trickier hands possible.
Paris FC notably pulled off the two biggest shocks in last season’s qualification stages. They eliminated Arsenal in the first round of qualifying, with the WSL side staging a late comeback to force extra-time, before Paris progressed on penalties thanks to the heroics of goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie. Wolfsburg, who had been 2-0 up at half-time against Barcelona in the Champions League final only four months earlier, were next to fall foul to the French underdogs, as Paris progressed 5-3 on aggregate to reach the group stages.
Hacken, meanwhile, progressed from a tough group last season that also included Paris, Real Madrid and Chelsea. They lost just once and took a point off Chelsea in a stubborn display at Stamford Bridge, but were ultimately comfortably beaten by PSG in the quarter-finals. The Swedish side also have former Arsenal academy product Ruby Grant in their ranks, following her move from West Ham United in 2023.
Although Arsenal and City will both expect to qualify for the group stages, they’ll have to do it the hard way.
Women’s Champions League round 2 qualifying draw
- St. Polten vs ZNK Mura
- Benfica vs Hammarby
- ZNK Osijek vs FC Twente
- Galatasaray vs Slavia Praha
- Roma vs Servette
- Anderlecht vs Valerenga
- Vorskla Poltava vs Celtic
- Sporting CP vs Real Madrid
- Juventus vs Paris Saint-Germain
- Paris FC vs Manchester City
- Fiorentina vs Wolfsburg
- BK Hacken vs Arsenal
Women’s Champions League 2024-25 dates
- Group stage draw: September 27
- Matchday 1: October 8/9
- Matchday 2: October 16/17
- Matchday 3: November 12/13
- Matchday 4: November 20/21
- Matchday 5: December 11/12
- Matchday 6: December 17/18
- Quarter-final and semi-final draw: February 7
- Quarter-final first leg: March 18/19
- Quarter-final second leg: March 26/27
- Semi-final first leg: April 19/20
- Semi-final second leg: April 26/27
- Final: May 23, 24 or 25
(Top photo: Alex Burstow/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
