The 2016–17 UEFA Women's Champions League was the 16th edition of the European women's club football championship organised by UEFA, and the 8th edition since being rebranded as the UEFA Women's Champions League.
The final was 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 were the defending champions, and successfully defended their title after defeating Paris Saint-Germain in the final 7–6 on penalties after a goalless draw, and equalled Frankfurt's record of four European titles.
Expansion The tournament was expanded such that the top 12 national associations (instead of the previous top 8) in the rankings were allowed to enter two teams in the competition.
The change has been criticized, as it broadens the tournament but doesn't add teams from top countries. The lack of an increase in prize-money also has been criticized. 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.
Association team allocation A total of 59 teams from 47 of the 55 UEFA member associations participated in the 2016–17 UEFA Women's Champions League, which was 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: Associations 1–12 each have two teams qualify. All other associations, should they enter, each have one team qualify. The winners of the 2015–16 UEFA Women's Champions League were given an additional entry if they do not qualify for the 2016–17 UEFA Women's Champions League through their domestic league. Since the title holders Lyon qualified through their domestic league, the additional entry for the Champions League title holders was not necessary for this season.
Association ranking For the 2016–17 UEFA Women's Champions League, the associations were 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.
RankAssociationCoeff.Teams1 Germany96.00022 France76.0003 Sweden61.5004 England58.0005 Russia44.0006 Spain41.0007 Denmark39.0008 Italy35.0009 Austria32.50010 Czech Republic32.00011 Scotland29.00012 Norway27.50013 Switzerland27.000114 Cyprus19.00015 Poland18.50016 Kazakhstan18.00017 Netherlands17.00018 Iceland17.00019 Belgium17.000RankAssociationCoeff.Teams20 Hungary15.500121 Serbia14.00022 Romania14.00023 Finland13.00024 Lithuania11.00025 Republic of Ireland11.00026 Turkey11.00027 Ukraine11.00028 Belarus11.00029 Greece10.50030 Slovenia10.00031 Portugal9.50032 Bosnia and Herzegovina9.00033 Croatia8.00034 Israel8.00035 Bulgaria6.50036 Slovakia6.50037 Estonia5.000RankAssociationCoeff.Teams38 Faroe Islands4.000139 Wales3.00040 Macedonia3.00041 Northern Ireland2.00042 Albania1.50043 Montenegro1.00044 Moldova0.50045 Malta0.00046 Latvia0.00047 Luxembourg0.0000 48 Georgia0.000 Kosovo0.0001 Andorra0 Armenia Azerbaijan Gibraltar Liechtenstein San Marino Notes – Additional berth for title holders – Did not enter – No rank (association did not enter in the five seasons used for computing coefficients)
Distribution 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.
With 59 entries for this season, the lowest-ranked 36 teams enter the qualifying round (9 groups), with only the 9 group winners advancing to the round of 32 to join the 23 direct qualifiers.
Teams The following list the teams that qualified and entered this season's competition. Here CH denotes the national champion, RU the national runner-up. Entries from 49 associations were possible. Three associations have no current league (Azerbaijan, Liechtenstein, San Marino). Azerbaijan only has junior leagues and teams from Liechtenstein play in the Swiss leagues. Gibraltar's league is only nine-a-side for 2015/16 and Andorra's is only five-a-side. Thus they are ineligible as well. Armenia has a regular league with an 11-a-side champion crowned for autumn and summer, but hasn't registered for European competition the last years. Also Georgia and Luxembourg did not enter a team. It's the first time a club (men or women) from Kosovo enters a UEFA competition.
Round of 32 (Champions from associations 1–12 + Runners-up from associations 1–11) Bayern Munich (CH) Wolfsburg (RU) LyonTH (CH) Paris Saint-Germain (RU) Rosengård (CH) Eskilstuna United DFF (RU) Chelsea (CH) Manchester City (RU) Zvezda Perm (CH) Rossiyanka (RU) Athletic Club (CH) Barcelona (RU) Fortuna Hjørring (CH) Brøndby (RU) Brescia (CH) AGSM Verona (RU) St. Pölten-Spratzern (CH) Sturm Graz (RU) Slavia Praha (CH) Sparta Praha (RU) Glasgow City (CH) Hibernian (RU) Lillestrøm SK (CH) Qualifying round (Runners-up from associations 12 + Champions from associations 13–55) Avaldsnes IL (RU) Zürich (CH) Apollon Limassol (CH) Medyk Konin (CH) BIIK Kazygurt (CH) Twente (CH) Breiðablik (CH) Standard Liège (CH) Ferencváros (CH) Spartak Subotica (CH) Olimpia Cluj (CH) PK-35 Vantaa (CH) Gintra Universitetas (CH) Wexford Youths (CH) Konak Belediyespor (CH) Zhytlobud Kharkiv (CH) FC Minsk (CH) PAOK (CH) Pomurje (CH) CF Benfica (CH) SFK 2000 (CH) Osijek (CH) Ramat HaSharon (CH) NSA Sofia (CH) Slovan Bratislava (CH) Pärnu JK (CH) KÍ Klaksvík (CH) Cardiff Met. LFC (CH) ŽFK Dragon 2014 (CH) Newry City (CH) Vllaznia (CH) Breznica (CH) ARF Criuleni (CH) Hibernians (CH) Rīgas FS (CH) Hajvalia (CH)
Round and draw dates UEFA has scheduled the competition as follows (all draws are held at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland).
