Women's Champions League: St. Pölten vs Manchester City facts

Group D of the 2024/25 UEFA Women's Champions League continues with St. Pölten and Manchester City meeting in Austria having experienced contrasting fortunes in their respective Matchday 1 fixtures.

St. Pölten kicked off with a 2-0 loss at group stage debutants Hammarby in Stockholm while City beat holders Barcelona by the same scoreline in Manchester.

Previous meetings

2017/18 Women's Champions League round of 32
St. Pölten 0-3 Manchester City
Manchester City 3-0 St. Pölten
The teams were paired together in the round of 32 seven seasons ago, City winning both matches.

Demi Stokes (23), Steph Houghton (31) and Nikita Parris (35) all struck in the opening half in the first leg in Austria on 4 October 2017, while Parris (35), Jill Scott (44) and Melissa Lawley (85) competed a 6-0 aggregate victory in the Manchester return on 12 October.

Form guide

St. Pölten

Record vs English clubs W0 D0 L2 F0 A6
Home record vs English clubs W0 D0 L1

That 2017 tie against City are St. Pölten's only previous games against English opposition.

St. Pölten conceded in both halves at Hammarby in their group stage opener on 9 October.

This is the third successive season in which St. Pölten have reached the group stage, although they first featured in the Women's Champions League in 2013/14.

The Austrian side finished third on their group debut in 2022/23, losing home and away to both Wolfsburg and Roma but taking four points from Slavia Praha.

They were once again drawn alongside Slavia in Group B last season but could only pick up a single point from their six games as they finished behind their Czech opponents, Brann and Lyon.

Celia Brancão's side defeated Neftçi (5-0) and Vllaznia (1-0) in round 1 of this season's competition and then recorded an 8-0 aggregate win (3-0 h, 5-0 a) against Mura in round 2. Kamila Dubcová scored three times in those four wins, with Sophie Hillebrand, Valentina Mädl, Melike Pekel and Mateja Zver all getting two goals.

A 2-4 aggregate defeat (2-2 a, 0-2 h) to Rosengård in 2021 is the only time St. Pölten featured in the round of 16 under the previous format.

St. Pölten were Austrian champions for the ninth time in 2023/24, going the whole season unbeaten (W15 D3) and finishing ten points ahead of First Vienna.

Manchester City

Record vs Austrian clubs W2 D0 L0 F6 A0
Away record vs Austrian clubs W1 D0 L0

This will be City's third European meeting with an Austrian side, after those 2017 matches against St. Pölten.

The Cityzens recorded their second win against a team from Spain on Matchday 1 with a memorable victory over European champions Barcelona. Naomi Layzell opened the scoring after 36 minutes with her first senior goal, and then turned provider for Khadija Shaw in the 77th minute to complete a statement win.

Having lost in the early rounds in 2021/22 and 2022/23, and not featured at all in 2023/24, City are participating in the group stage for the first time this season.

The English club reached the Champions League semi-finals on their first two entries, losing to eventual champions Lyon on both occasions – 2-3 in 2016/17 (1-3 h, 1-0 a) and 0-1 in 2017/18 (0-0 h, 0-1 a).

They began this season's European campaign with an 8-0 aggregate defeat of Paris FC in round 2. Gareth Taylor's side were 5-0 first-leg victors in Paris on 18 September, Jess Park (38, 58) scoring twice alongside goals from Vivianne Miedema (36), Mary Fowler (49) and Kelly (79). Kelly (2) opened the scoring in the second leg in Manchester, before a Shaw double (31, 65pen) sealed a 3-0 win.

City missed out on the Women's Super League title on goal difference to Chelsea last season despite winning 18 of their 22 league games (D1 L3).

Key facts

St. Pölten are without a win in their last ten group matches (D2 L8).

The Austrian club's only previous group victory was a 1-0 win away to Slavia Praha on 23 November 2022.

City have won their three Champions League matches this season without conceding a goal.

The English side have lost only four of their last 18 European games outside Manchester (W11 D3).

City have been winning at half-time in their three Champions League matches this season.