The 2025/26 UEFA Champions League set its quarterfinal matchups this week, after this month's two-leg Round of 16 ties yielded a competitive field full of familiar foes.
Reigning UWCL champion Arsenal advanced via a 7-1 aggregate drubbing of Belgium side OH Leuven on Wednesday, with the Gunners joined in the winners column by fellow WSL titan Manchester United, who ousted Atlético de Madrid on a 5-0 aggregate, and Spain's Real Madrid, who outlasted Paris FC 5-2 across their two matches.
After lodging a 2-2 first-leg draw with Juventus last week, Frauen-Bundesliga club VfL Wolfsburg also booked a spot in the quarterfinals with a 2-0 win over the Italian side on Thursday.
This week's victors will now join the four already-qualified challengers in next month's quarterfinals — with two heated rivalries taking center stage.
Arsenal will face reigning six-time WSL champion Chelsea FC for the first time in the Champions League knockouts, while Real Madrid takes on fellow Liga F powerhouse Barcelona in an El Clásico rematch.
As for Manchester United, the Red Devils will face Germany's Bayern Munich, while Wolfsburg has drawn perennial French champion OL Lyonnes.
How to watch the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League quarterfinals
UWCL action will return with the first matches of the two-leg quarterfinal round on Tuesday, March 24th.
All 2025/26 Champions League matches will stream live on Paramount+.
Defending Champions League winner Arsenal is back on the pitch on Wednesday, when the WSL club opens the 2025/26 UWCL Round of 16 against Belgium side Oud-Heverlee Leuven — the same team the Gunners beat 3-0 during December's league phase.
Arsenal's UWCL path hasn't been the smoothest, after an early collapse saw the title-holders slip out of the European tournament's top ranks, forcing the club to fight for playoff survival.
That said, the Gunners have momentum on their side after winning this month's inaugural FIFA Champions Cup final before topping WSL frontrunner Manchester City 1-0 last Sunday.
Wednesday's first-leg clash, however, will likely see Arsenal facing the Belgium league-leaders without goalkeeper Anneke Borbe or forwards Stina Blackstenius and Beth Mead, after recent injuries sidelined the standout trio.
"We respect who they are," Gunners head coach Renée Slegers said of OH Leuven on Tuesday. "So even though we came away with a 3-0 win here last time, we're very humble for the challenge tomorrow."
How to watch Arsenal in the 2025/26 UWCL Round of 16
Arsenal will visit OH Leuven at 12:45 PM ET on Wednesday before hosting the Belgian side for the pair's second-leg match at 3 PM ET on February 18th, with the winner set to face reigning WSL champion Chelsea FC in the UWCL quarterfinals on March 24th.
All 2025/26 Champions League matches will stream live on Paramount+.
Manchester United kicks off its UEFA Champions League knockout campaign on Thursday, traveling to Atletico Madrid for the playoff round's first leg.
The two clubs met earlier this season in the league phase, with Manchester United claiming a 1-0 victory in October. Fridolina Rolfo scored the winner that day, with the WSL side holding firm despite Dominique Janssen's first-half red card forcing the Reds to finish the match with 10 players.
Atletico finished below United in the league phase standings, earning a home game for the first leg. The pair's second leg kicks off February 19th back in Manchester, with Bayern Munich awaiting the winners in the quarter-finals.
United heads into Thursday's match in strong form, riding a nine-game unbeaten streak across all competitions after last weekend's 2-0 win over Leicester City. Julia Zigiotti and Elisabeth Terland scored at the King Power Stadium, lifting the Reds to within eight points of league-leaders Manchester City with seven games remaining.
Marc Skinner's side will be without Ella Toone and Leah Galton due to injury, though Galton could return later this month. Midseason arrivals Hanna Lundkvist, Lea Schuller, and Ellen Wangerheim are all eligible to make their European debuts.
How to watch Manchester United at the Champions League knockouts
Manchester United kicks off Thursday's first-leg match at 3 PM ET, live on Paramount+.
The team will also host a watch-along via Man U's official YouTube channel.
With the 18-team UWCL league phase now done and dusted, the 12 clubs still standing discovered their paths to the Final in the 2025/26 Champions League knockouts draw on Thursday.
While the top four clubs — No. 1 Barcelona, No. 2 OL Lyonnes, No. 3 Chelsea FC, and No. 4 Bayern Munich — punched their way into March's quarterfinals behind elite league-phase performances, the remaining eight teams must battle in February's playoffs in order to advance.
Thursday's draw has reigning champs No. 5 Arsenal facing Belgian side No. 12 Oud-Heverlee Leuven in the playoffs, but the Gunners then face a difficult road in the UWCL knockouts, staring down a potential quarterfinal clash with WSL rivals Chelsea as eight-time UWCL winners OL Lyonnes looms on the same side of the semifinal bracket.
