French side Olympique Lyon won the competition after finishing runner-up the previous year. Lyon became the first French team to win the competition.[2]
Team allocation and distribution
On 14 June 2010 UEFA announced the entry list.[3] A total of 51 teams from 43 UEFA associations will participate. This is two less than in 2009–10, as the title holder Turbine Potsdam also qualified through its domestic league, and the winners of the Maltese league were not entered. Countries are allocated places according to their 2009 UEFA league coefficient for women,[4] taking into account performances in women's club competitions between 2004–05 and 2008–09.
Associations 1–8 have two club qualify, the remaining associations have one team. Unlike the men's Champions League, not every association enters a team, and so the exact number of clubs in each round is only known shortly before the draw.
Teams entering in this round
Teams advancing from previous round
Competition format
Qualifying round (28 teams)
8 domestic league runners-up from associations 1–8
20 domestic league winners from associations ranked 24–53
7 groups of 4 clubs, hosted by one club, seeded into four pots by UEFA club
The draw was held on 23 June 2010. 28 teams enter in the qualifying round, and were divided into seven groups of four teams, with one team from each seeding pot:
The seven hosts were confirmed by UEFA before the draw, and two hosts could not be placed in the same group. Brøndby, Gintra Universitetas, Krka, Osijek and Apollon Limassol also hosted tournaments last year. The other two hosts from last year (Linköping and Tikvesanka) did not enter the qualifying round this year.
Each team plays the other teams in the group once. The matches were played between 5 and 10 August 2010. Teams in italic hosted a mini-league.
Tie-breaker criteria
As usual in UEFA competitions, three points are awarded for a win, and one point for a draw. If teams are equal on points after all matches have been played, the following criteria applies:
Higher number of points obtained in the matches among the teams in question.
Superior goal difference resulting from the matches among the teams in question.
Higher number of goals scored in the matches among the teams in question.
Superior goal difference in all group matches
Higher number of goals scored in all group matches
Higher number of club coefficient points
Drawing of lots
Criteria 1–3 are reapplied until the tie cannot be resolved; only then is criteria 4 used.
The two best runners-up also qualify for the round of 32. The match against the fourth-placed team in the group does not count for the purposes of the runners-up table. The tie-breakers in this ranking are:
The draw for the round of 32 and round of 16 was held on 19 August 2010. The draw for the quarter-finals and onwards was made on 19 November 2010. The bracket has been created in retrospect.
16 teams are seeded in this round, and play the second leg at home. Teams from the same association may not play each other. The first leg is scheduled for the week of 22 September 2010, the second leg for the week of 13 October 2010. The draw was made on 19 August 2010.[6]
The draws for this and all subsequent rounds are not seeded, and clubs from the same association may play each other. This round is scheduled for the week of 3 November and the week of 10 November 2010.