Holders Arsenal to face Lyon in revamped Women’s Champions League

Holders Arsenal will take on eight-time winners Lyon as part of their opening fixtures of the revamped Women’s Champions League, which will see Chelsea play Barcelona and debutants Manchester United also face the French side.

For the first campaign under the new format, 18 teams were divided into three pots – with the Gunners and Chelsea among the top seeds and United placed in Pot 3 after they came through qualifying.

Each side faces six different teams – two from each of the three pots – in the league phase. Half of the fixtures are at home and half away, with Matchday 1 set to be played on October 7/8. The top four in the final league standings will then go straight through to the quarter-finals.

Clubs finishing from fifth down to 12th place will face a two-legged play-off during February to reach the knockout stage, which begins at the end of March.

The final will be held at the Ullevaal Stadion in Oslo, Norway next May.

The full fixture list for the opening league phase is set to be confirmed by UEFA on Saturday.

Arsenal beat Barcelona in Lisbon last season to win a second title.

Renee Slegers’ side face a testing initial schedule for the new Champions League campaign, with home fixtures against Lyon and Real Madrid as well as a trip to Bayern Munich.

Arsenal’s other games will be home against Dutch side Twente and away to both Benfica and Belgian side Leuven, who are making their European debut.

Slegers hopes the new format, which follows on from changes in the men’s tournament, will provide plenty of “competitive” fixtures.

“It is the first time we do it in the women’s game, and if you look at the different games that are going to be played, there is a lot of competitive games,” she said.

“I think that is why UEFA changed the format as well, to keep it as competitive as possible for as long as possible.”

Women’s Super League champions Chelsea will be at home to Barcelona, who have beaten them in the Champions League semi-finals for the last three seasons.

Chelsea’s other home ties will be against Roma and qualifiers Paris St Germain, with away dates to former European champions Wolfsburg, Twente and Austrians St. Polten.

Manchester United, who came past Norwegian club Brann to reach the Women’s Champions League for the first time, will be at home against Lyon.

Marc Skinner’s side also travel to Wolfsburg, Juventus and Atletico Madrid, with their other home fixtures against PSG and Valerenga of Norway.