Manchester United and Arsenal failed to qualify for this year's group stage. Photo: PA/David Davies
Like it or hate it, the Women's Champions League qualifying format needs a rethink.
Not because only one Women's Super League team has reached the group stage this season. On the contrary, as Arsenal head coach Jonas Eidewall rightly noted on Friday, English clubs have not fared well enough in Europe in recent years and do not have the divine right to be there.
Not because Manchester United lost Paris Saint-Germain in qualifying. New to Europe and just five years after reforming their senior women's team, Manchester United were never going to have an easy path to European glory.
Not because, as Manchester United manager Mark Skinner controversially said on Wednesday, this season's group stage has seen a “scattering of average teams”, some of whom he believes are “not good enough” to be there. Many would agree that on paper the match features weaker teams than the few teams eliminated in the qualifiers. But it is vital that organizers protect the 'championship' element of the competition and encourage investment in the women's game across Europe.
Rather, it needs to be rethought because this year's group stage will be missing a significant number of elite international players, many World Cup stars and, in turn, missing fans who want to watch these players.
When last season's finalists Wolfsburg are absent from the group stage, something seems wrong, even though Paris, who played superbly and knocked out the Germans after beating Arsenal, richly deserved to go out.
Broadcasters, sponsors, spectators and therefore UEFA itself are not interested in high-quality, blockbuster matches being staged in the qualifying rounds. For example, the PSG and Manchester United teams are full of World Cup stars. Eintracht Frankfurt's thrilling first-round qualifying match against Italian giants Juventus took place well before broadcaster DAZN secured a deal for the group stage rights, as did Arsenal's dramatic 3-3 draw and subsequent defeat from Paris in a penalty shootout.
<р>From a commercial point of view, competitions of this quality need more spectators. And this happened repeatedly. In 2021 and 2022, Manchester City lost to Real Madrid in the qualifying rounds, and last year Ajax were somewhat unlucky to lose a thrilling 3-2 aggregate tie against Arsenal, also in qualifying. This year, Arsenal's departure will hit organizers pocketbooks as the Emirates attracted most of the world's biggest women's football clubs this year. But more than that, the competition is missing star players.
Twelve of the 21 players who started the 2022 European Championship final between England and Germany and are still playing are playing for clubs that did not qualify in the group stage of the Champions League, including the top three scorers of this tournament.
< p>Why is this happening? In principle, the current qualifying format is aimed at domestic champions from lower-funded leagues – with the 'champions' path being completely separate from the 'league' path, which is reserved for teams such as Arsenal, Manchester United and Wolfsburg. who didn't win their tournament. domestic leagues.
This results in a lopsided qualifying draw process, but this is not necessarily a bad thing.
This is the Champions League for a reason and the women's game has a chance to defend it in the same way as the men's competition. failed to do this. Efforts to ensure the growth of the women's game across Europe are vital and admirable. But balancing this with attracting commercial investment is the difficult task facing UEFA.
The solution, of course, is to expand the Women's Champions League, expanding the group stage beyond the current limit of 16 teams.
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Many would even like to see the creation of a second-level European women's competition. The added incentive to finish fourth rather than fifth, sixth or seventh, for example, in any of Europe's top leagues is sure to result in fewer dead rubbers at the end of the season. Not that everyone agrees. Asked whether a women's Europa League was a good idea, Arsenal boss Eidewall replied: “Yes and no.”
“Yes, because it would be a good opportunity for teams to grow and participate in international competitions. But no, because when we look at the Champions League from an economic point of view, I don't think it's a winning match yet. Once we get the financial model right, we can start expanding into more competitions. I don't see it being financially sustainable to add another European tournament right now.”
At this point, increasing the number of places in the Champions League group stage seems necessary. There will be no changes until the 2025/26 season, but UEFA is reviewing the competition and one of the key talking points is expected to be expanded.
As for this season, the group… The stage draw was made on Friday , which saw Chelsea, England's only surviving team, drawn into a tough group that included Real Madrid as well as Swedish side BK Haken and Paris. Holders Barcelona have it relatively easy to cope with Group A, but the main intrigue is Group C, which includes the league champions of Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, as well as PSG.
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