Manchester United Women Forced To Begin New UWCL Season In August

After securing a Champions League place last week, Manchester United were today condemned to playing in the Second Qualifying Round meaning they have to begin their new season early.

Their failure to defeat Arsenal today ensures that Marc Skinner’s side will finish third in the Women’s Super League and have to negotiate two rounds of qualifying to reach the lucrative group phase of the competition. The first of those will commence eleven days before the start of the new domestic league season.

Manchester United will enter the competition at the Second Qualifying Round. To progress they will have to come through a four-team mini-tournament with two matches to be played on August 27 and 30. The opening game will come just thirty-one days after the final of the UEFA Women’s Euro in Basel, Switzerland. Ten of Manchester United’s squad could be involved in the final stages of that competition, which is seen as the definitive climax of the current season. Potentially those players – such as England starters Ella Toone and Grace Clinton – could be asked to begin training for their new season almost immediately.

Last month, I asked Marc Skinner about the permutations. He conceded that the club may be forced to react to fluctuating circumstances, depending on when nations are eliminated from the European Championship. “As you can imagine, it’s a sports science nightmare! You’re working off the Euros, you’re working off when they come back in, giving them rest. Whether we start early, whether we start late. I think there was twelve different entry points of players from all the different teams that are in the Euros.”

That Second Round qualifying tournament is also to be played at a single venue, the home of one of the four competing clubs. Manchester United could apply to stage the mini-tournament at their Leigh Sports Village home, but equally they could be forced to travel anywhere in Europe depending on the whims of the draw which will take place ahead of the UEFA Women’s Euro on June 16.

While the format of the UEFA Women’s Champions League group stage has been reshaped to allow an extra two teams to compete in it, the qualifying stages have been expanded, giving some of the continent’s league champions an extra round to come through. Non-champion qualifiers coming through the so-called League Path, such as Manchester United, enter at the Second Round.

Two years ago, Manchester United qualified for the Champions League for the first time after finishing second in the league. On that occasion, they only had one hurdle to overcome. However, lacking any European pedigree, they were unseeded in the qualifying round draw and paired with former finalists Paris Saint-German. A draw in the home leg was followed by defeat at the Parc des Princes, ending their maiden European campaign before the group stage.

This season, Arsenal have become the first third-placed team in history to reach the final of the UEFA Women’s Champions League where they play defending champions FC Barcelona in Lisbon later this month. By finishing second in the Women’s Super League, Arsenal have ensured they have given their players an extra two week’s rest before the start of the new campaign as they will enter next season’s Champions League at the Third Qualifying Round which begins on September 11.

If Arsenal win the UEFA Women’s Champions League in three weeks, they will qualify for next season’s competition as ‘Title Holders’ and go straight into the group stage, bypassing the qualifying rounds and saving their players the hardship of two extra matches.

To reach the final this season, Arsenal have had to play a record 14 matches in the competition. For Manchester United to emulate them next season, they would have to play a minimum of 14, and perhaps even 16, games depending on where they finish in the new ‘Swiss-system’ group stage.

The first concern for Manchester United will be negotiating the Second Qualifying Round and how that affects their pre-season planning and transfer policy. While the prospect of playing in the UEFA Women’s Champions League will potentially entice many more players to join Manchester United, as they found out two years ago, there is no guarantee of progression to the group stage.

More pertinently, if they wish to have any new players available to take part in the Second Qualifying Round, they will need to register them with UEFA by August 21, less than four weeks after the end of the UEFA Women’s Euro. With most international coaches unwilling to have their squad distracted by transfer negotiations during the tournament, it seems likely that Marc Skinner may have to set his deals in motion before the start of the tournament in July.

Speaking to me last month, Skinner told me “we have to design the squad ready to try and fit in with our situation at that point.”