Round Draw First leg Second leg Qualifying round 24 June 2016 23–28 August 2016 Round of 32 1 September 2016 5–6 October 2016 12–13 October 2016 Round of 16 17 October 2016 9–10 November 2016 16–17 November 2016 Quarter-finals 25 November 2016 22–23 March 2017 29–30 March 2017 Semi-finals 22–23 April 2017 29–30 April 2017 Final 1 June 2017 at Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff
Qualifying round
The draw was held on 24 June 2016, 13:30 CEST, at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland. The 36 teams were allocated into four seeding positions based on their UEFA club coefficients at the beginning of the season. They were drawn into nine groups of four containing one team from each of the four seeding positions. First, the nine teams which were pre-selected as hosts were drawn from their own designated pot and allocated to their respective group as per their seeding positions. Next, the remaining 27 teams were drawn from their respective pot which were allocated according to their seeding positions.
In each group, teams play against each other in a round-robin mini-tournament at the pre-selected hosts. The nine group winners advance to the round of 32 to join the 23 teams which qualified directly. The matchdays are 23, 25 and 28 August 2016.
TiebreakersThe teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria are applied in the order given to determine the rankings (regulations Articles 14.01 and 14.02): higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among the teams in question; superior goal difference from the group matches played among the teams in question; higher number of goals scored in the group matches played among the teams in question; if, after having applied criteria 1 to 3, teams still have an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 3 are reapplied exclusively to the matches between the teams in question to determine their final rankings. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 5 to 9 apply; superior goal difference in all group matches; higher number of goals scored in all group matches; if only two teams have the same number of points, and they are tied according to criteria 1 to 6 after having met in the last round of the group, their ranking is determined by a penalty shoot-out (this criterion is not used if more than two teams have the same number of points, or if the rankings of the two teams are not relevant for which team qualifies for the next stage). lower disciplinary points total based only on yellow and red cards received in all group matches (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points); higher club coefficient.
Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4
Group 5
Group 6
Group 7
Group 8
Group 9
Knockout phase
In the knockout phase, teams play against each other over two legs on a home-and-away basis, except for the one-match final. The mechanism of the draws for each round is as follows: In the draw for the round of 32, the sixteen teams with the highest UEFA coefficients are seeded (with the title holders being the automatic top seed), and the other sixteen teams are unseeded. The seeded teams are drawn against the unseeded teams, with the seeded teams hosting the second leg. Teams from the same association cannot be drawn against each other. In the draw for the round of 16, the eight teams with the highest UEFA coefficients are seeded (with the title holders being the automatic top seed should they qualify), and the other eight teams are unseeded. The seeded teams are drawn against the unseeded teams, with the order of legs decided by draw. Teams from the same association cannot be drawn against each other. In the draws for the quarter-finals onwards, there are no seedings, and teams from the same association can be drawn against each other.
Bracket
Round of 32 The draw for the round of 32 was held on 1 September 2016, 13:30 CEST, at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.
Round of 16 The draw for the round of 16 was held on 17 October 2016, 13:30 CEST, at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.
Quarter-finals The draws for the quarter-finals and semi-finals was held on 25 November 2016, 13:30 CET, at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.
Semi-finals
Final
The final was played on 1 June 2017 at the Cardiff City Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. The "home" team (for administrative purposes) was determined by an additional draw held after the quarter-final and semi-final draws.
Statistics Qualifying goals count towards the topscorer award.
Top goalscorers RankPlayerTeamGoalsTotal1 Zsanett Jakabfi Wolfsburg—88 Vivianne Miedema Bayern Munich—83 Gulnara Gabelia BIIK Kazygurt437 Alexandra Lunca Olimpia Cluj7— Aleksandra Sikora Medyk Konin526 Cristiane Paris Saint-Germain—66 Hege Hansen Avaldsnes IL51 Fabienne Humm FC Zürich33 Eugénie Le Sommer Lyon—6 Loredana Popa Olimpia Cluj6—
Squad of the season The UEFA technical study group selected the following 18 players as the squad of the tournament: