Women's Champions League: briefly about the tournament
Less than a month is left until the start of the qualifying round of the Champions League, where our "Dinamo-BSUPC" will play. We have already presented the first opponent (Apollo Ladies), and now it is time to tell a little about the tournament itself, since our debut season 2021/2022 has a new format.
One of the major changes is that the round of 16 will be replaced by the 16-club group stage. The current Champions League winner "Barcelona", as well as the champions of the three best UEFA associations: France ("PSG"), Germany ("Bayern") and Spain ("Barcelona"), already have direct tickets to this stage. Since "Barcelona" is both the current winner of the international tournament and the champion of Spain, the slot for another participant in the group round goes to the champion of the fourth association in the UEFA ranking - "Chelsea" (England). By the way, the updated format of the tournament allows not only "Dinamo-BSUPC" but also WFT "Minsk" to take part in the European cups.
As you know, our team will move along the Path of Champions (the total number of clubs is 46): the champions of three associations (England, Sweden, Czech Republic, but since the champion of England got into the group stage, comes the champion of Denmark) start from the second round, the rest - from the first. Teams are divided into mini-tournaments: ten mini-tournaments with four teams and one mini-tournament with three.
The tournaments will be held in one location in the format of one-match semi-finals, followed by a match for third place and a final match. Only the finals winners will advance to the second round.
The champions of associations rated 4-6 and the winners of the first round will continue to fight in the second round, where they will be paired and play a match at home and away. In the second round, the teams will compete for seven tickets to the group stage.
In addition, the UEFA Women's Champions League will be even closer to fans around the world. UEFA has announced the first-ever four-year broadcast partnership with the sports streaming platform DAZN. Together with YouTube, it will provide quality coverage for women's football.
The football player of "Dinamo-BSUPC" and the player of the National team of Belarus Karyna Alkhovik shared its expectations from the upcoming matches.
- You will take part in the women's Champions League for the first time. What are the expectations from the tournament? What can you say about your opponents?
- It's true ... (laughs). To be honest, the expectations are ambitious: firstly, I just want to play and feel the Champions League atmosphere, because we had no previous experience of playing in such a tournament. Secondly, to please the fans with your game. But for now, we are concentrated on the matches of the domestic championship and will think about the opponents in the Champions League closer to these matches. Of course, we want to show our level in the international arena and do it as worthily as possible.
- Regarding the opponents, again, so far, I can't say anything much, there is not much information about them. Only about CSKA , as they play in the Russian league, and this league is very close to us. Neighbors! A fighting team that knows how to play combination football, with a good selection of quality players for all positions. There is no detailed information about Apollo yet, but I am sure that closer to these matches we will analyze each opponent in detail.
The goals are the highest: to get as far as possible in the tournament. Yes, we understand that it will not be easy, but we are optimistic and ready to play with any opponent, otherwise, why go out on the field then? (smiles)
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