While the men's Champions League has moved on to a new League Phase format, the Women's Champions League, at least for this season, has kept the familiar Group Stage format, with four groups of four teams playing each other twice. But with seven of the eight knockout spots decided with two games to play, is it competitive enough?
In short, no, it isn't. In fact, even UEFA are aware of this; it was announced in July this year that the Women's Champions League will not only get a revamp in line with the men's competitions next season, but a second competition will also be introduced.
This year's Women's Champions League has stood out against previous seasons for being heavily dominated by the typically elite women's clubs in Europe. With two full rounds of fixtures to go, seven of the eight places in the quarter-finals are already booked, with all of those clubs coming from the England, France, Germany or Spain.
On top of that, the one remaining spot in the last eight will be filled by either a German (Wolfsburg) or Italian (Roma) club, which means there's a strong possibility that only four leagues will be represented in the knockout stages of women's European football this season.
So how did this lack of competition come to be and what are UEFA doing about it?
This season so far
The start of the Women's Champions League group stage brought much excitement, with high profile games including Chelsea vs Real Madrid, Arsenal vs Bayern Munich and Manchester City vs Barcelona on the bill.
Whilst those games have not disappointed, the dominance of these elite teams has somewhat removed most of the suspense from the group stages.
In Groups B, C and D, both knockout stage places have already been booked; in all three groups, the side at the top won the home game against the side in second, but still face an away game against the team directly below them.
This does add a slight element of excitement in that first and second places in these groups is still undecided, but with all six clubs guaranteed passage to the last eight, there's every chance one or both clubs don't put 100% into this potentially irrelevant final game.
That's not to say that some games haven't been interesting; in the most recent round of fixtures, Manchester City battled to a difficult 2 - 1 win away to Swedish side Hammarby and Arsenal scored an 89th-minute winner to beat Juventus 1 - 0 and seal their spot in the quarter-finals.
But alongside these close, tense games, there have been those which have been less competitive.
Barcelona are the prime example of this, with 20 goals scored in their four games so far; they didn't score in their opening match...
It is beyond ridiculous the level to which Barcelona have outclassed both Hammarby and St. Polten, winning 9 - 0, 7 - 0 and 4 - 1 in their last three Champions League matches.
The one exception was Valerenga's outstanding performance to draw with Bayern Munich last time out.
Before we go into how little this actually matters, let's make one thing absolutely clear; this is a sensational result for the Norwegian Champions. This is their first time in the Women's Champions League Group Stages and yet still they've managed to draw with one of the powerhouses of European football.
There is one potentially significant outcome though; Arsenal would now win the group with any win over Bayern Munich in their final game (assuming they also beat Valerenga). Before Bayern's slip-up, the Gunners would've had the daunting task of overturning a three goal deficit.
Either way, both Bayern Munich and Arsenal are through, along with Manchester City, Barcelona, Chelsea, Real Madrid and Lyon.
The only remaining spot will be for the second place team in Group A. Lyon are already guaranteed to go through, with Wolfsburg and Roma tussling for the other spot in the quarter-finals.
It's possible that the group could be done and dusted by the end of Matchday Five; if Roma beat Wolfsburg in Germany they'll have a three point lead ahead of their Group A rivals and they'll have the head-to-head record wrapped up.
But if Roma get even a point, they're in a great position. They host bottom side Galatasaray on Matchday Six, while Wolfsburg have to make the difficult trip to Lyon.
So really the pressure is on Wolfsburg to get the win. But, if they do win the game by more than a goal, they guarantee safe progress before they have to play away to Lyon. This would of course give the German side a huge boost, but they will have to fight hard to earn it against a resolute Roma side who kept them out in the Italian capital.
This then is an exciting permutation; Wolfsburg must beat Roma otherwise they face the prospect of having to go to France and beat Lyon away from home.
But it is the only exciting permutation, at least in terms of qualifying for the quarter-finals.
So what are UEFA planning to do about it?
League Phase format
Much like the men's competition, the Women's Champions League will move over to a Swiss Model format next season. There will be two rounds of qualifiers (essentially three because of the Round 1 mini-tournaments) before an 18-club League Phase.
This functions in the same way as the men's European competitions, except each team plays six opponents rather than eight.
The clubs will be split into three pots. Each team will then be drawn a home game against a team from each pot and an away game against a team from each pot. This, in theory, creates a balanced fixture list, but in the men's competition the likes of PSG and RB Leipzig have found that this doesn't necessarily work.
After the initial 18-team League Phase, the top four clubs will qualify automatically for the quarter-finals. The sides ranked from 5th to 12th will play play-off matches over two legs for the remaining four spots in the last eight, with the sides finishing from 5th to 8th playing the second legs at home.
There are three main positives to this; the first and most significant one is that more teams get to play in the Champions League, both in the new League Phase and in the knockout stage, which has expanded from eight teams to twelve.
On top of that, for those sides who are used to being in Europe's elite competition, the format will provide teams with more opportunity to progress to the knockout stages and therefore more vital prize money, which hopefully will lead to more outstanding records.
But the most noticeable benefit, especially for those that have suffered the misfortune in recent years, is that their campaign can't be ruined by Barcelona. Harsh as it may sound, no team can pile the goals on like the Catalans.
Playing them twice in the same group was even too much for Arsenal a few years ago, who conceded eight goals in their two games against Barca in 2021.
Some were disappointed with the lack of a change to the qualifying format, but UEFA have thought of an alternative for that too.
New, secondary competition
UEFA will introduce a secondary, straight-knockout competition next season to run alongside the Women's Champions League. The format will see clubs enter in both the First and Second rounds, with 13 clubs qualifying directly for the secondary competition.
In the First Round, all 13 direct qualifiers will be involved immediately alongside 11 teams who win the third place play-off in the Champions League mini tournaments.
The 12 winners from this round will join the nine losers from the second qualifying round of the Champions League as well as the 11 clubs who lose their first round play-off finals.
Even though this format is a little complicated, it certainly makes for a great opportunity for women's clubs looking to make the leap to European football. From the Second Round onwards, it's a straight knockout tournament with nobody else entering. And as is the case with any knockout tournament, it really is anyone's game.
This complete overhaul of women's European club football is certainly a lot for clubs and supporters alike to get their heads around, but it is without a doubt a good decision.
For all the complaints of too many matches in the men's game, women need more opportunities to play elite level games. Most of the main European leagues consist of only 12 teams and therefore only require teams to play 22 games (although La Liga teams play 30).
This new competition will allow more teams to get that vital experience to then be able to compete in the Women's Champions League. It also finally provides some relevance to those third place play-offs in the first round of Champions League qualifying.
More games, more exposure for the elite level women's game and more excitement for the fans. What's not to like?
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