English clubs will not be awarded fourth place in Europe despite the addition of a second European club competition from 2025 and an expansion of the Women's Champions League.
The top three teams from the Women's Super League currently qualify for the Women's Champions League and UEFA says it cannot leave the rest of Europe behind in the main domestic competitions.
Under the new structure, the WSL's second and third-placed teams will find themselves in the new second-tier competition if they lose in the Champions League qualifying rounds - which Arsenal and Manchester United did this season - but no team will finish below third place in the qualifying rounds. the WSL will play in Europe.
England's top division ranks fourth in UEFA's women's rankings, behind France, Germany and Spain. Currently, the top six ranked countries each receive three places in the Women's Champions League (UWCL), competing in different rounds. None of the six highest-ranked countries will receive additional qualifying places after 2025, with lower-ranked countries receiving additional places instead.
Nadine Kessler, UEFA head of women's football, told Telegraph Sport: "Entry into the UWCL must be earned.
"We have a responsibility to drive development across the continent. Women's football is still at a stage where, with some smart investments and the arrival of new people, the picture can change quickly.
"Sometimes I feel like in women's football it's seen as 'now we have to do everything we can to get the best, very elite brands involved and make them big'. No, it has to be balanced, because many clubs and countries have also contributed to where we are now."
'You cannot benefit from the history of your men's team'
In October, after his side were knocked out of UWCL qualifying by Paris St-Germain, Manchester United manager Marc Skinner said it was 'crazy' that the two clubs had met at such an early stage. Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor, whose team were knocked out by Real Madrid in both the 2021 and 2022 qualifying rounds, also said of the existing format: "It's a shame because you lose teams that should probably be in the group stages."
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But Kessler, who did not mention either Manchester club directly, said: "While I also smiled a little at some of the recent comments that certain historically great men's clubs cannot compete, I have to say that you have to earn your success and you can not building on the history of your men's team.
"Existing major brands that have now invested [in women's football] in recent years, and fair enough, when they run women's football [teams] Professionally speaking, they deserve all the credit in the world, but we can't now just say, 'OK, I'll concentrate on the five top leagues, I'll give you four or five places', despite a domestic league being very small. compared to what we know of the men's game, for example, and simply saying, 'Okay, we'll leave the rest behind.' I don't think that's the right approach.
"The WSL is a good example because there are only twelve teams. I think three places for a competition with twelve teams in our own country is not that bad."
Question and answer
What does the new Women's Champions League look like?
Instead of the existing group stage of 16 teams, with four groups of four, the UWCL will move to a competition stage of 18 teams from 2025 according to the so-called 'Swiss' model.
Each club plays once against six other clubs - half at home, half away - instead of against three opponents both home and away.
Kessler said: "I appreciate that this is a new format that isn't really known to the men yet, so it's quite difficult to 'get' it at first, but we wanted to create a system where there are more clashes between the men. equal teams sooner.
"I think the other exciting factor is that there are six different opponents [for each team], so every time there is a new, exciting competition. That was the best way for this match."
At the end of this 18-team competition phase, the top four teams will automatically qualify for the quarter-finals, where they will be seeded and have home advantage for their second leg in the quarter-finals. Those in fifth through twelfth places will play a two-legged play-off for the remaining four quarter-finals.
Who will participate?
The new 18-team competition phase will automatically include the defending UWCL champions, plus the domestic title winners in at least each other's top six countries, plus the runners-up in the top two countries.
"We injected quality into the group stage with two more runners-up and the national champions from three to six qualifying directly. That is also a huge step forward," said Kessler.
The remaining nine spots will be filled by teams that progress from the new qualifying rounds.
How has the UWCL qualification process changed?
The qualification process will continue to separate domestic champions from the lower-ranked countries from the second and third-placed sides from the higher-ranked countries, as is currently the case, with a 'Champions Path' and a 'League Path'. This guarantees that at least four of the nine qualifiers that make it to the 18-team league stage will be from lower-ranked domestic competitions.
The other five qualifiers are domestic second and third seeded teams from a higher ranked league such as the WSL.
The 'League Path' has proven notoriously difficult in recent years and has resulted in last year's finalists Wolfsburg and last year's semi-finalists Arsenal both being eliminated this season, as well as Manchester United.
With the domestic runners-up going straight into the new 18-team league stage from 2025, that should theoretically make the 'League Path' a little easier for a WSL side to navigate. This term would mean, for example, that Wolfsburg and PSG, the team that eliminated Manchester United, bypassed the qualifying rounds.
Another subtle but significant change is that more 'League Path' teams from higher ranked countries will participate in the second qualifying round rather than the first, and this has been done specifically to try and extend the rest period for some of those players. who are usually involved in the final stages of a World Cup, European Championship or Olympic Games.
"We've talked a lot about player well-being," Kessler said. "That was also something that was taken into account everywhere. We really tried to listen to feedback. Of course we want the players to get some rest, that is fundamental."
What format will the new second-tier competition use?
The new competition, which has not yet been named, will use a knockout format, involving a total of 44 teams, and will be reduced to a 'round of 16′ after two initial, two-legged knockout rounds.
When discussing the format of the competition, Kessler said: "We felt like this was a first step. We wanted to keep it simple. That's why we went for a simple knockout, and as a starting point I think this is the right decision.
"The nice connection with the UWCL is that teams eliminated in the earlier rounds are given a second chance, which adds to this competition."
On which nights of the week are these matches played?
The men's Champions League matches are reserved for Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, while the Europa League and Europa Conference League matches take place on Thursday.
When asked whether UWCL matches and matches for the new second-tier competition would be scheduled for separate evenings for broadcast purposes, Kessler explained that this had not yet been decided, but said: "A working group is currently underway, together with the clubs. We expect to go to market [putting the broadcast rights out to tender] in the first quarter of next year, and then of course we will always try to plan matches in such a way that there is visibility."
UEFA's women's club tournaments run on a four-year cycle and therefore all existing formats will remain in place for next season, the 2024-2025 season. In 2021, streaming service DAZN inked a four-year deal until 2025 for the global rights to broadcast UWCL matches live.
