SWPL on Tour
Hibernian and Glasgow City's opponents for UWCL qualifying are now known, we have looked into each of them and explained the new format if they make it to the competition proper.
The balls have been swirled around and plucked out of their little bowls while our UEFA hosts make light banter on stage. The ties set for Hibernian and Glasgow City as they enter UWCL qualifying at the second round with a new competition format on the horizon if they qualify. Failure to qualify is also no longer the end of the European adventure it once was, the Europa Cup’s introduction providing a second chance - more on that below.
For Hibernian, it is a first Champions League entry since the 2019/20 season when they were knocked out in the round of 32 by Slavia Prague. Glasgow City return to the competition after only one season away, having represented the SWPL in 16 of the last 17 UWCL competitions.
First, a quick reminder of the qualifying format. There are two paths to the UWCL, the Champions Path and the League Path. Hibernian enter the Champions Path against the 22 Champions from leagues ranked 7-28 plus the six successful round one teams. Glasgow City enter the League Path against the 12 runners up from leagues ranked 6-17 and the four third placed finishers in leagues 4-7.
Both paths follow the same format, a mini-tournament is drawn of two semi-finals and a final all played at a single venue (that venue usually confirmed a day or two after the draw is made). The winners of those mini-tournaments progress to a two-legged knockout round three. In that round, a seeded team is drawn against an unseeded team. Seven teams have already qualified for this round. St Pölten in the Champions Path; Real Madrid, BK Häcken, Paris FC, Atlético Madrid, Eintracht Frankfurt, and Sporting CP in the League Path.
Hibernian
Hibernian have been drawn against Fortuna Hjørring. Apollon vs BSC Young Boys is the other semi-final in their mini tournament.
Their Opposition
Fortuna Hjørring
The Danish champions join the competition again after a two season absence. In their last entry they were knocked out by Eintracht Frankfurt, before losing the third place mini-tournament playoff against Kristianstads in extra time.
They won their first league title since 2020 last season, with a Danish cup trophy to add to their successes. In large part thanks to Omewa Joy Ogochukwu, a 5’10 Nigerian youth international striker. She scored 22 times in 24 league games across the 2024/25 season, Siobhan Hunter and Linzi Taylor will have their hands full dealing with her presence.
Leading the club for minutes played last season was Romania captain Florentina Olar-Spânu, the 39 year old midfielder refusing to age with the rest of us as she featured in 2,153 or the 2,160 minutes available in the league last season. Ever present and full of experience, she’s certainly one to look out for.
Apollon vs BSC Young Boys
Apollon are on a run of 15 consecutive UWCL entries, however they haven’t progressed through qualifying since the 2018/19 season. They were knocked out by Slovenia’s ZNK Mura last season during the mini-tournament final.
In the Cypriot champions’ squad there are two familiar faces for Hibernian fans, both Krystyna Freda and Eleni Giannou representing the Limassol based club. Both spending time in Edinburgh during the 2022/23 season.
Their opponents, BSC Young Boys, are entering the UWCL for only the third time with their most recent entry back in the 2011/12 season.
They have recently lost star player Iman Beney to Manchester City, but do still have another young star in their ranks. 18 year old Naomi Luyet scored eight in 11 games last season. Midfielders Noa Linn Münger and Stéphanie Waeber will have something to prove having missed out on the Switzerland squad for the home Euros this summer despite playing a large part in their clubs league success.
Glasgow City
Glasgow City have been drawn against Austria Wien, with FC Minsk awaiting in the final of the three team mini-tournament.
Their Opposition
Austria Wien
Austria’s runners up are a bit of an unknown entity going into this, having only existed as ‘Austria Wien’ since 2021/22. The club last participated in the UWCL in 2018/19 as USC Landhaus Wien, finishing third in their mini-tournament.
Bolstered by Austrian national team defenders Virginia Kirchberger, Carina Wenninger, and Katharina Schietl who can boast over 400 caps between them. Austria Wien are going to be a tough task to break down.
Up front, last season’s player of the year and top scorer for the past two seasons, Verena Volkmer, retired this summer which does leave a huge gap for the club to fill prior to these games.
FC Minsk
FC Minsk are the highest seed in the mini-tournament, and therefore get a bye to the final. They have participated in every edition of the UWCL since 2014/15, most notably beating Celtic 3-2 after extra time in the third place playoff in 2021/22.
A Change in Format
This season will see a major change to the format of the Champions League. The group stage is gone after just four years, replaced by the Swiss model ‘League Phase’ as we have seen in the men’s game.
18 teams will qualify for the new first round of the competition proper. Nine of those qualifying automatically with Arsenal, Chelsea, Lyon, PSG, Bayern Munich, Wolfsburg, Juventus, Benfica, and Barcelona already confirmed in the competition.
Rather than being drawn into a group of four and playing the other three teams home and away, the new competition format means that teams will be drawn against six different teams. Playing three of those fixtures at home, and three away. With results determining the standings of a league table containing all the teams.
To ensure every team has a comparable level of difficulty amongst these fixtures the club coefficient rankings will determine three pots. The six top seeds in pot one, then the next six highest ranked sides in pot two, and finally the six lowest ranked teams in pot three. Teams will be drawn against two clubs from each pot with one game at home and one away.
We can almost predict what pot Hibs and Glasgow City will be in. Club coefficient scores are determined by results over the last five seasons, or 20% of the country’s coefficient score if this is higher.
As Hibernian haven’t entered European competition since the 2019/20 season they will take the SWPL score of 2.4 which would put them 99th in the current rankings, just above Iceland’s Stjarnan. This means they will almost certainly be in pot three should they qualify.
For Glasgow City prospects are higher as they have 10 points earning a ranking of 44th in the club coefficient, that is still likely to be towards the lower end of the competition if they qualify. But, there are a number of teams ranked below them that have high prospects of qualifying so a pot two berth is possible if they do qualify.