Women's Champions League, draw for third qualifying round at 12:00 CEST

An important day for Inter Women, who are rapidly approaching the start of their new season. David Sassarini’s Nerazzurre earned the chance to qualify for the Women’s Champions League thanks to their second-place finish in last season’s league: today, Inter will discover their opponents in the third qualifying round of Europe’s top competition.

The draw for the third qualifying round will take place at 12:00 CEST at the House of European Football in Nyon, Switzerland, involving 18 teams: 11 have reached this stage after advancing past the second round, while the other seven, including Inter, enter the competition at this stage. The first legs are all scheduled for Wednesday 26 August, with the return legs to be played on Wednesday 2 September.

The nine teams that come through the third qualifying round will join the nine clubs already directly qualified for the Women’s Champions League League Phase, while the nine eliminated sides will enter the second qualifying round of the Women’s Europa Cup, a competition in which Inter reached the Round of 16 last season.

THE FORMAT

The third qualifying round will be played over two-legged ties, divided into two different paths: the Champions Path and the Non-Champions Path. The Champions Path features eight teams, divided into two pots according to their UEFA coefficient ranking. Teams from the first pot will face teams from the second, with the first team drawn in each tie playing the first leg at home. The only restriction on the draw is that clubs from the same country cannot face each other.

The Non-Champions Path features 10 teams, also divided into two pots according to the same criteria as the Champions Path. Inter, the No. 10 seed, are in the second pot. The draw will follow the same format as the Champions Path: the Nerazzurre will face one of Chelsea, Wolfsburg, Paris Saint-Germain or Real Madrid, as they cannot be drawn against Juventus.

CHAMPIONS PATH First pot

1. AC Sparta Praga CZE

2. SK Brann NOR

3. OH Leuven BEL

4. HB Koge Women DEN

Second pot

1. FK Austria Vienna AUT

2. Servette FC Chenois Feminin SUI

3. PSV Eindhoven NED

4. KKS Czarni Sosnowiec POL

NON-CHAMPIONS PATH First pot

1. Chelsea FC Women ENG

2. VfL Wolfsburg GER

3. Paris Saint-Germain FRA

4. Real Madrid CF SPA

5. Juventus FC ITA

Second pot

1. Eintracht Francoforte GER

2. SKN St. Polten Frauen AUT

3. AFC Ajax NED

4. Real Sociedad de Futbol SPA

5. INTER ITA