Matildas Abroad: UWCL group stage decided

The UEFA Women's Champions League group stage has been drawn, with plenty of Matildas going head-to-head for a chance to advance to the quarter-finals.

The revamped competition format will feature a 16-team group stage, replacing the round of 16. The group stage has some huge match-ups in all four groups. With Aussies going head-to-head in Group A and C, UEFA Women's Champions League holders Lyon will tackle Arsenal. While Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain have all been placed in the same group.

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All games group stage games will be streamed for free within Australia on DAZN and shown live on their YouTube channel.

Reigning champions Lyon and fellow direct entrants Wolfsburg, Chelsea and Paris were joined in the draw by the 12 winners from round 2 of qualifying.

Each side will play against each other in a home-and-away round-robin format, and the top two teams at the end of the group stage will advance to the quarter-finals.

Group A

Sam Kerr's Chelsea will open their UWCL campaign away to Lydia Williams' Paris Saint-Germain, who were knocked out of the competition last season in the semi-finals by the eventual winners, Lyon. 

Emma Hayes’ side will then host back-to-back home matches with Albanian Champions, Vllaznia first up and then hosting Spain’s Real Madrid. 


PSG qualified for the group stage after beating BK Häcken in two legs of qualifying, with the fixture ending 4-1 on aggregate. 

Paris Saint-Germain vs Chelsea
Date: Friday, October 21
Kick-off: 6:00 am AEDT

Group C

Caitlin Foord and Steph Catley's Arsenal will be competing in Group C alongside Ellie Carpenter's Olympique Lyonnais. The two sides will start their group stage campaign against one another, with the fixture hosted in France.

The reigning champions have played the English side previously in the competition, with Lyon beating the Gunners in the 2011 semi-finals. 

Arsenal will then host Zürich in London, with the sides the last meeting in this competition in 2008 when the Gunners won 7-2. 

Lyon will take on Italian side Juventus, with the two sides meeting last season in the quarter-finals with the French side winning 4-3 on aggregate. 

Arsenal will face their former head coach Joe Montemurro, who led Juventus to a history-making campaign last season in the Seria A Women. 

Lyon vs Arsenal
Date: Thursday, October 20
Kick-off: 6:00 am AEDT

Group D

Lastly, Teagan Micah's FC Rosengård have been drawn into Group D alongside FC Barcelona, FC Bayern München and SL Benfica. 

The Swedish side will kick off their campaign away to Bayern, travelling to Germany to face last season's quarter-finalists. 


Rosengård will then host the Spanish Champions, FC Barcelona. The two sides met back in the 2016/17 edition of the competition, with Barca knocking out Rosengård in the quarter-finals, ending 3-0 on aggregate. 

FC Bayern München vs FC Rosengård
Date: Thursday, October 20
Kick-off: 3:45 am AEDT