Women's Champions League group stage draw: Chelsea and Barcelona among teams to discover fate as Arsenal land in 'group of death' for 2024-25 campaign

The draw for this year's group stage was made on Friday and it has thrown up some tantalising fixtures. Reigning European champions Barcelona have been pooled with Man City, as the English side make the group stages for the first time since the competition changed format in 2021, while Chelsea, still chasing a first UWCL title, will take on Real Madrid.

Arsenal, meanwhile, have a much trickier European schedule on their plates, having landed in Group C with German champions Bayern Munich and a Juventus side that knocked out Paris Saint-Germain in qualifying. Two years ago, the Italian giants pushed eventual champions Lyon extremely close in the quarter-finals, losing just 4-3 on aggregate.

Group A is also something of a 'group of death' as it features eight-time champions Lyon, two-time champions Wolfsburg and a Roma side that has usurped Juventus as the best team in Italy, winning the Serie A title in each of the past two seasons. On their debut in this competition in 2022-23, Roma reached the quarter-finals, only losing out to Barcelona.

The group stages get underway on October 8/9, with the final fixtures of this round to take place on December 17/18. The knockout stages will then begin in March, building up to the final in May.