Article 13 Competition stages and seeding - Women's Champions League

13.01

All matches in the competition are played in conformity with the IFAB Laws of the Game. The half-time interval lasts 15 minutes.

13.02

The competition stages are as follows (see Annex B):

• champions path, composed of:

  • a preliminary round, if more than 50 associations enter clubs in the competition;

  • round 1;

  • round 2;

• league path, composed of:

  • round 1;

  • round 2;

• group stage (six matchdays);

• knock-out stage:

  • quarter-finals;

  • semi-finals;

  • final.

13.03

Clubs are seeded for round 1, round 2 and the group stage, in accordance with the club coefficient rankings established at the beginning of the season (see Annex D) and with the principles set by the Women's Football Committee. If, for any reason, any of the participants in such rounds are not known at the time of the draw, the coefficient of the club with the higher coefficient of the two clubs involved in an undecided tie is used for the purposes of the draw.

13.04

For the draw for round 1, the teams are seeded into two pots, in accordance with the club coefficient rankings established at the beginning of the season (see Annex D) and with Paragraph 13.03. Teams are drawn into two semi-final ties within each four-team group, with the teams in pot 1 designated as the home teams of semi-finals 1 and 2 respectively. For the final and third-place match, the team with the highest coefficient in the tie concerned is designated as the home team. In case it is necessary to draw teams into groups of three teams, the team with the highest coefficient is seeded directly to the final and designated as the home team of that tie; the remaining two teams play a single-leg tie, with the team from pot 1 designated as the home team. The UEFA administration may form groups for the draw in accordance with the principles set by the Women’s Football Committee.

13.05

For round 2, a draw between the same number of seeded and unseeded clubs determines the pairings, in accordance with the club coefficient rankings (see Annex D) and with Paragraph 13.03. The UEFA administration may form groups for the draw in accordance with the principles set by the Women's Football Committee. Clubs from the same association cannot be drawn against each other.

13.06

The ties are determined by means of a draw. Unless indicated otherwise in these regulations, the club drawn first plays the first leg of the tie at home.

13.07

For the purpose of the draw, the 16 clubs involved in the group stage are seeded into four draw pots of four teams. The first pot comprises the titleholder (top seed) and the domestic champions of the three associations ranked highest in the access list (see Annex A). If the titleholder is the domestic champion of one of the top three associations, the fourth team in the pot is the domestic champion of the association ranked fourth in the access list. The other three pots are composed in accordance with the club coefficient rankings established at the beginning of the season (see Annex D).

13.08

For the quarter-finals, the group winners are seeded above the runners-up.

13.09

The UEFA administration may decide that a tie be played in one leg, if circumstances so require, and will set the principles for determining the winner accordingly.