Emma Hayes is the last manager of an English club left standing in the Women’s Champions League, which, given the group stages are only just kicking off this week, makes difficult reading for Jonas Eidevall and Marc Skinner. While Chelsea and Hayes go again in their quest to win a first European honour, in what is their final season together, Arsenal, last year’s semi-finalists, are already out. As are Manchester United, Chelsea’s closest challengers last season.
Yet Arsenal and United were not even the biggest casualties of the Women’s Champions League’s notoriously tricky qualifying process. Last season’s beaten finalists Wolfsburg, the German giants and two-time European champions, are already out as well. Paris FC were responsible for the exits of both Arsenal and Wolfsburg, who played each other in last season’s semi-finals but this year fell victims to the dreaded ‘league path’, criticism of which has reignited the debate around the tournament’s format.
