2026-27 UWCL Qualifying Rounds

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The 2026-27 UEFA Women's Champions League consists of three phases: qualifying rounds, a league stage, and the knockout round. Nine teams have automatic berths to the main league stage: the champions of the top six associations, the runners-up of the top two associations, and the defending champions. The other nine spots in the league stage are determined by three qualifying rounds.

There are two branches for the qualifying rounds: the Champions' Path, awarding four berths among the remaining national champions; and the League Path, awarding five berths to second and third-place teams from the top 17 nations.

Entry points for teams are indicated by this chart, based on associations' position in the 2025 ranking:

RankAssociations1st2nd3rd
1England MainMainL3
2France
3Spain L3
4Germany L2
5Italy
6Portugal L2
7Sweden C2
8-17NOR, NED, AUT, CZE,
UKR, DEN, SUI,
ALB, SCO, CYP
18-28ISL, SRB, BLR, BEL,
SLO, CRO, ROU, BIH,
KAZ, TUR, FIN
29+All other associationsC1

In addition, the defending champions enter in the Main Stage, and the holders of the Europa Cup would enter in round C3.
These starting locations will be adjusted based on vacancies.

Rebalancing

Each empty space in the starting grid is filled via procedures spelled out by UEFA in the competition regulations. For a summary of how this was applied in the 2026-27 season, see the Entries page.

Champions' Path

Round 1

Round 1 consists of four-team mini-tournaments held at a single site. There will be five groups.
The entrants are seeded based on their 2026 club coefficient, with the top 10 being seeded and the remainder unseeded. Each group will have two seeded teams. Most groups will have two unseeded teams; some may have only one unseeded team.
For each group with four teams, there are two semifinals (each featuring a seeded team and an unseeded team), a third-place game, and a final. Only the winning team advances to Round 2, and all other teams' European seasons are over. In any group with three teams, the highest-ranked seeded team gets a bye to the final, while the other two teams play the semifinal.

Qualified teams, organized by coefficient

Seeded Teams Unseeded Teams
TeamAssocCoeff TeamAssocCoeff
FerencvarosHUN11
GintraLTU10.5
Racing UnionLUX8.5
PAOKGRE8
Spartak MyjavaSVK6WrexhamWAL0.8
FloraEST5.5 ZimbruMDA0.9
MitrovicaKOS4 LudogoretsBUL1.0
GlentoranNIR4 Hapoel KatamonISR1.2
KIFRO4 Nike-LussoGEO1.3
Athlone TownIRL2.5SkopjeMKD1.3
PyunikARM2.5 BuducnostMNE1.3
NeftciAZE2 Mgarr UnitedMLT1.5
Czarni SosnowiecPOL1.6Riga FCLVA1.5

The teams were drawn into five groups, as follows:

SemifinalsFinalPts
PAOK
Hapoel
Group P1 at TBD Third place Pts
Neftci
Buducnost

SemifinalsFinalPts
KI
Ludogorets
Group P2 at TBD Third place Pts
Mitrovica
Zimbru

SemifinalsFinalPts
Pyunik
Wrexham
Group P3 at TBD Third place Pts
Glentoran
Riga FC

SemifinalsFinalPts
Czarni
Nike-Lusso
Group P4 at TBD Third place Pts
Athlone Town
Skopje

SemifinalFinalPts
Flora
Mgarr United
Group P5 at TBD Third place Pts
Spartak Myjava bye 1.0

Round 2

Round 2 also consists of four-team mini-tournaments held at a single site. There are 28 teams (23 of which start here and 5 survivors from C1) drawn into seven groups.
The entrants are seeded based on their 2026 club coefficient, with the top 14 being seeded and the remainder unseeded. Each group will have two seeded teams and two unseeded teams.
For each group, there are two semifinals (each featuring a seeded team and an unseeded team), a third-place game, and a final. The winners advance to Round 3. Second and third place teams transfer to the Women's Europa Cup, beginning in Round 2 and Round 1 respectively. Fourth place teams are eliminated from European play completely.

Qualified teams, organized by coefficient

No Round 1 team has a coefficient high enough to be seeded.