Elsewhere, No. 7 Real Madrid have an opportunity to make UWCL history should they win their playoff tie against No. 10 Paris FC, setting up the tournament's first-ever El Clásico with a possible quarterfinal match against perennial winners Barcelona.
How to watch the 2025/26 Champions League Playoffs
The first-leg of the 2025/26 UWCL playoffs kick off with No. 12 Oud-Heverlee Leuven hosting No. 5 Arsenal at 12:45 PM ET on February 11th, with No. 7 Real Madrid visiting No. 10 Paris FC at 3 PM ET.
The following day, No. 8 Juventus will take on hosts No. 9 Wolfsburg at 12:45 PM ET before No. 11
Atlético de Madrid faces the visiting No. 6 Manchester United at 3 PM ET.
All 2025/26 Champions League matches will stream live on Paramount+.
The UWCL's first-ever league phase wraps on Wednesday, when all 18 2025/26 Champions League clubs will square off in a simultaneous afternoon kick-off finale.
Top finishers No. 1 Barcelona and No. 2 OL Lyonnes already secured automatic spots in the quarterfinals, with similarly unbeaten No. 3 Chelsea looking to claim their spot with a result on Wednesday.
The fourth guaranteed pathway will be tougher fight, however, as just three points separate No. 4 Juventus and No. 11 Atletico Madrid on the Champions League table.
While the top four teams will advance directly into the March quarterfinals, clubs finishing fifth through 12th will instead move on to the European competition's first-ever knockout playoffs in February to determine the final quartet of quarterfinalists.
No. 4 Bayern Munich, No. 5 Real Madrid, No. 6 Juventus, No. 7 Wolfsburg, No. 8 Arsenal, No. 9 Manchester United, and No. 10 Paris FC have all netted enough points to at least make the playoffs, leave three teams — Atlético de Madrid, No. 12 Oud-Heverlee Leuven, and No. 13 Vålerenga — battling the final two spots.
Amid Wednesday's high-stakes matchups, Wolfsburg will look to break into the upper ranks against Chelsea, Juventus will try to hold off Manchester United, and 2024/25 champs Arsenal will shoot for a result against Oud-Heverlee Leuven.
How to watch Wednesday's 2025/26 Champions League action
Wednesday's final UWCL league-phase matches will be cutthroat battles for tournament seeding.
The action kicks off at 3 PM ET, with live coverage on Paramount+.
With just one league-phase matchday left, a trio of unbeaten clubs — Barcelona, OL Lyonnes, and Chelsea — stand alone atop the 2025/26 Champions League table, leading the 18-team pack after all three squads notched midweek wins.
No. 1 Barcelona and No. 2 OL Lyonnes each have 13 points, with the Spanish contenders earning the edge over their French counterparts with a +15 goal differential.
Meanwhile, Chelsea sits in third with 11 points following a 6-0 drubbing of No. 17 AS Roma on Wednesday, though the Blues will need a result against No. 7 Wolfsburg next week to secure a spot in March's quarterfinals with a top-four finish.
Though the byes into the quarterfinals are still up for grabs, with just one matchday left before the knockouts, several of Europe's biggest teams have qualified for February's playoffs.
Wolfsburg alongside No. 10 Paris FC, No. 9 Manchester United, No. 8 Arsenal, No. 6 Juventus, No. 5 Real Madrid, and No. 4 Bayern Munich have already racked up enough points to advance out of the league phase.
Three clubs — No. 13 Vålerenga, No. 12 Oud-Heverlee Leuven, and No. 11 Atlético de Madrid — are fighting for the two remaining playoff tickets, with December 17th's simultaneous kickoff set to determine the winners.
How to watch the final 2025/26 Champions League league-phase matches
Determining both the first four UWCL quarterfinalists and the eight teams entering the playoffs, the final league-phase matchday will see all 18 clubs kicking off at 3 PM ET next Wednesday.
All 2025/26 Champions League matches will stream live on Paramount+.
Manchester United has a chance to bounce back from their first 2025/26 UEFA Women's Champions League defeat — a 5-2 rout at the hands of Wolfsburg last month — as the UWCL league phase continues with a series of exciting matchups this week.
"The Wolfsburg game, we gave away too many simple goals," Manchester United manager Marc Skinner said on Friday. "That's something we need to fix."
The Champions League debutantes have another difficult opponent waiting for them in their fifth league-phase match on Wednesday, when the Red Devils will contend with eight-time European champions OL Lyonnes, who have yet to suffer a loss in this season's competition.
That said, the return of USWNT goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce to the European competition will bolster United this week, with the 29-year-old officially available to play as she continues recovering from a fractured eye socket that kept her out of the final US training camp of 2025.
While Manchester United and their Wednesday opponent OL Lyonnes have all-but-guaranteed themselves at least a playoff spot in the 2025/26 UWCL knockout rounds, other top sides like the reigning six-time WSL champions Chelsea and current Champions League title-holders Arsenal chase them in the standings.
