Women's Champions League begins
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
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The journey to the 2010/11 UEFA Women's Champions League final in London starts across the continent on Thursday when the seven qualifying round mini-tournaments get under way.
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The 2010/11 UEFA Women's Champions League begins on Thursday with two former European titleholders among the 28 clubs in action in the qualifying round which can be followed live on UEFA.com's MatchCentre.
In all, seven four-team mini-tournaments will be played on Thursday, Saturday and next Tuesday with the contestants including eight clubs entered as runners-up from the highest-ranked leagues. Among them are the 2008/09 UEFA Women's Cup winners, FCR 2001 Duisburg, and two-time European champions Umeå IK, both of whom reached the semi-finals last season. Duisburg are in Group 7 in Northern Ireland while Umeå head to Cyprus for Group 3.
The group winners and the two runners-up with the best records against the sides first and third in their pool will join the teams given byes to the knockout phase, including holders 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam, in the draw for the rounds of 32 and 16 on 19 August. The competition will continue as a two-legged knockout until the one-off final held in London on Thursday 26 May, two days before the men's UEFA Champions League decider at Wembley.
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