UEFA Women's Champions League: Galatasaray vs Wolfsburg facts

Galatasaray and Wolfsburg are looking for their first points of the 2024/25 UEFA Women's Champions League group stage when they meet in Istanbul.

The Group A rivals have lost to both Lyon and Roma in the first two matchdays and are six points behind those clubs heading into Matchday 3.

Form guide

Galatasaray

Wolfsburg are the first German side Galatasaray have faced in what is their Women's Champions League debut.

They lost 0-3 at eight-time champions Lyon in their Group A opener on 8 October, before a 1-6 defeat at home by Roma nine days later during which Andrea Stašková scored their first group stage goal.

Metin Ülgen's side contested their first European fixture on 4 September, defeating Racing Union 4-1 in Luxembourg. Goals from Ebru Topçu, Stašková, Arzu Karabulut and Catalina Usme gave Gala the win in the round 1 semi-finals.

That victory took them into the round 1 final, where they saw off the challenge of BIIK on 7 September, again in Luxembourg. The 5-0 victory included a hat-trick from Hapsatou Malado Diallo, Stašková and Usme also on the scoresheet.

In round 2, Galatasaray were paired with Slavia Praha and came through 4-3 on aggregate. The first leg in Istanbul on 19 September ended all square after the hosts conceded twice late in the second half to let slip a two-goal lead. In the Prague return six days later, Nazlican Parlak scored the decisive goal in extra time to ensure Galatasaray became the first Turkish side to feature in the group stage.

The Matchday 2 defeat by Roma is one of only two in Gala's last 30 home games in all competitions (W25 D3).

Ülgen's side claimed Galatasaray's first Turkish Women's League title in 2023/24 as they finished two points clear of previous champions Fomget.

Topçu was Galatasaray's top league scorer last season with 15 goals.

Wolfsburg

Galatasaray are Wolfsburg's first Turkish opponents in European competition.

Yet to score in Group A, Wolfsburg went down 0-1 at Roma on 8 October before a 0-2 home defeat at the hands of Lyon on Matchday 2.

Champions in 2013 and 2014, Wolfsburg are back in the group stage after losing in round 2 to Paris FC (3-3 a, 0-2 h) last season.

That defeat ended Wolfsburg's run of reaching the quarter-finals or better in 11 consecutive seasons.

Wolfsburg's back-to-back European titles came courtesy of final victories over Lyon in 2013 (1-0) and Tyresö 12 months later (4-3).

Wolfsburg have reached the final on four further occasions, most recently in 2023 when they lost 3-2 to Barcelona in Eindhoven having led 2-0 at half-time.

The She-Wolves progressed to this season's group stage with a 12-0 aggregate victory over Fiorentina in round 2 (7-0 a, 5-0 h), Alex Popp scoring a hat-trick in the first leg in Italy on 18 September.

Popp has scored in four separate Women's Champions League finals – a record she shares with Lyon's Ada Hegerberg.

Wolfsburg claimed a record-extending 11th DFB-Pokal Frauen title last season, beating Bayern München 2-0 in the final on 9 May, and finished second in the Women's Bundesliga.

Key facts

This is the first time teams from Türkiye and Germany have met in the Women's Champions League.

Defeat for Wolfsburg would be a third successive Women's Champions League loss for the first time.

The German side have failed to score in consecutive European games for the first time.

Wolfsburg's defeat against Roma on Matchday 2 was their first away group loss in their seventh fixture (W3 D3).