Seeded Teams Unseeded Teams
TeamAssocCoeff TeamAssocCoeff
Sparta PrahaCZE21
BrannNOR21 Group P1 winnersN/A≤8
BreidablikISL15 Group P2 winnersN/A≤8
VllazniaALB14 Group P3 winnersN/A≤8
OH LeuvenBEL12.2 Group P4 winnersN/A≤8
MuraSVN12 Group P5 winnersN/A≤8
ApollonCYP12 FenerbahceTUR1.5
SFK 2000BIH11 Hajduk SplitCRO1.9
FerencvarosHUN11 TSCSRB1.9
GintraLTU10.5 AktobeKAZ2
Dinamo MinskBLR10.5HJKFIN2
KogeDEN10.5 Heart of MidlothianSCO2.6
Austria WienAUT10 Farul ConstantaROU4.5
Metalist 1925UKR 9 PSVNED5.5
Racing UnionLUX 8.5 ServetteSUI8.5

The teams were drawn into seven groups, as follows:

SemifinalsFinalPts
Austria Wien
Hajduk Split
Group C1 at TBD Third place Pts
Mura
Farul Constanta

SemifinalsFinalPts
Brann
Winner P2
Group C2 at TBD Third place Pts
Ferencvaros
Winner P1

SemifinalsFinalPts
Dinamo Minsk
Servette
Group C3 at TBD Third place Pts
Breidablik
Aktobe

SemifinalsFinalPts
SFK 2000
PSV
Group C4 at TBD Third place Pts
Racing Union
HJK

SemifinalsFinalPts
Metalist 1925
Fenerbahce
Group C5 at TBD Third place Pts
OH Leuven
TSC

SemifinalsFinalPts
Vllaznia
Winner P5
Group C6 at TBD Third place Pts
Apollon
Winner P4

SemifinalsFinalPts
Gintra
Hearts
Group C7 at TBD Third place Pts
Koge
Winner P3

Round 3

Round 3 consists of home-and-away series. Eight teams compete in this stage. One team begins here, filling the vacancy created by the promotion of last season's UWEC champion. They are joined by the seven winners of round C2. The winners advance to the League Stage, while the losers fall to the second qualifying round of the Europa Cup.

League Path

Round 2

The League Path does not have a Round 1. Round 2 consists of four-team mini-tournaments held at a single site. The 16 entrants are seeded based on their 2026 club coefficient, with the top 8 being seeded and the remainder unseeded. Four groups will be drawn, each with two seeded teams and two unseeded teams.
For each group with four teams, there are two semifinals (each featuring a seeded team and an unseeded team), a third-place game, and a final. The winning team advances to Round 3. As with the Champions' Path, second and third place teams transfer to the Women's Europa Cup, beginning in Round 2 and Round 1 respectively. Fourth place teams are eliminated from European play completely.

Qualified teams, organized by coefficient

Seeded Teams Unseeded Teams
JuventusITA51 OmoniaCYP2.0
Eintracht FrankfurtGER28 ApoloniaALB2.5
St. PoltenAUT26 SeaStersUKR3.0
HammarbySWE23.5 RangersSCO4
Slavia PrahaCZE23 BrondbyDEN4.5
ValerengaNOR21 MalmoSWE5.9
AjaxNED20.5 Young BoysSUI6
Sporting LisbonPOR13 TorreensePOR7.4

The teams were drawn into four groups.

SemifinalsFinalPts
Ajax
Brondby
Group L1 at TBD Third place Pts
Slavia Praha
Rangers

SemifinalsFinalPts
Juventus
Torreense
Group L2 at TBD Third place Pts
Hammarby
Apolonia

SemifinalsFinalPts
Valerenga
Malmo
Group L3 at TBD Third place Pts
Eintracht Frankfurt
Omonia

SemifinalsFinalPts
Sporting Lisbon
SeaSters
Group L4 at TBD Third place Pts
St. Polten
Young Boys

Round 3

Round 3 consists of home-and-away series. Ten teams compete in this stage. Six teams begin at this stage, the runner-ups of the associations 3-5 and the third-place teams from the top three associations. They are joined by the four winners of round two. The winners advance to the League Stage, while the losers fall to the second qualifying round of the Europa Cup.

Seeded Teams Unseeded Teams
TeamAssocCoeff TeamAssocCoeff
ChelseaENG95 Inter MilanITA 9.1
WolfsburgGER73
Paris St GermainFRA63
Real MadridESP60

Real Sociedad (ESP) has a coefficient of 15.