Women's Champions League Matchday 1: Chelsea vs Austria Wien facts
Friday, September 18, 2026
Article summary
Previous meetings, club facts and key stats ahead of the UEFA Women's Champions League Matchday 1 game.
Article top media content
Article body
Chelsea and Austria Wien meet for the first time as the AFC Wimbledon Stadium stages their UEFA Women's Champions League Matchday 1 fixture.
Last match
This is the first meeting between the teams and Austria Wien's first encounter with an English club.
It is Chelsea's second match against Austrian opponens; they were 6-0 victors at St. Pölten on Matchday 3 of last season's league phase.
Chelsea were Women's Champions League runners-up in 2021, losing 0-4 to Barcelona in Gothenburg. They have reached the quarter-finals or better in five of the previous six seasons, and in seven of their last eight participations. In 2025/26 they finished third in an unbeaten league phase campaign (W4 D2) before suffering a 2-3 aggregate quarter-final defeat against London rivals Arsenal (1-3 a, 1-0 h).
The Blues' European journey this season began in the third qualifying round, where they recorded a 6-2 aggregate success against Real Sociedad (5-2 h, 1-0 a). It was the first time they had been involved in qualifying.
Austria Wien are featuring in the group stage/league phase for the first time, having beaten Hajduk Split (3-2) and Farul Constanța (5-0) in the second qualifying round and Brann 5-2 on aggregate in the third (1-2 a, 4-0 h). Modesta Uka struck six goals across those four matches.
After losing to Paris FC (0-0 a, 0-2 h) in the Women's Champions League third qualifying round in 2025/26, Austria Wien went on to reach the quarter-finals of the first-ever UEFA Women's Europa Cup, where went down 1-3 on aggregate to Sparta Praha (0-0 a, 1-3 h aet).
Key stats
Chelsea are making their sixth successive group stage/league phase appearance. Only Barcelona, Bayern München, OL Lyonnes and Real Madrid have also reached this stage every season since it was introduced in 2021/22.
The Blues are unbeaten at home in the group stage/league phase (W11 D4).
Chelsea have lost just one of their 30 group stage/league phase matches (W22 D7) and are unbeaten in 24 (W19 D5), since a 4-0 defeat at Wolfsburg on 16 December 2021.
Austria Wien have lost only two of their last nine European matches (W6 D1), winning three of their four this season (L1).
The Austrian club have scored in nine of their last ten games in UEFA competition.