The 2020–21 UEFA Women's Champions League was the 20th edition of the European women's club football championship organised by UEFA, and the 12th edition since being rebranded as the UEFA Women's Champions League.
Lyon were the defending champions, having won the previous five editions, but were eliminated by Paris Saint-Germain in the quarter-finals. Barcelona won their first title by beating Chelsea in the final, becoming the first club to have won both men's and women's Champions League titles.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, each local health department allowed a different number of spectators.
The association ranking based on the UEFA women's country coefficients was used to determine the number of participating teams for each association:[8]
Associations 1–12 each had two teams qualify.
All other associations , if they have entered, each had one team qualify.
The winners of the 2019–20 UEFA Women's Champions League were given an additional entry if they did not qualify for the 2020–21 UEFA Women's Champions League through their domestic league. However, the title holders had qualified through their domestic league, meaning the additional entry was not necessary for this season.
An association must have had an eleven-a-side women's domestic league to enter a team. In 2019–20, 52 of the 55 UEFA member associations organized a women's domestic league, with the exceptions being Andorra, Liechtenstein and San Marino.[9]
For the 2020–21 UEFA Women's Champions League, the associations were allocated places according to their 2019 UEFA women's country coefficients, which took into account their performance in European competitions from 2014–15 to 2018–19.[10] For the first time there were two entries for the Netherlands and Kazakhstan.[6]
Association ranking for 2020–21 UEFA Women's Champions League
Unlike the men's Champions League, not every association entered a team, and so the exact number of teams entering in the qualifying rounds (played as two rounds of single-legged ties for this season) and knockout phase (starting from the round of 32, played as home-and-away two-legged ties except for the one-match final) could not be determined until the full entry list was known. In general, the title holders, the champions of the top 12 associations, and the runners-up of highest-ranked associations (exact number depending on the number of entries) received a bye to the round of 32. All other teams (runners-up of lowest-ranked associations and champions of associations starting from 13th) entered the qualifying round, with the group winners and a maximum of two best runners-up advancing to the round of 32.[11]
The following was the access list for this season.[12]
Access list for 2020–21 UEFA Women's Champions League
Teams entering in this round
Teams advancing from previous round
First qualifying round (40 teams)
38 champions from associations 13 or lower
2 runners-up from associations 11–12
Second qualifying round (20 teams)
20 winners of first qualifying round
Knockout phase (32 teams)
12 champions from associations 1–12 (including title holders Lyon)
In early April 2020, UEFA announced that due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, the deadline for entering the tournament had been postponed until further notice.[13] On 17 June 2020, UEFA announced that associations had to enter their teams by 10 August 2020.[14] The 2020–21 season was the first where teams had to obtain a UEFA club license to participate in the UEFA Women's Champions League.[15]
A total of 62 teams from 50 of the 55 UEFA member associations participated in the 2020–21 UEFA Women's Champions League.[16]
The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round:
TH: Title holders
1st, 2nd: League positions of the previous season
Abd-: League positions of abandoned season due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe as determined by the national association; all teams were subject to approval by UEFA as per the guidelines for entry to European competitions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic[17]
Qualified teams for 2020–21 UEFA Women's Champions League
England (ENG): The 2019–20 FA WSL was abandoned due to the COVID-19 pandemic in England.[55] The top two teams of the league at the time of the abandonment based on the average number of points per matches played for each team, Chelsea (who were declared champions) and Manchester City, were selected to play in the 2020–21 UEFA Women's Champions League by the Football Association.[56]
Hungary (HUN): The 2019–20 Női NB I was abandoned due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Hungary.[60] The winner of a play-off between the top two teams of the league after 13 rounds (including one originally scheduled match played after the time of the abandonment), Ferencváros, were selected to play in the 2020–21 UEFA Women's Champions League by the Hungarian Football Federation.[61]
Latvia (LVA):Dinamo Rīga, the champions of the 2019 Latvian Women's League,[68] decided not to play the 2020 Latvian Women's League and the 2020–21 UEFA Women's Champions League.[69] As a result, Rīgas FS, the second-placed team, qualified for the 2020–21 UEFA Women's Champions League.
