Benfica will take on Northern Ireland’s Cliftonville Ladies in the semi-finals of the first qualifying round for the Women’s Champions League, the draw dictated this Friday at UEFA’s headquarters in Nyon.
The three-time national champion will receive the champion of Northern Ireland on September 6 and if they win, the reds will qualify for one of the first round finals, where they will face the winner of the WFC Biik-Shymkent (Kazakhstan) meeting and SFK Riga (Latvia), on September 9.
To reach the group stage of the Champions League, something they have achieved in the previous two seasons, Benfica will have to pass this first round, with knockouts in one game, and a second, already played over two legs.
The winners of the first round finals, 11 in the Path of Champions and four in the Path of Leagues, will advance to the second round, joining the nine teams directly participating in that phase whose matches will take place between 10 and October 11 and 17 and 18 of the same month.
In this second round, with teams such as Wolfsburg, Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid or Manchester United, 12 teams will participate in the group stage, the four of which are already guaranteed a place: the European champions FC Barcelona, Lyon , Bayern Munich and Chelsea.
Source: DN
