2016–17 UEFA Women's Champions League
The Cardiff City Stadium will host the final
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| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates |
Qualifying round: 23–28 August 2016 Knockout phase: 5 October 2016 – 1 June 2017 |
| Teams |
Knockout phase: 32 Total: 59 (from 47 associations) |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 102 |
| Goals scored | 428 (4.2 per match) |
| Attendance | 108,943 (1,068 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) | Zsanett Jakabfi (8 goals) |
The 2016–17 UEFA Women's Champions League is the 16th edition of the European women's club football championship organized by UEFA, and the 8th edition since being rebranded as the UEFA Women's Champions League.
The final will be held at the Cardiff City Stadium in Cardiff, Wales on 1 June 2017, two days before the final of the men's tournament played at the Millennium Stadium.
Lyon are the defending champions.
The tournament has been expanded such that the top 12 national associations (instead of the previous top 8) in the rankings are allowed to enter two teams in the competition.
The change has been criticised, as it does not increase performance at the top, but just broaden the competition. No increase in prize-money also has been criticised. For the first time the clubs receive money for flights to away games. The amount increases from €12,000 over €17,000 to €20,000 based on flight time.
A total of 59 teams from 47 of the 55 UEFA member associations participate in the 2016–17 UEFA Women's Champions League, which is a record number of entries. The ranking based on the UEFA Women's Champions League association coefficient is used to determine the number of participating teams for each association:
For the 2016–17 UEFA Women's Champions League, the associations are allocated places according to their 2015 UEFA Women's Champions League association coefficient, which takes into account their performance in European competitions from 2010–11 to 2014–15.
Scotland for the first time receive two entries in the UEFA Women's Champions League.
The format of the competition remains unchanged from previous years, starting from the qualifying round, which is played as mini-tournaments with four teams in each group, followed by the knockout phase starting from the round of 32, which is played as home-and-away two-legged ties except for the one-match final.
Unlike the men's Champions League, not every association enters a team, and so the exact number of teams in each round (qualifying round and round of 32) can not be determined until the full entry list is known. In general, the title holders, the champions of the top 12 associations, plus the runners-up of highest-ranked associations (exact number depending on the number of entries) receive a bye to the round of 32. All other teams (runners-up of lowest-ranked associations plus champions of associations starting from 13th) enter the qualifying round, with the group winners plus a maximum of two best runners-up advancing to the round of 32 to join the direct qualifiers.
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