Both Chelsea and Arsenal face intriguing matchups during this week's UWCL competition, as the Gunners play Dutch club Twente on Tuesday before the Blues take on Italian side Roma on Wednesday.
How to watch this week's 2025/26 Champions League action
The fifth matchday of the 2025/26 UWCL league phase kicks off with Austria's St. Pölten against Italy's Juventus at 12:45 PM ET on Tuesday, with Arsenal taking the pitch against Twente at 3 PM ET.
Both Manchester United's clash with OL Lyonnes and Chelsea's bout with Roma will begin at 3 PM ET on Wednesday.
All 2025/26 Champions League matches will stream live on Paramount+.
Chelsea FC are vying for a bit of UWCL revenge this week, as the perennial Champions League contenders take on 2024/25 finalists Barcelona in the 2025/26 campaign's league-phase slate on Thursday.
Last season's runners-up have ousted Chelsea in the Champions League semifinals two years in a row, with Barcelona going on to win three of the last five tournament titles.
Unfortunately for the Blues, Barcelona have never lost at Chelsea FC's Stamford Bridge home pitch — and they're one of just three 2025/26 Champions League clubs to maintain a winning record so far this season.
Chelsea won't be the only WSL titan to host a Spanish side this week, as reigning UWCL champs Arsenal look to bounce back from a frustrating 1-2 league-phase start against Real Madrid on Wednesday.
"I think it's easier to get to the top than staying at the top," Arsenal coach Renée Slegers said of her team's losing run. "We have high expectations on ourselves because we know what we're capable of. At the same time, I know that the squad is really good at being in the moment, taking it game to game, and preparing as well as possible to be able to execute."
How to watch Arsenal, Chelsea in 2025/26 Champions League play this week
In their fourth of six total league-phase matches, Arsenal will kick off against Real Madrid at 3 PM ET on Wednesday before Chelsea hosts Barcelona at the same time on Thursday.
All 2025/26 Champions League matches air live on Paramount+.
Reigning UEFA Women's Champions League winners Arsenal suffered a setback on Wednesday, falling 3-2 to German side Bayern Munich after a second-half collapse led to three unanswered goals.
The Gunners are now 1-2 in league phase play, landing them in 11th place with three opening-round matches remaining.
"It's not good enough. We don't want to concede three goals in one half in the Champions League," Arsenal manager Renée Slegers said postgame. "It's everything. It's keeping the ball, making better decisions on the ball in their half to keep the ball there for longer, because it was very transitional."
A bright spot for Arsenal came via an opening goal from USWNT defender Emily Fox — one of a few US-centric Champions League boosts this week.
USWNT forward Catarina Macario notched a brace in Chelsea FC's 6-0 drubbing of St. Pölten on Tuesday, a match that also handed USWNT defender Naomi Girma her 2025/26 Champions League debut with the Blues.
Tuesday's clash also saw Chelsea captain Sam Kerr find the back of the net twice, as the Australia standout made her first start in 692 days.
Now halfway through league-phase play, only Barcelona, OL Lyonnes, and Manchester United remain perfect with a trio of wins, with Champions League matches resuming on November 19th.
Football Manager is expanding its virtual horizons, with the popular soccer video game's latest release — FM26 — featuring women's teams for the first time in history.
The FM26 lineup spans some 40,000 players across 14 leagues, including the NWSL, the UK's WSL and WSL2, Germany's Frauen-Bundesliga, Italy's Serie A, and Japan's WE League as well as the UEFA Women's Champions League.
Football Manager's new women's soccer offering follows similar moves from other video game entities, with EA Sports also expanding its integration of women's teams and players across its NHL, FC, and NBA2K games in recent years.
Launched in 2004 by British developer Sports Interactive and gaming giant Sega, Football Manager puts users in the driver's seat of their favorite teams, navigating club finances, player transfers, tactics, and even training plans in the hunt for success.
To mimic the manager role most realistically, FM amasses extensive data on players and clubs — with that information bank now so deep on the men's side that clubs have employed it for scouting purposes for over 10 years.
The road to launching a similarly real-world women's game required similar stat-gathering, a project which began in 2021.
"An army of people from the women's game helped us, who wanted us to ensure that women's football was properly represented," said Sports Interactive studio director Miles Jacobson.
Football Manager also recreated their motion capture models using former WSL and WSL2 professional players, twins Mollie and Rosie Kmita, to accurately portray women's movement and body structure in FM26.
"Growing up, I would never have imagined playing Football Manager because it wasn't a space for us," Mollie told BBC Sport. "I think we're about to engage a whole new audience and I'm excited to see how this community continues to grow."
How to play Football Manager 26
FM26 is currently available for download across multiple gaming platforms.