Birkirkara drawn with Glasgow City in UEFA Women’s Champions League round 1 semi-final

Birkirkara were drawn with Scottish side Glasgow City in the semi-final of Group 2 as the draws for Round 1 of the UEFA Women’s Champions League were held on Friday.

The competition takes a different format as from this season. Round 1 is one of two rounds before the new 16-team group stage, which begins in October. It is split into two paths: the champions path and the league path. In both paths, round 1 will consist of two stages, each of one-off matches: semi-finals (18 August) and finals/third-place play-offs (21 August). The winners of each final (11 in champions path, four in league path) will progress to round 2.

The Stripes, winners of the last four championships and leaders of the BOV Women’s League when the competition was brought to an abrupt halt due to COVID restrictions in March, were drawn in Group 2. The other semi-final is BIIK-Shymkent of Kazakhstan vs Slovan Bratislava of Slovakia. The winners of the two semi-finals will meet in the final while the losers play for third place. The venue of this mini-tournament has not been confirmed yet.

Glasgow City had defeated Mosta 8-0 in 2011 and Birkirkara 9-0 in 2013. In 2014/15 and in 2019/20, they reached the quarter-finals of the competition, losing out to PSG and Wolfsburg respectively.

Champions path draw

  • Forty-three teams are entering at this stage: the champions of the associations ranked eighth and below.
  • The winners of the 11 finals will progress to round 2, into which three teams have direct entry. Seven group stage places will be on offer in round 2.

Group 1
Breidablik (ISL) vs KÍ Klaksvík (FRO)
Gintra (LTU) vs Flora Tallinn (EST)

Group 2
Glasgow City (SCO) vs Birkirkara (MLT)
BIIK-Shymkent (KAZ) vs Slovan Bratislava (SVK)

Group 3
Anderlecht (BEL) vs Hayasa (ARM)
Osijek (CRO) vs Breznica Pljevlja (MNE)

Group 4
SFK 200 Sarajevo (BIH) vs Racing FC Union Luxembourg (LUX)
SL Benfica (POR) vs Kiryat-Gat (ISR)

Group 5
Universitatea Olimpia Cluj (ROU) vs Åland United (FIN)
Servette FC Chênois (SUI) vs Glentoran (NIR)

Group 6
CSKA Moskva (RUS) vs Swansea City (WAL)
Apollon LFC (CYP) vs Dinamo-BSUPC (BLR)

Group 7
PAOK (GRE) vs Agarista CSF Anenii Noi (MDA)
Vålerenga (NOR) vs Mitrovica (KOS)

Group 8
Juventus (ITA) vs Kamenica Sasa (MKD)
St. Pölten (AUT) vs Beşiktaş (TUR)

Group 9
Twente (NED) vs WFC Nike (GEO)
Spartak Subotica (SRB) vs Peamount United (IRL)

Group 10
WFC Kharkiv (UKR) vs NSA Sofia (BUL)
Pomurje Beltinci (SVN) vs Rīgas Futbola skola (LVA)

Group 11
Ferencváros (HUN) vs Czarni Sosnowiec (POL)
Direct to final: Vllaznia (ALB)

Enter in round 2:
Sparta Praha (CZE), Häcken (SWE), Køge (DEN)

League path draw

  • Sixteen teams will enter at this stage: the runners-up from the associations ranked seventh to 16th and the third-placed teams from the associations ranked first to sixth.
  • The winners of the four finals will progress to round 2, into which six teams have direct entry. Five group stage places will be on offer in round 2.

Group 1
Hoffenheim (GER) vs Valur (ISL)
Zürich (SUI) vs AC Milan (ITA)

Group 2
Brøndby (DEN) vs Kristianstad (SWE)
Bordeaux (FRA) vs Slovácko (CZE)

Group 3
Levante (ESP) vs Celtic (SCO)
FC Minsk (BLR) vs Rosenborg (NOR)

Group 4
Arsenal (ENG) vs Okzhetpes (KAZ)
PSV Eindhoven (NED) vs Lokomotiv Moskva (RUS)

Enter in round 2: Lyon (FRA), Wolfsburg (GER), Manchester City (ENG), Slavia Praha (CZE), Rosengård (SWE), Real Madrid (ESP)