Romee Leuchter Linda Caicedo Lauren James PSG Real Madrid Chelsea split
Romee Leuchter Linda Caicedo Lauren James PSG Real Madrid Chelsea split
Chelsea will need to beat Real Sociedad in order to book their place in the Champions League league phase, with the Spanish outfit to travel to London for the first leg of that two-legged tie later this month. Sociedad have only been involved in the UWCL once before, when they lost in the second round of qualifying in the 2022-23 campaign. A third-placed finish in Liga F last year has given them another shot of making the main competition for the first time but they will face a tough test in qualifying after drawing Chelsea, finalists in 2021 and semi-finalists in three of the last four seasons.
The Blues did have a tough campaign last term, their worst in the Women's Super League for seven years, even. However, injuries played a major role in that and the club has been active in the summer transfer window in a bid to respond to that disappointment strongly, signing the likes of Katie McCabe, Melvine Malard, Giulia Dragoni and Manaka Matsukubo. It would be a real shock if they fell short of making the UWCL league phase.
Linda Caicedo Pau Quesada Real Madrid Women 2025-26
Linda Caicedo Pau Quesada Real Madrid Women 2025-26
Other notable ties set-up on Tuesday include a clash between Eintracht Frankfurt and Paris Saint-Germain. Frankfurt finished third in the Bundesliga last season and reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Women's Europa Cup, only eliminated by eventual champions Hacken. PSG, meanwhile, endured a terrible season in 2025-26 in Europe especially, finishing second-from-bottom in the Champions League league phase standings after collecting just two points from six games. They will need to improve to return to that stage in 2026-27.
Real Madrid, the three-time Champions League quarter-finalists, will take on Ajax, who reached the last eight of this competition in the 2023-24 campaign, in another tasty tie in the final qualifying round, while two-time winners Wolfsburg will face Inter, who finished second in Serie A last term.
Those ties are all on the league path of the qualifying round, as the clubs involved qualified based on their final league standing domestically, rather than by winning a title. There is then the champions path, which includes domestic champions such as PSV Eindhoven, recent quarter-finalists Brann and OH Leuven, the Belgian side who made the knockout stages of last season's Champions League.
Women's Champions League third qualifying round draw in full
League path:
Eintracht Frankfurt vs Paris Saint-Germain
St Polten vs Juventus
Wolfsburg vs Inter
Chelsea vs Real Sociedad
Ajax vs Real Madrid
Champions path:
Sparta Praha vs Servette
PSV Eindhoven vs HB Koge
Brann vs Austria Wien
OH Leuven vs Czarni Sosnowiec
Lauren James Chelsea Women 2025-26
Lauren James Chelsea Women 2025-26
The Women's Champions League third qualifying round ties will be played over two legs, with the first legs to come on August 26 and the second legs to follow a week later, on September 2. The nine winners will advance to the Champions League league phase, which Barcelona, Lyon, Bayern Munich, Arsenal, Hacken, Roma, Benfica, Paris FC and Manchester City have all already qualified for. The draw to determine the league phase fixtures will take place on September 4.
The nine losers in the UWCL third round qualifying ties, meanwhile, will enter the second qualifying round of the UEFA Women's Europa Cup, which was launched for the first time last season. The inaugural edition was won by Hacken, who beat fellow Swedes Hammarby in a two-legged final. The second round of UWEC qualifying takes place in late September, with the likes of Rangers, Hearts, Fenerbahce and Sporting all involved. That will whittle the draw down to 16 teams, who will then be entered into a competition which takes on a straight knockout format. The round of 16 will get underway in late October.