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Women’s Champions League 2023: Arsenal, Chelsea, and City Face Tough Draws
Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City have all landed heavyweight assignments in a revamped Women’s Champions League league phase that reads like a who’s who of European royalty.
Arsenal dropped into a gauntlet
Arsenal’s reward for a place in pot one is as glamorous as it is unforgiving. They will share a league phase with holders Barcelona and eight-time champions Lyon – the two dominant forces of the modern women’s game.
Jonas Eidevall’s side will host Lyon, Benfica and HB Koge, the Danish club they dismantled home and away in the 2021-22 campaign. Those fixtures at Meadow Park offer a degree of familiarity and, on paper, opportunity.
The real test lies on the road. Arsenal must travel to Barcelona, Paris FC and Inter Milan as they chase a deep run in Europe once more. A trip to Catalonia to face the reigning champions, followed by nights in Paris and Milan, is a schedule that will stretch both squad depth and nerve.
Chelsea’s Lyon reunion and a demanding road
Chelsea, beaten finalists in 2020-21, also emerge with a draw that crackles with storylines.
In London, they will welcome Paris St-Germain, Roma and league-phase debutants Austria Wien. Those home ties at Kingsmeadow should be noisy, high-stakes occasions, particularly with PSG again cast as a direct rival to English ambitions.
The narrative spikes in France. Manager Sonia Bompastor will return to her former club Lyon, the record Champions League winners, in what promises to be one of the standout fixtures of the round. Chelsea’s away schedule is completed by trips to Swedish side Hacken and OH Leuven in Belgium – journeys that may not carry Lyon’s glamour but will demand focus in tight, potentially freezing autumn and winter windows.
City back in Europe and eyeing a statement
After a season watching from the sidelines, Manchester City return to Europe as Women’s Super League champions, but from the unfamiliar vantage point of pot three. The seeding looked harsh. The draw offers some relief.
Andrée Jeglertz’s team have avoided the absolute worst-case scenario yet still face a serious examination. At home, City will take on PSG, Real Madrid and Austria Wien – a trio that guarantees high-profile nights in Manchester and little margin for error.
Away from home, the task sharpens. City must go to Bayern Munich, Hacken and Inter Milan. A trip to Munich to face last season’s semi-finalists stands out, a direct measure of where this City side sit against the Bundesliga’s best.
Barcelona, Bayern and a bracket full of blockbusters
Beyond the English interest, Friday’s draw in Nyon, Switzerland, delivered several heavyweight clashes. Barcelona and Bayern Munich will replay their 2025-26 semi-final, this time in Munich, while Bayern also head to Paris to face PSG in another meeting loaded with recent history and tension.
All 18 clubs were split into three pots of six, with each team drawn against two opponents – one home, one away – from each pot. Arsenal and Chelsea sat in pot one, City in pot three, shaping a grid that should keep the competition’s biggest names colliding from September through December.
The road to Warsaw
Uefa will confirm the full match schedule on Saturday, 5 September, but the framework is already set.
The league phase opens on 22 and 23 September and runs through six matchdays:
- Matchday 1: 22/23 September
- Matchday 2: 30 September/1 October
- Matchday 3: 28/29 October
- Matchday 4: 10/11 November
- Matchday 5: 18/19 November
- Matchday 6: 16 December
From there, the stakes climb. Knockout phase play-offs arrive in February 2027, the quarter-finals in March and the semi-finals in early May. The season will culminate in Warsaw in the final week of May, with one club emerging from this crowded field of giants to lift the trophy.
For Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City, the path is clear. It is also brutal. How many English sides will still be standing when the road finally bends towards Poland?