The schedule of the competition was as follows (all draws were held at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland).[6] The tournament would have originally started in August 2020, but was initially delayed to October due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe. However, due to the continuing pandemic in Europe, UEFA announced a new format and schedule on 16 September 2020. Instead of mini-tournaments, the qualifying rounds were played as two rounds of single leg knockout matches.[98]
Schedule for 2020–21 UEFA Women's Champions League[99]
The original schedule of the competition, as planned before the pandemic, and the schedule announced in June 2020, under the original format, was as follows.
Original schedule for 2020–21 UEFA Women's Champions League[100]
If there were travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic that prevented the away team from entering the home team's country or returning to their own country, the match could be played at a neutral country or the away team's country that allowed the match to take place.
If a team refused to play or was considered responsible for a match not taking place, they were considered to have forfeited the match. If both teams refused to play or were considered responsible for a match not taking place, both teams were disqualified.
If a team had players and/or officials tested positive for SARS-2 coronavirus preventing them from playing the match before the deadline set by UEFA, they were considered to have forfeited the match.
On 24 September 2020, UEFA announced that five substitutions would be permitted, with a sixth allowed in extra time. However, each team was only given three opportunities to make substitutions during matches, with a fourth opportunity in extra time, excluding substitutions made at half-time, before the start of extra time and at half-time in extra time. Consequently, a maximum of twelve players could be listed on the substitute bench.[102]
The draw for the round of 32 was held on 24 November 2020, 12:00 CET.[105]
The first legs were played on 9 and 10 December, and the second legs on 15, 16 and 17 December 2020. The tie between Vålerenga and Brøndby was played as a single-leg match in Brøndby on 11 February 2021 due to the quarantine restrictions imposed by the relevant Norwegian authorities in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Norway.
The draw for the round of 16 was held on 16 February 2021, 12:00 CET.[106]
The first legs were played on 3, 4 and 9 March, and the second legs on 10, 11 and 17 March 2021.
^Order of legs between Paris Saint-Germain and Sparta Prague reversed after original draw, due to quarantine of a large number of Sparta Prague players prior to the first leg.[107]
^The Sparta Prague v Paris Saint-Germain match could not be played due to quarantine of the Paris Saint-Germain players prior to the second leg.[108] The match was awarded as a 3–0 win to Sparta Prague.[109]
The draw for the quarter-finals was held on 12 March 2021, 12:00 CET.[110][111]
The first legs were played on 24 March, and the second legs on 31 March, 1 and 18 April 2021.
The draw for the semi-finals was held on 12 March 2021, 12:00 CET (after the quarter-final draw).[110]
The first legs were played on 25 April and the second legs on 2 May 2021.
The final was played on 16 May 2021 at Gamla Ullevi, Gothenburg.[112] A draw was held on 12 March 2021, 12:00 CET (after the quarter-final and semi-final draws), to determine which semi-final winner would be designated as the "home" team for administrative purposes.[110]
Votes were cast for players of the season by coaches of the sixteen teams who participated in the tournament's round of 16, together with twenty journalists selected by the European Sports Media (ESM) group who specialize in women's football. The coaches were not allowed to vote for players from their own teams. Jury members selected their top three players, with the first receiving five points, the second three and the third one. The shortlist of the top three players was announced on 13 August 2021.[118] The award winners were announced and presented during the 2021–22 UEFA Champions League group stage draw in Turkey on 26 August 2021.
^"2021 Women's Champions League final: Gamla Ullevi, Gothenburg". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 2 May 2021. Retrieved 12 May 2021. Due to current restrictions implemented by the local authorities in Sweden, the UEFA Womens' [sic] Champions League final will be played behind closed doors and therefore no tickets will be on sale.
Barcelona (1st title)
Chelsea
Zürich
Lyon
Fortuna Hjørring
Rosengård
VfL Wolfsburg
BIIK Kazygurt
LSK Kvinner
Slavia Prague
Glasgow City
14' (pen.)
Sam Mewis
Asisat Oshoala
